catch-22美国文学选读
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Joseph Heller (1923-1999)
Catch -22 Black Humor
Definition of the term
• It used to be a military term
• Because of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, it has
become an English idiom.
Its effects
• Through extreme irony and exaggeration, the writer may express his/her strong hatred and contempt to cruel reality.
• Showing writer’s (narrator) anguish and pain
• Guilt-- The death of Snowden plagues Yossarian throughout the war.
Key issues of the novel
• Confusion --- Catch-22; the war itself
• Greed --- Cathcart’s greed for power; Milo’s greed for money
• Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony.
• Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce.
Main Characters
• Protagonist
•inks everyone is trying to kill him( which is true); thinks everyone is crazy; feels guilty about the death of Snowden, which changes his view of war.
• It is only human nature to feel guilt when one takes the blame for an incident, even if it was not his fault.
Questions
• How would you act in Yossarian’s situation?
• As a familiar quote says, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Yossarian learns the hard way that men with power have a tendency to abuse their authority.
• Chapter41: he was wounded and then treated by two fake doctors. When the “treatment〞 was over, he was told his superior was going to make him a “hero, and this acknowledgement let him remember his comrade Snowden’s death.
• An example: job-hunting
Analysis of the text
• General Setting:in an American army camp on the island of Pianosa, Rome during World War Ⅱ.
• Minor setting: yossarian remembered Snowden’s death when he (Yossarian) was wounded.
Brief summary
• The novel tells a story of a pilot soldier Yossarian in WWⅡ. His task is to accomplish a certain number of flying missions. But his superior keeps raising the number using one military rule Catch22. it mainly describes every effort the protagonist Yossarian has made for his escape from the Catch-22 and ultimately from the war.
Black humor in the text
• The unprofessional conversation between the two “doctors〞
• Snowden’s murmuring (I’m cold, I’m cold) and Yossarian’s response (there, there).
• Quotation of Shakespeare’s plays.
• Description of Snowden’s wound.
lessons, morals and applications
• From the themes of confusion and greed, as well as the men's experiences with the idea of catch22, it is quite plain to see that men with power will keep power, and those without power suffer the consequences.
and improbable plot) , which is a rarely used literary form.
• Black humor
Definition of Black humor
• in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world.
Minor characters
• Snowden- soldier who dies in Yossarian's plane; while Yossarian was treating him for minor leg wounds, Snowden was dying of fatal chest wounds- Yossarian feels guilty because if he had known about the real problem, he thinks he could have saved Snowden's life(chapter41).
• Guilt --- Yossarian’s sense of guilty for Snowden’s death
Writing technique
• a satirical farce (A light dramatic
composition marked by broadly satirical comedy
• Definition: an impossible situation; one in which the solution or success depends on mutually dependent factors: A depends on B; B, in turn, is dependent on A; so it is an interlocking situation in which there is no way out.
Guilt
• Guilt is a visible theme in Heller's novel, but the reader finds that guilt is not always needed.
• For example, Yossarian could not have helped Snowden in his hour of need, but he felt guilty because he did not save his life.
The theme
• Pity - The reader has pity for each soldier every time he is afraid to go on a mission.
• Reality- Each soldier has to face the fact that there is a chance that he may never come down from a mission alive.
• Antagonist
• Cathcart:
• colonel that desperately wanted to be a general; unsure of himself, want to impress his superiorwhich is why he keeps raising the number of the missions
• Milo Minderbinder- mess officer; leader of the syndicate (black market/underground business dealings); willdo anything for a profit, even bomb his own squadron.
• Hope- Orr has a constant hope of crashing successfully and escaping to Sweden.
• Sanity--Yossarian claims that he is the only sane one in the squadron and everyone else is crazy.
• Orr- shares tent with Yossarian, practices crashing every mission- eventually crashes and escapes.
• Nately – a soldier who had a love affair with a girl before his death. Yossarian broke the news of Nately’s death to her. In violent rage, she tried to kll him. Because of this, Yossarian was wounded( beginning of chapter41).
• Friendship- -Yossarian's bonds with the other men are important.
• Confusion-- A great deal of confusion is caused by the use of the term Catch-22.
• Greed-- The Machiavellian philosophy (the end justifies the means) of Cathcart and Milo demonstrates this theme.
Catch -22 Black Humor
Definition of the term
• It used to be a military term
• Because of Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, it has
become an English idiom.
Its effects
• Through extreme irony and exaggeration, the writer may express his/her strong hatred and contempt to cruel reality.
• Showing writer’s (narrator) anguish and pain
• Guilt-- The death of Snowden plagues Yossarian throughout the war.
Key issues of the novel
• Confusion --- Catch-22; the war itself
• Greed --- Cathcart’s greed for power; Milo’s greed for money
• Ordinary characters or situations are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire or irony.
• Black humor uses devices often associated with tragedy and is sometimes equated with tragic farce.
Main Characters
• Protagonist
•inks everyone is trying to kill him( which is true); thinks everyone is crazy; feels guilty about the death of Snowden, which changes his view of war.
• It is only human nature to feel guilt when one takes the blame for an incident, even if it was not his fault.
Questions
• How would you act in Yossarian’s situation?
• As a familiar quote says, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Yossarian learns the hard way that men with power have a tendency to abuse their authority.
• Chapter41: he was wounded and then treated by two fake doctors. When the “treatment〞 was over, he was told his superior was going to make him a “hero, and this acknowledgement let him remember his comrade Snowden’s death.
• An example: job-hunting
Analysis of the text
• General Setting:in an American army camp on the island of Pianosa, Rome during World War Ⅱ.
• Minor setting: yossarian remembered Snowden’s death when he (Yossarian) was wounded.
Brief summary
• The novel tells a story of a pilot soldier Yossarian in WWⅡ. His task is to accomplish a certain number of flying missions. But his superior keeps raising the number using one military rule Catch22. it mainly describes every effort the protagonist Yossarian has made for his escape from the Catch-22 and ultimately from the war.
Black humor in the text
• The unprofessional conversation between the two “doctors〞
• Snowden’s murmuring (I’m cold, I’m cold) and Yossarian’s response (there, there).
• Quotation of Shakespeare’s plays.
• Description of Snowden’s wound.
lessons, morals and applications
• From the themes of confusion and greed, as well as the men's experiences with the idea of catch22, it is quite plain to see that men with power will keep power, and those without power suffer the consequences.
and improbable plot) , which is a rarely used literary form.
• Black humor
Definition of Black humor
• in literature, drama, and film, grotesque or morbid humor used to express the absurdity, insensitivity, paradox, and cruelty of the modern world.
Minor characters
• Snowden- soldier who dies in Yossarian's plane; while Yossarian was treating him for minor leg wounds, Snowden was dying of fatal chest wounds- Yossarian feels guilty because if he had known about the real problem, he thinks he could have saved Snowden's life(chapter41).
• Guilt --- Yossarian’s sense of guilty for Snowden’s death
Writing technique
• a satirical farce (A light dramatic
composition marked by broadly satirical comedy
• Definition: an impossible situation; one in which the solution or success depends on mutually dependent factors: A depends on B; B, in turn, is dependent on A; so it is an interlocking situation in which there is no way out.
Guilt
• Guilt is a visible theme in Heller's novel, but the reader finds that guilt is not always needed.
• For example, Yossarian could not have helped Snowden in his hour of need, but he felt guilty because he did not save his life.
The theme
• Pity - The reader has pity for each soldier every time he is afraid to go on a mission.
• Reality- Each soldier has to face the fact that there is a chance that he may never come down from a mission alive.
• Antagonist
• Cathcart:
• colonel that desperately wanted to be a general; unsure of himself, want to impress his superiorwhich is why he keeps raising the number of the missions
• Milo Minderbinder- mess officer; leader of the syndicate (black market/underground business dealings); willdo anything for a profit, even bomb his own squadron.
• Hope- Orr has a constant hope of crashing successfully and escaping to Sweden.
• Sanity--Yossarian claims that he is the only sane one in the squadron and everyone else is crazy.
• Orr- shares tent with Yossarian, practices crashing every mission- eventually crashes and escapes.
• Nately – a soldier who had a love affair with a girl before his death. Yossarian broke the news of Nately’s death to her. In violent rage, she tried to kll him. Because of this, Yossarian was wounded( beginning of chapter41).
• Friendship- -Yossarian's bonds with the other men are important.
• Confusion-- A great deal of confusion is caused by the use of the term Catch-22.
• Greed-- The Machiavellian philosophy (the end justifies the means) of Cathcart and Milo demonstrates this theme.