catch-22

CATCH-22

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is set in the later stages of World War 2. I would definitely recommend it to everyone.

Yossarian is a bombardier in the war and is desperately trying to get out of it. Their colonels are always raising the amount of missions they have to fly before they can be sent home, so no one is ever sent home. Yossarian takes the whole war personally and thinks he and his friends shouldn’t have to die because of something someone else has done. Yossarian is desperately trying to live (be immortal) and spends a lot of his time faking illnesses in hospital to avoid the war. Yossarian is placed in ridiculous and tragic circumstances and sees men die and disappear and colonels volunteer their men for dangerous battles for their own reputations.

Catch-22 is lots of catches throughout the book. At the start of the book Yossarian find out that you can get out of the war by going insane, so Yossarian claims he is insane to get out only to find that anyone who doesn’t want to fly and leave must be sane, That is one example of catch-22. Another example is when Yossarian find out that you only have to fly forty missions before you can be sent home. Yossarian had already done forty-eight so as far as he is concerned he should be sent home, But Twenty seventh air force also says that you must do as your commanding officer says and his commanding officer says he must fly fifty-five. So he must fly fifty-five or he will be shot for disobeying orders. That is another example of catch-22. This happens a lot throughout the book.

Yossarian was put in danger throughout the whole book, especially when he told Nately’s lover some bad news.    

Nately was Yossarian’s friend

Alex Shirley