Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 centers around a contentious, incorrigible, paranoid bombardier named John Yossarian; who would do anything to save his own skin. Yossarian devises many schemes to be sent home from the Air Force, from faking injuries to land in the hospital, to outright asking to be discharged. However, “The Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade” hinders his efforts. The Oath’s basic principle states that a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved (Heller, 58) , therein lies the catch which Yossarian desperately searches for the loophole. Yossarian knows that what the government is doing to the …show more content…
Adolf Hitler’s power was at its’ apex, and everyone was too intimidated by his violence to speak up. In Hitler’s Nazi Germany, and Mussolini’s Fascist Italy, doing anything that could be remotely interpreted as treasonous, from buying from a Jewish vendor, to openly protesting, could have you killed. Many citizens knew that what their “leader” was doing was immoral and wrong. However, they had no other choice but to openly obey, and quietly discuss what to do to escape. These manipulative leaders knew exactly what to do to discourage their citizens from acting out, and inveighing against them. As a final assertion of his absolute, but ephemeral power, Hitler organized Kristallnacht, or “The Night of Broken Glass”, where his Nazi soldiers destroyed Jewish stores, ransacked and pilfered the shops’ goods, burned synagogues to the ground, and killed over 100 German Jewish citizens. After Kristallnacht, more Jewish aides began to surface, non-Jewish Germans willing to secretly risk their lives to defend the innocent. The Germans did not go as far as the Italians,
Yossarian’s refusal to fly the ever-rising amount of missions and his reputation with the other men in his squadron show the heroic qualities of his actions. At first, his avoidance of combat seems merely self-centered, as the war is not something he believes in. When Yossarian has his traumatic experience trying to save Snowden in which he realizes that “man is matter” (450), his motives broaden as he realizes how fragile life is. Not only is he practicing self-preservation by refusing to fly, which can be seen as a heroic act in itself in a situation where life is so undervalued, but he is also refusing to kill and risk the lives of ...
There was dead silence in his office, the kind of silence that should never be disturbed. The look of determination on his face was uncanny. Every single move he made was precise and delicate. Colonel Cathcart slowly rolled a few inches away from his desk in his chair, just enough so he could stand up. At a snail's pace, he stood up never taking his eyes off his masterpiece. Cathcart's hand was shaking immensely as he lifted the playing card up to complete his beloved tower. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK' Cathcart's body jumped in surprise, causing his hand to jolt at the sound of the noise. The tower collapsed in seconds. All Cathcart had now was 51 cards scattered all over his desk, still gripping the final card in his hand.
“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” said by the enlightened Dalai Lama. The Jews, innocent and sympathetic, were treated like trash during Kristallnacht. The Night of Broken Glass was one of the most terrifying and brutal nights of German history, in addition Kristallnacht was an excuse for the Nazi party to eradicate the Jews and other minor ethnic groups. The Secret Police and the Waffen SS could determine if people were Jewish or not if they had certain attributes such as having blonde hair, having light blue eyes, and having a rectangular shaped forehead. Over hundreds were injured and a copious amount had died during Kristallnacht, in addition Jews were not only affected in Germany but also in “territories forcibly seized by Germany, Austria and Sudentland” (Kristallnacht: Overview). Kristallnacht, a doomsday for Jews, inducing in destruction of Jewish property, death of Jews, and social isolation.
that occurred under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler. However, he wasn’t by far the only one in the wrong. Germans all over the country had followed him as well. Which, it started small, outcasting these people, boycotting their businesses, and wrongfully making intimations about their culture, how they acted, and who they were. All three of these historical events are veritably similar. “Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.” (Levi) Primo Levi also talks of how blind Hitler’s followers were. The lack of individual thinking caused thousands of innocent people to be abused, and
The events which have become to be known as The Holocaust have caused much debate and dispute among historians. Central to this varied dispute is the intentions and motives of the perpetrators, with a wide range of theories as to why such horrific events took place. The publication of Jonah Goldhagen’s controversial but bestselling book “Hitler’s Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust” in many ways saw the reigniting of the debate and a flurry of scholarly and public interest. Central to Goldhagen’s disputed argument is the presentation of the perpetrators of the Holocaust as ordinary Germans who largely, willingly took part in the atrocities because of deeply held and violently strong anti-Semitic beliefs. This in many ways challenged earlier works like Christopher Browning’s “Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” which arguably gives a more complex explanation for the motives of the perpetrators placing the emphasis on circumstance and pressure to conform. These differing opinions on why the perpetrators did what they did during the Holocaust have led to them being presented in very different ways by each historian. To contrast this I have chosen to focus on the portrayal of one event both books focus on in detail; the mass shooting of around 1,500 Jews that took place in Jozefow, Poland on July 13th 1942 (Browning:2001:225). This example clearly highlights the way each historian presents the perpetrators in different ways through; the use of language, imagery, stylistic devices and quotations, as a way of backing up their own argument. To do this I will focus on how various aspects of the massacre are portrayed and the way in which this affects the presentation of the per...
Human nature has capacity for both greatness and smallness, due greatly to the way they deal with thoughts, words, and actions. If they overcome their fears, maintain confidence and honesty, mental stability is nourished. However, when humans succumb to denial or fear, mental instability is the result. In the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, Yossarian, the book’s protagonist makes a critical choice that leads to a devastating consequence: insanity. Since he is a coward and doesn’t like to take risks like everyone else who are fighting for their lives too. He is a bombardier who flew in endless amounts of missions seemed to have never gotten the chance to return home healthy and safe. Returning mentally healthy would be one of the problems that apparently seemed to be the only thing Yossarian cared about. Insanity evolves in this novel through the main character's actions as a cause and effect. In the novel “Catch-22” the author uses imagery, internal conflict and irony to reveal the causes of Yossarian’s insanity.
I discovered that I had no immediate answer to this facetious dismissal of one of history's most profound tragedies. It was a sweeping and indiscriminate assertion, to be sure, but not one entirely without merit. If general stupidity were not to blame, then why had six million Jews endured such torture? Were none of them in a position to unite in any sort of cohesive resistance? What of the Catholics who were murdered in the concentration camps as well? The blacks? Political dissidents? Members of the press? In fact it seems that the Nazis, over the course of their reign, discriminated against so many professions, creeds, philosophies, and classes that for a person not to belong to at least one must have been a remarkable feat of chance. I could not begin to understand how the National Socialist Party had, with such a miserable and offensive political platform, managed to gain power in Germany, nor how, with such cruel and oppressive practices, they managed to keep it.
Normal people of the Jewish community showed negative reactions due to inhumane treatment set forth by the Nazis of Germany. Although it may have been acceptable considering the surroundings they were enduring, if they were in their right mindset and not fighting for their survival, these normal people most likely would not have been cruel towards their peers. Nutritional deficits induced this diabolic behavior and when given food “dozens of starving men fought each other for a few crumbs” (Wiesel 73). These people who were brutally deprived of necessities began fighting each
Throughout the novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller surrounds the audience into an absurd environment. He also uses literary aspects such as juxtaposition in order for the reader to take in his message thoroughly. His literally terms place an emphasis on the corruption of bureaucracy, its toxicity and its absurdity.
The law put forth by Germany during the Nazi regime were emotionally and physically unjust, with little room for justification beyond the power of Adolf Hitler and his followers. These so called “laws” required citizens to report their fellow citizens as being Jewish so Hitler and his troops could remove them from society. The “decent human side” overwhelmingly prevailed over “good citizen” in this situation, and people defied Hitler. To act in such a way that was morally just and assist the Jewish refugees, citizens acted against the manmade law and kept in line with the rest of the world’s perception of natural law. Naturally, it seems that the only time it is acceptable to defy a manmade law is when such a law intrudes upon important and all-inclusive laws that concern foundational human rights. In the Nazi example, one could argue that disobeying Hitler’s law is justified on a theoretical basis because moral law always takes precedence over what might be constructed by a regime through the dangerous combination of hate and power. In the time of the Nazis, the act of obeying such laws would turn the obeying party into violators of human ri...
“ Hitler used propaganda and manufacturing enemies such as Jews and five million other people to prepare the country for war.” (Jewish Virtual Library), This piece of evidence shows Hitler’s attempt of genocide toward the Jewish race a...
Critics often refer to Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 as an anti-war novel. At its core, the novel has a disparaging view of war. The main character, John Yossarian, believes that war is madness. He is astounded that men lay down their lives for vague concepts such as country, patriotism, and honor. However, unlike the typical anti-war novel, Catch-22 doesn’t focus on the most dismal aspects of war; Heller masterfully crafts an effective satirical style of addressing war. Corruption, confusion, and dishonesty run amok in the novel and these principles justify the embodiment of Catch-22 as an anti-war novel.
Most narratives out of the Holocaust from the Nazis point of view are stories of soldiers or citizens who were forced to partake in the mass killings of the Jewish citizens. Theses people claim to have had no choice and potentially feared for their own lives if they did not follow orders. Neighbors, The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland, by Jan T. Gross, shows a different account of people through their free will and motivations to kill their fellow Jewish Neighbors. Through Gross’s research, he discovers a complex account of a mass murder of roughly 1,600 Jews living in the town of Jedwabne Poland in 1941. What is captivating about this particular event was these Jews were murdered by friends, coworkers, and neighbors who lived in the same town of Jedwabne. Gross attempts to explain what motivated these neighbors to murder their fellow citizens of Jedwabne and how it was possible for them to move on with their lives like it had never happened.
During the Holocaust, around six million Jews were murdered due to Hitler’s plan to rid Germany of “heterogeneous people” in Germany, as stated in the novel, Life and Death in the Third Reich by Peter Fritzsche. Shortly following a period of suffering, Hitler began leading Germany in 1930 to start the period of his rule, the Third Reich. Over time, his power and support from the country increased until he had full control over his people. Starting from saying “Heil Hitler!” the people of the German empire were cleverly forced into following Hitler through terror and threat. He had a group of leaders, the SS, who were Nazis that willingly took any task given, including the mass murder of millions of Jews due to his belief that they were enemies to Germany. German citizens were talked into participating or believing in the most extreme of things, like violent pogroms, deportations, attacks, and executions. Through the novel’s perspicacity of the Third Reich, readers can see how Hitler’s reign was a controversial time period summed up by courage, extremity, and most important of all, loyalty.
On the topic of Catch-22, its author Joseph Heller posed the question “What does a sane man do in an insane society?” (BBC). In many ways we cannot fully empathize with this question nor with the novel’s main character Yossarian until we have experienced the extent of the futility and absurdity of Catch-22, but even more so, until having been overcome by its complexity. Both ideologically and in terms of its structure, Catch-22 is an incredibly complex piece of literature. Yet simultaneously, the themes at its core are fairly simplistic— something Yossarian recognizes when he says “he was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22” (46).