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Catch 22

 

            In Catch-22, Joseph Heller reveals darker side of human nature as well as society. Heller manipulates various themes and a unique style and structure to satirize war and its values, as well as using the war setting to satirize society as a whole. Satire is often used by writers to express their discontent towards a subject in a humorous way. By maneuvering the traditional war setting and language of the novel, Heller is able to depict society as sinister and warped. Heller is able to provide his ideas of human nature through the elements of war and the effects it had on society during the war. Heller explores many common themes throughout the novel. He comments on the lives of the soldiers becoming less individualistic, the chaotic world of war itself, and the "catches- to everyday life.
             Heller's novel not only satirizes war, but all of society. Catch-22 shows how the individual soldier loses his uniqueness. Heller exhibits that the problem with this is not necessarily from the battles themselves, but from the routine activities of military life. The most relevant example is of Lt. Scheisskopf's fascination with parades. This activity, all the soldiers together doing the same thing, kind of shows how they are losing individuality, and are just lead. Heller symbolically uses Lt. Scheisskopf to act as a puppeteer, and one time he actually comments on wanting to "wire the soldiers together-. This act alone shows how disapprovingly Heller looks on at the loss of individuality in the military system. Another idea of this is when Yossarian gets wounded. They tell him to take care of his leg because it is "government property-. Soldiers, therefore, are not even people, but simply property owned and controlled by an institution. .
             The novel exhibits Heller's satirical outlook on other war novels that glorify war, even though it consists only of dishonorable actions. One time, a soldier steals a lifer raft supplies and trades them.


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