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The Importance Of Point Of View In Joseph Heller's Catch 22

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Point of view has a lot of impact on how you perceive the world. The reasons for seeing the world the way you see is because of what happened to you and your close one’s life. In Catch 22, not every character agrees on how they should view the system of the war they are in is good or bad and if the purpose of the war is for the better or worse. Through the use of the character Yossarian, the author, Joseph Heller, shows the reader that the world is an unending cycle of deaths and dangers until you can escape it. Yossarian asked to be grounded and sent home to Doc Daneeka, however he isn't allowed to do so. "There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions." With this catch being the system, no one will able to go home because there is no way out. All the characters will always be in danger because they can't go home and eventually die fighting in the war. Being able to ask for what you want means you are not crazy but if you can't ask, you …show more content…

After flying all the requirements, they were to be sent home. ““The fifty -five missions the colonel now wants all of you to fly.” Yossarian winced. Colonel Cathcart has raised him again.” Flying missions is always one step towards death. The more they fly the closer and higher chances that they will die. However, General Cathcart kept on increasing the numbers after each requirements have been met by some soldiers. Cathcart wonders whether constantly increasing the number of missions really is a bad strategy. But not for long: he believes that keeping the men in check is his greatest achievement, and that he should increase the mission requirements

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The Airmen were allowed to train in the P-40 Warhawk and the P-39 Airocobra which were also some of the planes taken into battle with the Airmen. The other two planes that were allowed were the P-47 Thunderbolt and the beloved P-51 Mustang. The Mustang was the newest plane and the most powerful by far being able to reach altitudes higher than the other planes and able to fire and deal damage from farther than any other fighter. The Tuskegee Airmen, now referred to as the Red tails because of the red painted tails on their planes, received the duty of bomber escort. This job was much needed as the bombers were slow planes and harder to maneuver so they had to be protected.

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Catch-22, a satirical, historical fiction novel focused on an unjust military bureaucracy, follows a young Air Force Captain and his friends who deal with this bureaucracy and injustice firsthand. Yossarian is the protagonist of the novel which is set during the end of World War II, around 1944, on the small island of Pianosa, just off the coast of Italy. Joseph Heller’s main focus in the writing of this book was to antagonize the military and highlight its often unreasonable actions. A central theme of Catch-22 is the absolute power of the military and the lack of logic it displays in dispensing justice. Evidence of this theme can be seen in Clevenger’s trial and in the interrogation of Chaplain Tappman.

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Catch 22 is written by Joseph Heller and is a Historical fiction novel about World War II. Heller creates his novel from many sources of inspiration, one of which was the military’s idea that a man could only be taken off a bombing mission if he was declared crazy. However, a man could not be asked to be taken off a bombing mission because a man who wanted to avoid a bombing mission was obviously not crazy. Catch-22 represents Heller knowing about the inevitability of death, how Heller made World War II seem humorous and sarcastic, and how Heller’s own experiences helped him write the novel. Joseph Heller was born on May 01, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, United States.

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They proved that they were capable of not only flying but also fighting against the enemy. The airmen flew countless missions over enemy territory, providing escort for bombers and conducting ground-attack missions. They achieved an impressive record, shooting down 109 enemy planes in the skies of Europe and North Africa. They also received numerous medals and honors for their achievements, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Silver Star, and the Congressional Gold Medal.

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He felt everyone was out to kill him. Naturally, Yossarian entered an argument about everyone who is out to kill him. Clevinger, a helpless fool in the argument, responds by saying “They’re trying to kill everyone” (16). The conversation continues in circles with Yossarian winning by frustrating Clevinger. “Catch-22 is actually a book in which everything connects with everything else, where hardly anything is wasted and communications are discarded at peril” (Sam Jordison).

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By manipulating the war setting and language of the novel Heller is able to depict society as dark and twisted. Heller demonstrates his thoughts of society through the depicted war. In the novel, the loss of personal identity in the soldiers lives. Furthermore, The idea is that supports how much value is placed upon a human life and shows the evils and cruelty of war is related The Ball Turret Gunner by Randall Jarrell, in which a soldier who spends his entire life in war only to die the same position he came into the war “fetal” state; just to be disregarded and buried in a whole.

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In a situation devoid of any strict set of values and standards, no one is impervious to shifting morals. In Joseph Heller's Catch 22, each character faces a predicament of whether, when indulging in some sort of self-interest, they will care for or disregard others. In the midst of death and uncertainty, Yossarian tries to hold onto his humanity as a way of maintaining his morality while those around him either die because of others or fall into their own selfishness. Yet, while he fears death and the dehumanization of war, he does not forfeit the lives of others in exchange of his own.

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The actual Catch-22 is as follows: if a soldier were crazy, he would not have to fly missions, but if he asked not to, he would be deemed sane and has to. The concept of Catch-22 itself epitomizes the concept of a sane man living in an insane society. Each of the catches Heller presents have the primary goal of providing a false hope for these soldiers. With each catch, the soldiers are meant to feel as though there is a future where they will not have to be trapped, but there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The hopelessness and anguish demonstrated through the soldiers’ experiences are applicable to life in general, not just in war.

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Yossarian: The Real Anti-hero Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is a 1961 best-selling novel (Encyclopedia) about war and how the soldiers in the camp survive and deal with the difficulties of war. Catch-22 represents what people in World War II went through and what soldiers had to do to defend their country in war. Joseph Heller wrote this novel for people who lived through World War II to prove to the soldiers that he knew what they went through and try put a funny twist on it for readers to enjoy (Kabourek). Here is an idea about what soldiers went through in WWII: “Our loses were heavy. By the time of the Regensburg mission, I had been in combat several times in 60 days and already I was a seasoned war veteran.

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