Great pieces of literature are influenced by their author’s life and the times in which they were written. These two factors combine to make literature that is both entertaining and meaningful to readers. Joseph Heller’s outrageously funny and very affecting novel Catch-22 is a perfect example. Heller draws on his past and alludes to events happening during the time in which he wrote to create what the Chicago Sun-Times called “an apocalyptic masterpiece.”
Heller’s past is very evident throughout Catch-22. Joseph Heller grew up in Coney Island, New York, a town famous for its carnival atmosphere and attractions (Biography 1). This environment led to Heller’s satirical and darkly humorous attitude evident in his own life and especially in his writing. Catch-22 is a social satire that utilizes dark humor. In one instance Heller makes a point by joking about death. In his novel he makes the army unable to recognize that Mudd is dead and Doc is alive because they have more faith in the military’s records than the reality of one live body and one dead body (Miller 43). Furthermore, the main character in Catch-22, Yossarian, is essentially based on Heller himself. Heller flew as a bombardier on some sixty combat mis

The satirical allusions present in the novel make it significant to readers. Most of the readers in the 1960s responded well to Heller’s celebration of the individual and satire of institutions such as the government, military and business corporations (Telgen 104). Yossarian stands up against corrupt superiors, recognizes the hypocrisy of the army, and makes up his own mind on how to respond to his situation in war (Miller 16). These themes became a crucial part of the zeitgeist, spirit of the age, in the 1960s. American youth began to question the idea that American institutions and politicians were completely trustworthy and free from corruption. With the start of the controversial Vietnam War, Americans began to ask themselves why Americans were being sent to die and why nobody in power seemed to care (Telgen 104). It is fairly obvious why Catch-22 became so meaningful to people in the 1960s. People were going through the same things Yossarian goes through in the novel.

This interpretation is easily supported as the book is very light hearted and funny. While Catch-22 takes place in 1944, in it Heller makes frequent allusions to events in America in the 1950s, when he wrote the novel. He uses anachronisms such as computers and helicopters to make people think of the Korean War as well as World War II. H