Post Number Four: Live Free or Post Hard

Alex Dzwierzynski

Post Number Four

          If there is one thing that Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 excels at, it is making fun of humans and the rules we create. As such, a constant theme throughout the novel is the absolute absurdity of the army’s rules and regulations. Many of these rules function as Catch-22s including when Doc Daneeka explains the army’s rule about grounding pilots to Yossarian and the rule that states that you must follow a commanding officers orders even if it goes against other rules. There are other examples of Catch-22s as well, such as when Major Major is placed under the command of the Lieutenant Scheisskopf, whom he outranks. This results in confusion as although Major Major outranks the Lieutenant, the Lieutenant is “still your commanding officer so you better do what I tell you, sir, or you’ll get into trouble” (97). Thus, because of this Catch-22, both men end up calling each other sure, not knowing what else to do. Some, like Milo Minderbinder see opportunity in the chaos of the rules and exploit them to their favor, with Milo’s criminal syndicate making loads of money justifying his action by claiming that “everyone has a share” (241).  However, the absurdity and strength of the bureaucracy drives no one crazier than Yossarian, who is panicked at the fact that millions of people he has never met are trying to kill him in ways both directly and indirectly. They are trying to kill him directly, by shooting at him while he is flying and the army is trying to kill him indirectly by making him fly the plane in the first place. Distraught by the fact that he and his friends are placed in constant danger without having a say in the matter, Yossarian has made it his life’s goal to stay alive through the war at all costs. He goes to great effort to achieve this goal, by constantly checking into the hospital due to the fact that “he always ran a temperature of 101,” and “tiptoed out of his tent to move the bomb line up over Bologna,” making it seem like Bologna was already captured and allowing them not to bomb it (15, 129) Yet in his constant effort to avoid combat, he finds himself trapped by the Catch-22s of military law that does not allow him to go home due to the required number of missions that is constantly raised. By noticing the lengths that Yossarian goes to in order to avoid combat is how I came to understand the theme of Catch-22. That, along with the long strands of dialogue between the various soldiers about rules that never seem to go anywhere. The theme of Catch-22, is the absolute power of the bureaucracy that forces people to follow rules no matter how stupid or contradicting they may seem.

While reading Catch-22, at first I did not notice how any of the authors suggestions were effecting my reading, But, after reviewing the list, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the techniques of Nabokov, Foster, and the like were taking place automatically in my head. Like Nabokov and Prose stressed, I was rereading things when I did not understand them the first time (and there was a lot of things that I did not understand and had to reread) and like Foster suggested, I marked down pages where patterns I had been noticing had shown up such as when I saw a Catch-22 in the text. However the lessons taught by O’Connor had the biggest impact on my reading. Because, as mentioned before, Catch-22 is a novel of characters, I took mental notes on characters, both major and minor as O’Connor suggested. Because there are so many of them, I observed when various characters did what and why they did that thing, going back and reading that characters particular chapter when I blanked or forgot.

And now, we come to the part of this last post where I suggest whether or not you fine people reading this should read Catch-22 or not. I’ve thought about it quite a bit, and I’m afraid to say that I’m a little bit conflicted. One part of me wants to recommend this book, because I know that many consider it one of the best books of the twentieth century and if you are looking for an entertaining truly hilarious read that contains some of the best characters ever invented in the history of literature than look no further. However the other part of me is annoyed with this book. There is almost no plot in this book and despite how great and interesting the characters are, the vast amount of names makes it hard to keep track of who is who. Basically, my main quarrel with this book is that it goes on for way too long. While plot-centered books can go on for hundreds of pages while remaining interesting, this book struggles too. Its redeeming quality however, is its charm and humor, which, in my opinion, makes the book worth reading. It’s humor revolves around Yossarian, who I believe is truly one of the most clever, brilliant, weird, funny, and intriguing characters ever put on paper, and to see him and his comrades ridiculous stories play out it truly worth the ride.