Essays on Catch-22

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is arguably one of the most influential books of its time. Written during a very difficult period in Heller’s life, the novel captures what was to be a pivotal moment for American culture, as well as American history. Catch-22 follows Captain John Yossarian as he peels back the traditional heroism of war to reveal sheer madness. With heavy notes of satire, Heller presents several different themes throughout the novel as we see Yossarian thrust into the insane trappings of a real catch-22, sometimes masking the symbolism of what the book really stands for, which is what war ...

At first glance, Joseph Heller's well-known Novel, Catch-22, is just another novel about war. In the years following World War I and World War II, many well respected authors published war tales, many of which romanticized the call of duty and the sacrifices that were made for the good of the nation. Heller's novel differs in that Catch-22 does not paint a rosy picture of war. Instead, the novel focuses on the meaninglessness of war: the meaningless deaths, the meaningless missions and the meaningless decisions handed down by leaders with little investment in the people who are fighting the war. ...

Book Review: Catch-22

This book, written by Joseph Heller and published in 1961, is perhaps best known for its title alone, which has become a familiar expression in the English language, meaning any “no-win” situation, originally derived from a specific set of circumstances occurring in the novel. Heller set his novel in 1943 in World War II, much of the action located on a small island called Pianosa, near to Elba on the Italian Tuscan coast in the Mediterranean Sea. (The island is real, but much smaller than this work of fiction purported it to be). The main character is Captain John Yossarian, a B-25 bombardier ...