Role Of Bureaucracy In Catch 22

Mariah Addington

Mr. Jones

English 11

6 January 2017

Catch-22

Heller wrote Catch-22 to educate readers on the lack of morality in the struggle and use of power in society and bureaucracy. When given a position of power, or in the struggle to get power, morality begins to dwindle and corruption begins to emerge as shown in Catch-22 through the use of characters, sanity and insanity, and absurdity.

The first way readers are introduced to the corrupt society and bureaucracy is through the characters used in Catch-22. Almost every character in Heller’s novel is corrupt or affected by corrupt officials. For example, Doc Daneeka, the squadron doctor who is supposed to look after the well being of others, looks out for himself first and foremost.

Sanity plays a major role in showing the effects of the corrupt bureaucracy. First off, we must question what exactly is sanity defined as? “The reader is forced to question the very nature of sanity. Sanity is commonly defined as the ability to live within society and act appropriately according to its rules. If those rules--such as Catch-22--are apparently false, however, then adhering to them is in truth an act of insanity, for the end result may be death or the loss of freedom.” (Magill 1589) According to Yossarian, almost every man is insane in one way or another, even though it is very obvious that Yossarian himself is insane. “Yossarian knows the difference between his sanity and the insanity of the system.” (Joseph Heller 1777) Although it becomes a bit blurry is some spots as to if Yossarian is actually crazy or not. “‘That crazy __.’ ‘He’s not so crazy,’ Dunbar said. ‘He swears he’s not going to fly to Bologna.’ ‘That’s just what I mean,’ Dr. Stubbs answered. ‘That crazy __ may be the only sane one left.’” (Heller 110) Although every man still willingly flying missions is labeled insane, what about all the men who are truly insane? What could possibly cause such a large amount of men to go insane? “In order to increase his chances of promotion, Cathcart keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly before getting rotated. Because he is obsessed

“Indeed the unconventional storyline captures something of the turmoil inherent in his protagonist, Yossarian.” (Master Plots II 189)

“By placing exaggerated characters in absurd situations, Heller created an analogy of the world. In doing so, he reveals a society so inured with systems and bureaucracy that individuals seem irrelevant and morality nearly absent.” (Master Plots II