Dj Carroll 3/4/12 Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is an interesting novel; the setting is a war in the mid-1900s. There are many characters in the story, but I would have to say that the main one is Yossarian. The book describes random events in each of the soldiers’ lives, but these events don’t seem to lead to much of a point, until the end of the novel. Then, out of nowhere, comes the meaning behind the book. Heller does a great job of ending the book. By having Yossarian run away the meaning of the book is set in stone. Each character in the novel seems to have a certain way in which theyjudge their power, importance, and worth. Throughout the entire book, the only character that resembles someone with good opinions of himself is Yossarian. He appears to be the only character that realizes the insignificance the war effort is because almost all the people in the novel are fighting for the wrong reason. He says, “Am I supposed to get my ass shot off just because the colonel wants to be a general?”. Other characters, like ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen respond to questions with answer that seem to make no sense. In the case where Yossarian is requesting that Wintergreen get them off the flight to Bologna because they will probably die, Wintergreen comes back with the unbelievable answer “Then you’ll have to be killed…if your destined to be killed over Bologna, then you’re going to be killed, so you might just as well go out and die like a man. I hate to say this, Yossarian, but you’re turning into a chronic complainer”. The importance of life is gone; Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen is more concerned about peddling his goods throughout the war then he is about the life of a friend. Another strange character in the story was Milo Minderbinder. The person originally brought in to run the mess hall, who later had his own business, M & M Enterprises, in which he traded things in order to gain stuff for himself. He collected stuff, like art and sculptures that would be really valuable after the war. The only problem with this is that it got to the point that he would trade things valuable to the other men in the army, like trucks and guns. He also made deals which involved Americans attacking a bridge at Orvieto. The agreement was that he would get the money for the attack plus six percent. Then Milo turned around and made a deal with the Germans for defending the bridge at the same cost-plus-six agreement with a bonus of a thousand dollars for each plane shot down. Deals like this showed the fact that the last concern of Milo was his fellow enlisted men. Money was far more dominant on the ladder of importance for the owner of M & M Enterprises. The title of the novel, Catch-22, is an example of how things are more important to some than others. In order to prevent things from happening, this catch-22 was established to allow anything to happen or not happen as desired. In order for a person to leave the army because they are crazy, all they have to do is ask Doc Daneeka, but if a character asks the Doc, he won’t send them home because they must not be crazy. Some of the characters like the Doc, will hold the rule book above the wishes of a friend who is in need of help. The order of importance in his life is not that of a true friend, but someone using the system to escape responsibility. Overall, the book was very odd. It gave a different perception of war and society–such as the pointlessness of war and how when it is looked at closely hurts both the enemy and the allies–and from a greater perspective, how we humans inflict catastrophe on ourselves. Catch-22 overall makes us stop and think about the faults of the society.
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