How Does Heller Use Satire In Catch 22

In Joseph Heller’s renowned novel Catch-22 Heller follows the story of the events that occur on an United States army air-base on Pianosa, an island in southern Italy near the Mediterranean sea. More specifically the story primarily revolves Yossarian, a bombardier in the army during the second world war, and some of his crew members and fellow squadron members. In the interactions between these different characters as well as characters only talked about in third person Heller creates what is known as one of the greatest works of satire in modern literature. He make use of the satire in the work often to over exaggerate a point or trait about something or someone. Heller uses his narrative and its satirical nature to convey many different

Heller often brings both of these themes to the reader by placing Yossarian, the protagonist of the novel, in impossible situations and by giving key characters exaggerated behavior that help showcase the point Heller is trying to make. In the novel such a scenario is often called a Catch-22. The exact definition of a Catch-22 is explained best by providing an example as Heller does in the novel. The example that Heller uses is as involves a dialogue between Doc Daneeka, the doctor on the airbase, and the protagonist Yossarian. Yossarian goes to the doctor asking if he can be taken of the mission citing that he is crazy. The doctor explains that he cannot take Yossarian off of duty because any man who wants to get out of duty to stay safe is not crazy and therefore must go. However to willingly stay and partake in the missions is crazy in itself, but the moment that they ask to get out of it because they are crazy, they are no longer crazy and must continue to fly missions (45-46). While is only one example of a Catch-22 out of the many examples throughout the novel it does show up with a high degree of frequency in both major and minor events in both subtle and pronounced ways. Another commonality between the two is how Heller often makes use of literary devices, especially paradox and hyperbole, to create a more accurate or extreme scenario in which he can emphasize the underlying themes.

The United States during that time, and still to this day, retains that structure for the benefits that it provides. Bureaucratic power structure provides a group or organization with a clear chain of command and as well as a simpler one that is less prone to rapid changes. The benefits this would provide to a group such as the army are fairly easy to reason out. The simpler any given item is, whether that be a command or weapon, the less chance of confusion there is, and with lives at stake confusion as to what is supposed to be getting done is not a desirable outcome. This also means that it is imperative for a soldier to follow orders given to him, no matter what they are or how dangerous they may seem, in order to ensure the safety of all the men and women on duty. Should they not follow orders they will most likely face the punishments of such an act which could, at worst, constitute high treason, a crime punishable by death. This is something that Heller often implements into Catch-22. Yossarian often finds himself at odds with his commanding officer Colonel Cathcart, the antagonist of the novel so to speak, over the orders that the Colonel gives him. Cathcart is obsessed with working his way through the ranks and becoming a general in the army. This quite often leads him to volunteer his unit for many missions that he