Should Catch 22 Be Banned Essay

Although Catch-22 by Joseph Heller was banned for its derogatory language and graphic content, it is more plausible that it was banned for the negative portrayal of the military and America, primarily due to its release during the Vietnam War. Heller wrote the novel inspired by his own experiences as a bombardier flying 60 combat missions over Italy, using his intimate relationship with the subject matter to create an anti-war novel. His debut rose in popularity during the 1960s but was banned twice in the early 70s. The timeline of events is intriguing, as the novel grew in popularity throughout the war, especially with young people as said in The Banned Books Project, “Members of the younger generation immediately adored it, as it fit perfectly

The novel does incorporate many uses of the offensive language it was banned for, and most unsightly were three instances of racial slurs, which may be inappropriate for high school readers. The use of the N-word occurs early on page eleven of the novel, and while not said to a Black character directly, it nonetheless carries the negative connotation that anyone tied with the meaning is less than other people. The use of the word as a casual way to refer to Black individuals could create a harmful idea in an easily-influenced reader that doing so is okay, which would create a reason to prevent young readers from obtaining the book and lead to a perhaps valid ban of the novel by the Strongsville Ohio school board in 1972. In a similar fashion, Catch-22, as said by Emily Getty in the Carnegie Mellon University Banned Books Project, was banned in

Nately, a character with a Harvard education and a thoroughly patriotic mindset demonstrates this as he is shown beaten in a