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Annotated Bibliography On Catch 22

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Anthony Riley Mrs. Mitchell English III CP, period 2 8 March 2023 Joseph Heller and Catch-22: The War of Absurdity Thesis: In the novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller conveys the absurdity of fighting a war that does not benefit the combatant through his wartime experiences integrated into the novel and the lingering effects that plagued bombardiers in World War II. Biographical sketch Early life before war Birth Education Occupations Writer Experiences Catch-22 (1961) Creation of the Novel Public Reception WWII and the impact on combatants WWII background Soldiers’ experience/impacts War experience Heller’s experience Relations to his experience in the novel Absurdity of war Forced to fight for nothing Engaging with the absurd system Anthony Riley …show more content…

While men stood up in arms for their country, others went without a choice, and some questioned their battle's true purpose and what it meant for their lives. Joseph Heller was a man who fought in this war and wrote the ever-infamous Catch-22, a satirical war novel that shows the true nature of the battlefield and the horrors attached to it. In the novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller conveys the absurdity of fighting a war that does not benefit the combatant through his own wartime experiences integrated into Catch-22 and the lingering effects that plagued the bombardiers of World War II. Understanding the life of Joseph Heller is an important aspect of his novel, as his life was used to shape the novel in numerous ways. In the busy streets of Brooklyn, New York, Joseph Heller was born on May 1st, 1929 to Russian immigrants Isacc Heller and Lena Heller (Seed 21). Heller attended Coney Island’s Public School …show more content…

Catch-22 occurs during World War II, following a soldier named Yossarian who wants nothing but to live. His constant will to live and fear of death makes him an outsider among his fellow soldiers, though they still enjoy one another as comrades. Throughout bombing missions and antics within their squadron, Yossarian watches the war unfold around him, and every action he takes is one to preserve his life. Despite Catch-22 being as complex as it is, it later became widely known across the United States as the defacto anti-war novel, with the signature “catch-22” that the novel is titled after becoming a common phrase (Pinsker 379). To fully grasp Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, readers must understand the time in which the novel takes place. Off the heels of World War I, another conflict was brewing within Europe due to the tensions left behind by World War I. On September 1st, 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, causing Great Britain and France to retaliate against Nazi Germany, spiraling into the second great war within Europe, World War II (“Catch-22”

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