Catch 22 by Joseph Heller and All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarqueare two novels which are both different and alike. Throughout the novel we see the effects which war has on the characters. The characters however react in different ways. We see the effects of war on the characters in their initial reaction's, the way in which they deal with their new lifestyle of war, and the end psychological result on the characters themselves. Catch 22 and All Quiet on the Western Front are both similar and different, both main characters change and are effected by the war, but both react to the stresses of war in completely different ways.
The initial reactions of the characters in both novels are similar in that both characters are frightened. In Catch 22 we begin when Yossarian (main character) has already been in the war for some time but is still very much afraid and wants desperately to live and to go home. He is constantly and frantically trying to find ways so that he wouldn't have to fly. His gestures that show this are his desperate pleading with everyone that could possibly help him, including the doctor and the chaplain. In All Quiet on the Western Front it begins differently. Before the fear and the reality of war sets in on the young soldiers they are enthusiastic and happy about going off to war. This novel takes place in World War I so the soldiers, most of them at least, probably have no idea what they are walking into. Soon however the mentality of the boys changes and they become hardened soldiers:.
At the sound of the first droning of the shells we rush back, in one part of our being, a thousand years. By the animal instinct that is awakened in us we are led and protected. It is not conscious; it is far quicker, much more sure, less fallible, than consciousness It is this other, this second sight in us, that has thrown us to the ground and saved us, without or knowing how We march up, moody or good-tempered soldiers, we reach the zone where the front begins and become on instant human animals.