Catch-22

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is considered to be a classic, a novel that everyone should read in his/her lifetime. A “classic” novel is usually thought to be an old novel, written in beautiful language. It has an underlying, usually moral, theme, it often contains a tragic element, and it is sometimes difficult to understand at first. In the beginning of Catch-22, I was thrown off. The book was nothing like I thought it would be. It didn’t seem to have any of the usual characteristics of a “classic.” However, the farther I read in Catch-22, the more I started to understand that the novel did have many of the characteristics of a “classic”, but it manifested them in a different way. In fact, I realized that almost every element in Catch-22 has an irony of sorts, a way of following the rules but breaking them at the same time.

One paradoxical element in Catch-22 is the theme of the novel. It seems that the novel is disjointed, a series of stories in no apparent order with no apparent meaning. However, the one theme that ties them together is actually a relatively common topic, the meaninglessness of war. Many books have been written on this topic, including a few “classics” (All Quiet On The Western Front), but Catch-22 adds elements of humor and irony to give new life to the old theme. He shows the senselessness of war by showing an actual law that makes no sense. The infamous “Catch-22” states that “a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.” It goes on to say that the only way to escape flying in a mission is if one is considered to be insane. If one is insane, all one has to do is request to be grounded, and he/she would not have to fly. However, the paradox is that if one requests to not fly, he must obviously be sane, since only a sane person would realize the danger. This paradox is simple yet complex, and is circular in its reasoning. One can think about this problem for hours on end, and yet in the end, there is no meaning whatsoever. All the law really says is that there is no way to escape. It is amusing to think about from the outside, but the characters in the book, most notably Yossarian, are the ones that are effected by the law, and they are good and stuck in this situation. The “catch-22” gives a feeling of helplessness to all those entangled in its web. It is like the war itself- it is meaningless and nonsensical to everyone with a brain, but it continues on in spite of this and ensnares all who are foolish enough to take part in it.