Catch-22

Catch 22*: A paradoxical dilemma in which a condition intrinsic to a specific problem is simultaneously responsible for preventing the solution.

Now, what does that actually mean in real life? Say, for instance, that your parents make you get a job but also mandate that you drive yourself there. You don’t have the funds to buy a car because you don’t have a job yet, and you can’t get the job because you don’t have any way of getting there. It’s a lose-lose situation. 

The term “Catch-22” is now a broadly used colloquialism, but Joseph Heller was its seminal author. The logical conundrum appears for the first time when the higher-ups deny Yossarian (our fictional leading man) relief from combat duty. They tell Yossarian that he can only be discharged if he applies and has a diagnosis of insanity; however, if you apply for removal from a warzone where you can very easily be off-ed at any moment, you are utilizing rational faculties that prove your sanity. Basically, you’re screwed.

Like Yossarian, Heller served in the Air Force during World War II. Presumably drawing from his own wartime experiences, Heller imbues Catch-22 with a cold-hearted, satirical cynicism. Each character is presented as a caricature in order to mockingly amplify the ridiculousness of war. As a result, there is not a whole lot of plot necessary to drive the novel; instead, he just throws a bunch of guys with nonsensical personalities into a military base and hilarity ensues. 

Some core themes of the novel: 

·         The arbitrariness of allegiance: "It doesn’t make a damned bit of difference who wins the war to someone who’s dead” (Heller, 120). 

·         The murkiness of morality: Because Yossarian is surrounded by so much death and destruction, he isn’t exactly super fond of the big man upstairs. In an enraged tirade, he rants, “What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly, little mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. It’s obvious He never met a payroll” (Heller, 177). Lolol I love when Yossarian gets pissy. 

·         Sex and coercion: Women play very interesting parts in the novel. As a woman, I am pretty into that. The objectification of women is rampant and virtually every female character either practices sex-work or employs sex for manipulative purposes. In my opinion, Heller portrays women in an overly-sexualized cycle, mirroring his portrayal of men in an overly-aggressive cycle.

·         The fragility of man: Not only are these men entirely powerless in the face of women because of their lust, but they also inevitably succumb to mortality. Yossarian realizes the hard away that men are fragile beings. When one of his friends dies, he macabrely says, “It was easy to read the message in his entrails. Man was matter…drop him out a window and he’ll fall. Set fire to him and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage” (Heller, 442).

Overall, Heller masterfully discusses these themes through characters who never leave you bored. He's also absolutely hilarious. The novel is divided into chapters, each one concerned with a different character; therefore, it is not chronologically linear. Because of this, the jokes inter-loop and many of them are made funny through repetition, a la Arrested Development. It wasn’t necessarily funny the first time around when they did the chicken dance…when Michael couldn’t pronounce Anne’s name… when J. Walter Weathermen taught the kids a lesson (like why it’s always important to leave a note)…when George Michael showed off his Star Wars dance moves… or when anyone, anywhere says Annyong. But it sure as hell was funny the second time. Similarly, Catch-22 has its own set of ongoing jokes. 

Heller makes me laugh and think critically at the same time, so Catch-22 gets 5 out of 5 camel humps. 

*Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc., 1955. Print.