Free Catch-22 Essays: Insanity

1108 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The story of world war ii

Insanity in Catch 22

In all of history, no war seems to have touched the minds of people everywhere as much as World War II. This war brought about some of the worst violations of human rights ever seen. The German military created a system for the public to follow, and if the individual opposed, he was oppressed. This kind of mentality is presented in the novel, Catch-22 (1955). Joseph Heller uses the insane situations of the setting and his characters to show a unique perspective on World War II.

A small Army Air Corps base serves as the setting for Catch-22. It is set on a fictitious island called Pianosa. The island is described as very small and is located in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Elba, Italy. It is set in the time of World War II. The island almost serves as a microcosm of the war taking place around it. This setting accommodates nearly all of the hardships being faced by the victims of WWII. The Air Corps dominates this island and its soldier inhabitants. A system is established and it must be obeyed by all the soldiers. This system is kepy alive through a "catch-22".

Basically the catch-22 is a trap set up by the military bureaucracy to keep all of the soldiers flying in battle. It is best summed up in a piece of dialogue from the novel. It is shared between the main character, Yossarian, and the base's doctor, Daneeka: "Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach. 'Is Orr crazy?' 'He sure is,' Doc Daneeka said. 'Can you ground him?' 'I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That's part of the rule.' 'Then why doesn't he ask you to?' 'Because he's crazy,' Doc Daneeka said. 'He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure I can ground him. But first he has to ask me to.' 'And then you can ground him?' Yossarian asked. 'No. Then I can't ground him.' 'You mean there's a catch?' 'Sure there's a catch,' Doc Daneeka replied. 'Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy.' "( Heller, 46)

This bureaucratic trap is accepted by most of the naive soldiers. This is why the military is able to make the soldiers do whatever they want them to do.

Show More
Related

  • Catch 22 And Vonnegut Analysis

    248 Words  | 1 Pages

    Known today as two of the most prominent American satirists, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut both served time as soldiers during World War II, Heller serving as a bombardier in Italy (Scoggins) and Vonnegut as a soldier and prisoner of war in Germany (Parr). Not coincidentally, both Heller’s 1961 novel Catch-22 and Vonnegut’s 1969 novel Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death follow the journeys of young men in combat during the Second World War – Captain John Yossarian of the US Army Air Forces and soldier Billy Pilgrim, respectively. While it is evident that these fictional novels are both set during the World War II era and convey bleak images of war, closer inspection of both texts brings to light the common

    Read More

  • Themes of Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt vonnegut and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    Themes of Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt vonnegut and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller In the books, Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut and Catch 22 by Joseph Heller there are many themes that at first don’t appear to be related but once given a closer look have striking similarities. Both books are about one mans experience through World War II, one being a fighter pilot and another being a soldier. Each man is known as an anti-war hero. They do not agree with the war and do not find it appropriate to fight for it.

    Read More

  • Tobacco

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the time period 1450 to 1750, the world went through major change and development. Nomadic power declined, and European Kingdoms became world powers. A world trade network was set up as contact amongst nations increased immensely. A population boom occurred throughout the world. Many civilizations that were once isolated were brought into the world economy. The Americas unknown until Christopher Columbus’ voyage in 1492 became a major part of the world economy as many European nations colonized much of the land. Large sea trade arose during this time period first by the Portuguese and Spanish and later by the English, French and Dutch. As European countries began exploring the Americas, an exchange of crops, animals, raw materials, diseases and new ideas were exchanged between the Americas and the rest of the world. This is known as the Columbian Exchange. One major component of the Columbian Exchange was the discovery of tobacco. Tobacco was first discovered in the Americas and became as cash crop. It was imported back to Europe, where it became vastly popular. As many middle class Europeans people began smoking, the demand for more tobacco from the Americas increased; colonies were set up to produce tobacco. With the demand for tobacco so high, labor was needed to farm the crop causing slaves to be imported.

    Read More

  • Catch 22 Journal Entry Essay

    832 Words  | 2 Pages

    Catch-22 is a fictional novel written by author Joseph Heller that takes place during the end of WWII. The US entered WWII in December 1941 in reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese air forces. The book is set in Italy, where the main character was stationed and where the US forces were fighting the axis powers. Heller himself was a bombardier like his main character, Joseph Yossarian. They were both also stationed on small islands off the coast of Italy: Heller on Corsica and Yossarian on Pianosa. Heller’s personal experience during the war shaped his descriptions and characterizations in the novel.

    Read More

  • Smoking, Stigma and Social Class

    1232 Words  | 3 Pages

    "Smoking Bans and the Tobacco Industry." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 1 July 2013. Web. 4 Dec. 2013. .

    Read More

  • Responsibility is Escaped by Obese People

    2570 Words  | 6 Pages

    Smokers all over the United States in recent years have brought class-action suits against the tobacco companies. Plaintiffs argue that the tobacco companies had knowledge of the health risks that could be associated with smoking, but they chose to withhold this information from the public. Since they chose to withhold this information the companies should be responsible for the cost of their health problems. Smokers have been rather successful in this endeavor especially since it has been a scientifically proven fact that smoking causes lung cancer. In Florida alone smokers and their families were awarded 200 billion dollars (Thomas ).

    Read More

  • Tobacco Companies are Targeting Children

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...rictions, and carry out an antithesis campaign against tobacco advertising. With more adds showing teens the harms of tobacco usage and through education, this use of “counter-adding” could go a long way in terms of preventing more youth from picking up such a bad habit. In addition, I think far more legislation should be aimed towards restricting what is actually being put into cigarettes rather than advertisements, as these toxins and poisons are what responsible for the 430,000+ average deaths each year from smoking. Yet, today is today, and as long as companies like Altria and Reynolds American have the money play Washington they’ll get what they want. Now its just up to everyone else, for the sake of the health of our future, to help push legislation that will help deter the aims of companies that basically distribute cancer to hundreds of thousands each year.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Secondhand Smoke

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    There are many explicit premises in this article that I will examine. The first premise is that, Tobacco companies have been and continue to be involved in undermining scientific evidence that documents the health hazards of secondhand smoke. This is more than an hidden assumption, reference from the Los Angles Times reported in November 1999 that the major cigarette companies "are engaged in a far-reaching campaign to discredit evidence that secondhand smoke is harmful to human health." This is my second premise. Here, there is an implied notion that the Los Angels Times conducted a study to find these findings true. The third premise states, Tobacco industry allies recycle old myths and propaganda - and continue to plant the seeds of confusion and doubt as to the economic effects of smoke free air policies - before legislatures and city councils. Here we see the strong initiative that the tobacco companies especially Philips and Morris take to attack policies that go against their business. The next premise is the fourth premise, As in the past, tobacco companies have continued to create and hide behind front groups to lobby against tobacco control and public health policies. This is another implied notion, which we can say that tobacco companies are trying to control the regulations on tobacco.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Arthur Miller's The Crucible

    1882 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Catch-22, opposite Miller's The Crucible, Joseph Heller utilizes his uncanny wit to present a novel fraught with dark, satiric comedy tied up in a relatively formless plot.  The character of Nately acts as a focal point for many of the humorous oxymoronic criticisms contained within Catch-22, as "Nately had a bad start.  He came from a good family" (Heller 34), and he ".was the finest, least dedicated man in the whole world"  (35).  Proliferating Catch-22, satirical dark comedy appears in every chapter, even in the depiction of death (Cockburn 179): ".McWatt turned again, dipped his wings in salute, decided, oh, what the hell, and flew into a mountain"(Heller 157).  Furthermore, the plot of Catch-22 follows a cyclical structure in that repetitions of particular events recur in a planned randomness, an oxymoron that pays tribute to Catch-22 itself (Merrill 205-209).  A recurring structure within Heller's novel defining his ...

    Read More

  • Tobacco Essay

    1053 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...large sums of money due to tobacco smoking workers who missed valuable work time because of their health issues concerning tobacco. Employers have to pay more for smoker’s heath care insurance. Additionally, in only one year, California nearly lost 8.5 billion dollars of productivity due to early death or illness of smoking tobacco. In 2004, the state of California spent $9.6 billion in health care expenses as a result of smoking tobacco, and $2.9 million on Medicaid/Medi-Cal.

    Read More

  • Tobacco: The Negative Health Impact Of Tobacco

    1457 Words  | 3 Pages

    Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.

    Read More

  • Billy Pilgrim Character Analysis

    639 Words  | 2 Pages

    This independent reading assignment is dedicated to Slaughterhouse-Five, written by Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut experienced many hardships during and as a result of his time in the military, including World War II, which he portrays through the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five, Billy Pilgrim. Slaughterhouse-Five, however, not only introduces these military experiences and the internal conflicts that follow, but also alters the chronological sequence in which they occur. Billy is an optometry student that gets drafted into the military and sent to Luxembourg to fight in the Battle of Bulge against Germany. Though he remains unscathed, he is now mentally unstable and becomes “unstuck in time” (Vonnegut 30). This means that he is able to perceive

    Read More

  • Social Influences on Smoking

    3489 Words  | 7 Pages

    The tobacco industry is important to the economy. In 1991, worldwide tobacco sales exceeded $59.8 billion and in 1992 the industry was rated as one of the top one hundred advertisers (Pechmann and Ratneshwar, 1994). However, there are high prices to pay - socially, economically, and personally - as a result of this industry. Annual mortality figures indicate that cigarette smoking is the number one cause of preventable death in the United States. An estimated 390,000 people die each year of smoke related illnesses, which is greater than the combined mortality for cocaine, crack, AIDS, homicide, suicide, and alcohol abuse (Botvin, G., Baker, Botvin, E., Dusenbury, Cardwell, and Diaz, 1993).

    Read More

  • Ethics Of The Tobacco Industry

    1021 Words  | 3 Pages

    .I believe that the Tobacco industry is unethical, They provide a product that causes addiction and eventual death if smoking continues thought the majority of a person’s life. I think that the tobacco industry needs to take more responsibility for their product. I believe they should do this by not advertising on the false image of being a cigarette smoker and focus on what consumers are actually going to receive for their money when purchasing cigarettes. They should focus on the feeling it gives people, and what the cigarette experience actually is in the most literal terms. Also cigarette companies should tell costumers upfront in easy to read labels the long term and short term effects of smoking to let people clearly know what they are buying and what it’s effects are.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Discipline In The Army

    836 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lack of discipline starts by letting a Soldier off, or slide on what would be a minor infraction

    Read More

More about Free Catch-22 Essays: Insanity

Open Document