Catch 22: Review of Joseph Heller's Satirical Novel

Catch-22 is a Juvenalian satirical novel by American writer Joseph Heller, published in 1961. It turns its back on conventional notions of heroism in order to place war in a much broader psychological, sociological, and economic context. In chapter 32 “Yo-Yo”, which is also Yossarian’s nickname, Yossarian is grieving for Orr, not because Orr's disappearance has reminded Yossarian that death is lurking nearby but that he simply misses his friend and wishes to preserve Orr's memory with the belief that 'to abandon Orr's tent would be to abandon Orr.' Yossarian is assigned four fresh combatants into his tent, which he cannot endure as he has been appreciating the silence from the tent and the warmth from Orr’s stoves.

It seems appropriate that Yossarian's nickname is 'Yo-Yo.' A yo-yo is the perfect metaphor for the recurring images of circularity and linearity that characterizes the chaotic world of Joseph Heller's novel, which delves into the development of Heller’s characters. The yo-yo moves in two different paths, on one side it follows a simple linear path down its string whereas on the other hand it shifts up and down in different motions but eventually finds its way back into your hands, the beginning. Yossarian's moral development in Catch-22 is one of the many circularly linear themes in the novel, but unlike the rest, it ultimately succeeds in breaking out of the hopeless circularity of Heller's world. Heller sets up a series of binary and corresponding moral dilemmas that Yossarian must face, and through parallel comparison allows his protagonist to finally come to a moral awakening.

The young recruits are brought in as an ironic counterpoint, or juxtaposition, with Yossarian. Where Yossarian is “a crotchety old fogey of twenty-eight” and grizzled by years of battle, these young recruits are still excited to be fighting, and they seem less aware of the dangers of combat, “They were four clean cut kids who were having lots of fun, and they were driving Yossarian nuts”. As a result of this juxtaposition, they seem almost inhuman. Yossarian sees these new guys as intolerable. They are empty-headed, noisy, overconfident, and self-centred. Yossarian knows it's not the boys' fault that they're still confident and cheerful and decides 'to be patient with them until one or two were killed and the rest wounded, and then it would all turn out okay.' But when the boys dump the late Mudd's effects into the bushes, Yossarian retreats to Rome with Nately before his roommates can dump him too.

Many of Yossarians experiences in Catch-22 occur in twos. Trying to convince the doctors that he is indeed insane, Yossarian proclaims, 'I see everything twice'. Yossarian does indeed see many things twice, and throughout the novel comes to similar moral impasses twice before making the 'right' decision.

Interesting Things

This is the first time the reader gets the sense of a new crop of airmen moving up in the ranks. Yossarian feels not only crowded but crowded out: there's no room for him with all this bumptious happiness and optimism bubbling around. He 'could not make them understand that he was a crotchety old fogey of twenty-eight.'

For Yossarian, this is progress. He now spends so much time hating his roommates that he can't focus on death as well as he used to. And as he grumbles to himself about this pesky new generation, Yossarian's self-perception changes. He's still too young to die, but he can't help feeling more mature.

Conclusion

Though the novel is not written chronologically, it fits together to advance Heller's radical protest against the modern social order. What appears to be formless chaos is in fact a brilliant strategy to expose not only the worst excesses of the modern bureaucracy but also the complacent acceptance of this system on the part of everyone involved, including Heller's readers. The structural complexity of Catch-22 thus embodies Heller's meaning more thoroughly than even his admirers have been willing to suggest.