Lit Analysis #1

Catch 22

Plot Summary:
Set toward the end of World War II in 1944, on an island off the coast of Italy, Joseph Heller's Catch 22 is a satirical antiwar novel. It features a not-so-heroic protagonist who struggles to deal with the insanity of war and concludes that the only sane response to it is not to participate in it. American army pilot John Yossarian is a protagonist lacking some traditionally heroic qualities. He is obsessed with being rotated out of active flight duty His commander, Colonel Cathcart, keeps raising the number of missions the men in the squadron must fly before they can be rotated out. Yossarian is desperate to find another way out of his dilemma. He asks the squadron's doctor, Doc Daneeka, to declare him unfit for duty by reason of insanity. Daneeks refuses, citing the mysterious Catch-22. If Yossarian asks to be let out of his duties, he must be sane. Only a crazy man would want to continue to fly missions, but the only way Daneeka can ground him, according to Catch-22, is if he asks to be grounded-which would indicate his sanity.

Theme:
Idealism vs. Opportunism:
Nately is the most foolish of idealists. He believes in things like love and nationalism. His idealistic love for his prostitute costs him quite a bit of money. Similarly, the old man who runs the brothel treats him like a fool. Nately passionately exclaims that America is indestructible. The old man points out that "The frog is almost five hundred million years old. Could you really say that America, with all its strength and prosperity . . . will last as long as . . . the frog?" (253). Put this way, Nately's idealism seems foolish. Yet, the old man's opportunism does not save him. When the brothel is cleared out, he cannot take it and dies.

Tone:
Gloomy:
The mood is pretty gloomy, just like war. However, the author twists the mood, and drastically changes the tone by including elements of humor and satire. For example, "'Gee I guess he really is dead,' grieved one of his enlisted men in a low, respectful voice" (343). The fact that someone is dealing with death and uses the word "gee" is enough to make the reader question how sad they really are, but then it furthers the satire by stating it is in a "low, respectful voice". That quote reflects the mood/tone of the whole novel.

10 Literary Elements:
1) Repetition
 "Help him, help him" (p.50)

2)Allusion
"John Milton is a sadist" (p.97)

3) Paradox
"If he flew planes he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. " (p.46)

4) Irony
" Clevinger was a genius... a Harvard undergraduate... [going] far in the academic world... In short, he was a dope" (p. 68)

5) Dramatic Irony
"Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn't quite jaundice" (p. 7)

6) Symbolism
"He never sends anyone home, anyway. He just keeps them waiting around waiting for rotation orders until he doesn't haven enough men left for the crews, and then raises the number of missions and throws them all back on combat status. He's been doing that ever since he got here" (p.102)

7) Verbal Irony
"I don't have nightmares" (p. 54)

8) Alliteration
"If the colonel says we have to fly fifty-five missions, we have to fly them" (p. 65)

9)Motif
"I don't want to fly milk runs" (p.103)

10) Foreshadowing
"Do you remember... that time in Rome when that girl who can't stand you kept hitting me over and over the head with the heel of her shoe? Do you want to know why she was hitting me?" (p. 25)

Characterization:
Direct characterization:
"The soldier in white was encased from head to toe in plaster and gauze."

Indirect Characterization:
Heller uses words like "suspiciously" and "guardedly" to describe the way Yossarian speaks. This reflects Yossarian's paranoid state of mind. He believes everyone is out to get him; he is very cautious all the time.

"He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive." Yossarian is set on coming done a live no mater what, he's going to do anything he can.


Syntax:
Heller's syntax/diction does not dramatically change at any time in the novel, but it does change slightly throughout the book. When there is lighter comedic moments his sentences are not as long and are straight to the point, but when he tries to be serious his sentences tend to be a little longer and less straight to the point, these sentences make the reader think.

Static, Flat, or Round?
Yossarian is a static character his goals stay the same throughout the whole novel, and he never changes his morals for any reason. He is set on leaving the war alive or die trying.

Meet them or read about them?
In a way I felt like I met Yossarian and was as eager as him to leave the base. I really wanted him to find a way to escape. I could feel how hopeless he felt at times.“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”, the feeling of paranoia went way beyond just reading the words in the book.