Use Of Satire In Catch 22

Catch 22 is juvenilia satire book written by well recognized American author, Joseph Heller. Throughout the book Heller makes statements on society using satirical elements and one of them is power. This is recognized throughout the book by characters, characterization, and satire. That power can be overused and misused without people noticing or unable to stop it, which at the end there is no control from no one. At the start of book Heller makes it aware that all soldiers have to complete certain amount of missions in order to go back home and the person in charge is Colonel Cathcart. However as months goes missions keep increasing tremendously no one cannot stop it except Cathcart himself. The reason for increase of missions is he puts

When Captain Black makes the loyalty oath, he makes every single soldier sign it at any chance he had. Just to prove his enemy Major Major his tougher and has more people at his side showing he has more power than him. The oath itself was no true oath meaning it only matters for Captain Black that he can control people easily and maintain his power. “’The important thing is to keep them pledging,”… “It doesn’t matter whether they mean it or not, that’s why they make kids pledge allegiance even before they know what ‘pledge’ and ‘allegiance’ mean”’(Heller, 113). The way Captain Black explains his oath is an example of inflation by comparing it to the pledge of allegiance. As soon kids enter school the first thing they are taught is the pledge of allegiance without knowing what they are saying at all they know is for respect. Same with the Loyalty oath, soldieries only pledged it just to get away from it from rest of their day regarding what the oath itself is about. Creating an oath which is sacred for some people with no good intention, shows how he misuses his power just to maintain his standing and keep a well-respected reputation for himself. The way characters work on Catch 22 as insane for power may seem similar but are different the way is