Responsibilites In Joseph Heller's Catch-22

As one faces many obstacles in life, he/she questions the reasons for living and why he/she should continue or keep fighting to live. Is it worth living in such a harsh place where he/she might end up dead one day in a place where they are almost inhuman? Are they even meant to finish the war they’re in? Or are they meant to avoid known responsibilites? In the novel, Catch-22, the characters are constantly questioning the idea of whether to keep fighting for their lives or to just ultimately lose hope. As they finish the number of missions needed to go back home, Colonel Cathcart, raises the number of missions, making it nearly impossible to leave war. As a result, Yossarian, a bombardier in World War II, is always looking out for ways

Yossarian is the only one who realizes there is a war going on, everyone thinks he is crazy when he insists that people are trying to kill him. Throughout the novel, they constantly question the existence of God and simply the purpose of war itself, if it has any. The author, Joseph Heller, utilizes literary devices such as imagery, allusions, and euphemisms to further exemplify these topics. The use of these devices brings us to the main topic of the novel, avoidance. Not only the avoidance of war, but the avoidance of life and death. However, it is nearly impossible to avoid anything. As stated in the novel, it is as if avoidance was a chain that could never be broken. Catch-22 is a law defined in many ways throughout the

Yossarian, the protagonist of Catch-22, contemplates daily on the importance of his life and its purpose. Not only does Yossarian constantly question the purpose of war, but he also questions the purpose of living. In the beginning of the book, Yossarian makes an essential question: “To die or not to die” (Heller 68). This statement is very identical to the allusion in Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy, from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, “To be or not to be” (Hamlet; III.i.1749), in which Hamlet questions the purpose of life as well. Hamlet contemplates suicide on and off throughout his soliloquies. He compares death to a little sleep, making it seem not so bad. The actions of Yossarian seem to be very similar to those of Prince Hamlet as his constant questioning of war, make him question life. Similarly as Hamlet questions the purpose of living a life with heartache, Yossarian questions living a life in which he knows he will die as he cannot escape war either ways. As Hamlet finds a purpose to live, so does