Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Catch 22
Xavier Williams
AP Lang 5th
Van de Motter A
26 February 2013
The Absurdity of War Seen through Catch-22 Literally and figuratively speaking, Catch-22 is a four hundred and sixty two paged mental exercise. It is ridden with paradoxes, a fragmented storyline, imperfect characters, and oddly-timed comedy, all of which Joseph Heller adroitly uses to illustrate a point. Drawing on his service in the United States Air force during World War Two, Joseph Heller utilizes Catch-22 to convey his anti-war message. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1923, Joseph Heller experienced death early in his life when his father died of a failed operation, which would manifest itself in Heller’s darker writing style. With his mother’s help, he was able to graduate …show more content…
It especially caught on because of the Vietnam War which was happening at the time. Some characters’ actions were harshly criticized and its anti-war message was negatively received because of America’s involvement in the war at the time (Merrill). However, critics applauded its humor in relation to its horror. Regardless of reception the word Catch-22 was added to the English Language in the same year Catch-22 was released, meaning a frustrating situation in which one is trapped by contradictory regulations or …show more content…
The most significant instance of Catch-22 involves Yossarian trying to avoid more combat missions. “The only way to avoid more missions is to go crazy, but if a soldier is truly crazy, he would not ask to stop going on more missions” (Heller 56). The mere act of asking to stop implies sanity, so the soldier must keep going on missions. Cathcart uses this circular reasoning to trap his subordinates into never leaving the war, which is why many of the men get killed, and why Yossarian chose to desert. The aforementioned Catch-22 is compounded with another: “You’ve got to always do what your commanding officer tells you.” (Heller 105). The soldiers cannot flee not only because they are not crazy, but because their officers commanded that they cannot. The soldiers, the Chaplain, and Major Major Major especially take abuse because they can’t stop it, another Catch-22 (Heller
AP Lang 5th
Van de Motter A
26 February 2013
The Absurdity of War Seen through Catch-22 Literally and figuratively speaking, Catch-22 is a four hundred and sixty two paged mental exercise. It is ridden with paradoxes, a fragmented storyline, imperfect characters, and oddly-timed comedy, all of which Joseph Heller adroitly uses to illustrate a point. Drawing on his service in the United States Air force during World War Two, Joseph Heller utilizes Catch-22 to convey his anti-war message. Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1923, Joseph Heller experienced death early in his life when his father died of a failed operation, which would manifest itself in Heller’s darker writing style. With his mother’s help, he was able to graduate …show more content…
It especially caught on because of the Vietnam War which was happening at the time. Some characters’ actions were harshly criticized and its anti-war message was negatively received because of America’s involvement in the war at the time (Merrill). However, critics applauded its humor in relation to its horror. Regardless of reception the word Catch-22 was added to the English Language in the same year Catch-22 was released, meaning a frustrating situation in which one is trapped by contradictory regulations or …show more content…
The most significant instance of Catch-22 involves Yossarian trying to avoid more combat missions. “The only way to avoid more missions is to go crazy, but if a soldier is truly crazy, he would not ask to stop going on more missions” (Heller 56). The mere act of asking to stop implies sanity, so the soldier must keep going on missions. Cathcart uses this circular reasoning to trap his subordinates into never leaving the war, which is why many of the men get killed, and why Yossarian chose to desert. The aforementioned Catch-22 is compounded with another: “You’ve got to always do what your commanding officer tells you.” (Heller 105). The soldiers cannot flee not only because they are not crazy, but because their officers commanded that they cannot. The soldiers, the Chaplain, and Major Major Major especially take abuse because they can’t stop it, another Catch-22 (Heller