Soldiers faced with death every day- Clevinger and Dunbar conversation on age.
Soldier's desperation to be grounded. Catch 22- impossible to escape unnatural situation.
Dictatorship of those in authority- General Dreedle, Colonel Cathcart.
Ability to change a person very much for the worse- loss of emotion.
Catch 22 is a protest novel underscored with dark humour that satirizes the horrors of war and the power of modern society, especially bureaucratic institutions, to destroy the human spirit. By concentrating on the soldier's view of events in World War II, Heller is able to deal with the horrors of war with a strong degree of humour. This use of humour also servers another purpose: it mirrors the feelings of the main character, Yossarian. As a pilot in the military, he encapsulates the desire of an ordinary man to survive the savage indictment of the horror, and madness, of war. In this essay, it will be considered how Heller deals with the horrors of war, with an emphasis on his use of humour.
Although many of the events in the novel do not appear directly related to the war, there is a constant backdrop of war and the fear that is associated with it. Many of the characters that are considered crazy' such as Clevinger, Hungry Joe, Dunbar and Yossarian appear to reflect the chaos and futility of war in their behaviour. In Chapter 4, we have a humorous episode when Heller describes Dunbar's fondness for shooting skeet in between flying combat missions for the military:.
Dunbar loved shooting skeet because he hated every.
minute of it and the time passed so slowly.
Clevinger responds to Dunbar's discovery by calling him crazy' upon which Dunbar replies, I'll even go so far to concede that life seems longer if it's filled with periods of boredom and discomfort. An important idea can be developed from this conversation. Dunbar considers the reality that the soldiers face: the idea that death is only inches away every time they fly a combat mission.
