In August 1944, Heller flew on a mission over the French town of Avignon. Sitting in a B-25 bomber, Heller faced thereal possibility of death for the first time. That mission, says Heller biographer Tracy Daugherty, shaped the way Heller thought about war, a sensibility that permeates his novel.."After that mission over Avignon, Heller really understood that this is not an abstraction," Daugherty says. "They are out to kill me personally, and he didn't like it — and Yossarian doesn't either." (Joesph Heller, Catch-22)
Yossarian is created base on Heller himself — an everyman soldier who is trying as hard as he can to get out of the war. But the more he tries, the more he is caught in the famous catch: "Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy," Doc Daneeka, the Army physician, explains. There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Bomber pilot, Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. ... Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. The novel draws to a close as Yossarian, troubled by Nately’s death, refuses to fly any more missions.He turns his back on the dehumanizing machinery of the military, rejects the rule of Catch-22, and strives to gain control of his own life.(Joesph Heller, Catch-22)
That Catch-22 is a parody is quite clear. Heller expresses it by using many paradoxical statements to absurd qualities of all his characters. Although the tone is at times light-hearted, at other times, it becomes very serious. This fits the themes of the work, and seems to comment on the absurdity of war. While characters can be joking about apples at the moment, people are dying the next.
Yossarian is created base on Heller himself — an everyman soldier who is trying as hard as he can to get out of the war. But the more he tries, the more he is caught in the famous catch: "Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy," Doc Daneeka, the Army physician, explains. There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Bomber pilot, Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. ... Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. The novel draws to a close as Yossarian, troubled by Nately’s death, refuses to fly any more missions.He turns his back on the dehumanizing machinery of the military, rejects the rule of Catch-22, and strives to gain control of his own life.(Joesph Heller, Catch-22)
That Catch-22 is a parody is quite clear. Heller expresses it by using many paradoxical statements to absurd qualities of all his characters. Although the tone is at times light-hearted, at other times, it becomes very serious. This fits the themes of the work, and seems to comment on the absurdity of war. While characters can be joking about apples at the moment, people are dying the next.
Catch-22 (logic); Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch-22_(logic); 2012.
Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" As Postmodern Literature;20th-century-philosophy.wikispaces; https://20th-century-philosophy.wikispaces.com/Catch-22+as+Postmodern+Literature;2011
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