Impotence of Language in Heller's Catch-22
Alexandra Katkinová
Mgr. Eva Hrkalová
Introduction to Literature II (Group D)
May 30, 2014
The Impotence of Language in Catch-22 The main purpose of this essay is to develop better understanding of the nature of language in Heller’s Catch-22 and analyse its role in communication among the main characters. In particular, this essay will provide the reader with a closer look at the factors that influence the communicative power of language used in the novel. At the same time, the consequences of their presence will be discussed in detail throughout the whole paper.
While the main purpose of language is to communicate, Joseph Heller creates the world in which language loses its function as a tool for communication in favour of an omnipresent miscommunication. In times of war, instead of providing reassurance, language becomes impotent and its communicative power is taken out of it by the military bureaucracy.
Within the very first pages of Catch-22, language is introduced to the reader as a sort of pastime for Yossarian while he is in the hospital. He "censors" letters, randomly deleting words that do not necessary need to be inappropriate or would reveal too much information. To say it in other words, he basically destroys the messages contained in the letters, in order to distract himself from boredom.
Death to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every adverb and every adjective. The next day he made war on articles. He reached a much higher plane on creativity the following day when he blacked out everything in the letters but a, an and the. (Heller 8)
The more words Yossarian deletes, the less true language stays to its original function – to mediate probably the only line of communication the soldiers have with their loved ones. Bearing this in mind, Yossarian’s foolish game does not seem to be so humorous anymore. Nevertheless, no matter how outrageous his behaviour might seem, as one later learns
Mgr. Eva Hrkalová
Introduction to Literature II (Group D)
May 30, 2014
The Impotence of Language in Catch-22 The main purpose of this essay is to develop better understanding of the nature of language in Heller’s Catch-22 and analyse its role in communication among the main characters. In particular, this essay will provide the reader with a closer look at the factors that influence the communicative power of language used in the novel. At the same time, the consequences of their presence will be discussed in detail throughout the whole paper.
While the main purpose of language is to communicate, Joseph Heller creates the world in which language loses its function as a tool for communication in favour of an omnipresent miscommunication. In times of war, instead of providing reassurance, language becomes impotent and its communicative power is taken out of it by the military bureaucracy.
Within the very first pages of Catch-22, language is introduced to the reader as a sort of pastime for Yossarian while he is in the hospital. He "censors" letters, randomly deleting words that do not necessary need to be inappropriate or would reveal too much information. To say it in other words, he basically destroys the messages contained in the letters, in order to distract himself from boredom.
Death to all modifiers, he declared one day, and out of every letter that passed through his hands went every adverb and every adjective. The next day he made war on articles. He reached a much higher plane on creativity the following day when he blacked out everything in the letters but a, an and the. (Heller 8)
The more words Yossarian deletes, the less true language stays to its original function – to mediate probably the only line of communication the soldiers have with their loved ones. Bearing this in mind, Yossarian’s foolish game does not seem to be so humorous anymore. Nevertheless, no matter how outrageous his behaviour might seem, as one later learns
Cited: and Consulted Combs, James E., and Dan D. Nimmo. The Comedy of Democracy. The United States of America: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. Google books.com. Web. 30 May 2014. Dawes, James. The Language of War: Literature and Culture in the U.S. from the Civil War Through World War II. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2002. Google books.com. Web. 30 May 2014. Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. London: Vintage books, 1994. Print.