Hope In Joseph Heller's Catch-22

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is most famous for its scathingly satirical perspective on war and many American ideals. However, the novel presents a surprisingly optimistic stance on the role of hope. Emily Dickinson's poem “‘Hope’ is a thing with feathers” asserts that although hope may at times seem scarce, it is man’s constant driving force. Similarly, the ever presence of hope and its resulting motivation is continually reflected in Joseph Heller’s novel Catch-22.
The greatest source of hope for the squadron in Catch-22 is completing the required number of missions, their most reliable way to be sent home. However, the sycophantic Colonel Cathcart makes this goal unattainable for Yossarian and the men in his squadron by consistently raising the requirement in hopes to impress his superiors or be recognized by The Saturday Evening Post (Heller 282). Even when a man executes his allotted missions, he is detained until the number can be increased by Cathcart once more.

Yossarian cannot avoid or prevent the deaths of his peers. His helplessness in regard to his fellow man's suffering is best evidenced by the death of a young gunner, Snowden. Snowden dies in-flight during a mission over Avignon after Yossarian mistakenly tends to the wrong, less dangerous wound (439). Yossarian attempts to save his friends, but their deaths appear to be inevitable. After facing all the tragedy of war, Yossarian loses faith in the cause and in humanity itself, exclaiming “What a lousy earth!” and questioning the wrongs of the world (412). Dickinson claims that “And sore must be the storm - / That could abash the little Bird,” asserting that traumas must be severe to deter hope, and Yossarian’s storm is certainly