gsdgsdg

Black Humor and Negation in Catch-22
Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 is satirical masterpiece that has been enjoyed by readers for decades. It was the first novel to transform World War II from a human tragedy
into an absurdist comedy and proved that nothing is sacrosanct in literature. The novel uses satire and dark humor and a non-traditional structure to keep the reader off-balance just long enough for Heller to unleash his more serious themes. War must be the ultimate absurdity of human existence. How else to explain engaging in violence repeatedly and consistently throughout millennia in attempt to impose peace? Catch-22 was one of the first novels to portray the seriousness of war as a comedy, albeit a comedy of extraordinary darkness.
One of the missions of the novel is to expose much of the common misconceptions about the military and war, especially that it is efficient, smooth and intensely patriotic. The conventional view of military leaders as
both noble warriors and men of integrity is attacked repeatedly in Catch-22. The novel's protagonist, Yossarian, nearly reaches the point of insanity not only because the Germans seem intent on killing him with bombs and bullets, but equally so because the American colonels and generals are motivated more by career goals and getting promoted than by any real concern for the soldiers. One key element in painting this portrait of the utter lack of integrity on the part of the military's strategic executives is that the primary concern when sending Yossarian and his fellow men on bombing runs is making sure there are superior aerial photographs of the bombings than it is that they actually destroy the intended target. The pointlessness of combat is further served by the discomforting conversation Nately has with the old man at the whorehouse. Nately represents that naïve innocence and belief in the purity of a war's mission and is appropriately horrified by the old man's amorality which stands in stark contrast to the view most Americans had of their military leaders at the time. However, the old man's confession that he has at various times supported the Americans and the Germans rings disturbingly familiar. After all, for four years Americans were told there was nothing worse than a German; in the blink of an eye the same people became an ally. Few occurrences in society reach such heights of absurdity. The closest that any American comes to understanding the old man's perspective is Yossarian, who makes the ultimate mistake of taking the fact that people are trying to kill him personally instead of realizing he is a just a necessary cog in a much larger piece of machinery.
Although the novel takes place during World War II it differs greatly from other war novels in that it is not the Nazis who are the enemy, but rather the American military bureaucracy. Beyond that, it is really about how Yossarian comes to full consciousness by recognizing that all the institutions Americans hold most dear are devised mainly for the purpose of dehumanizing us all. One particularly useful example of how the novel engages in absurdity to undermine the traditional view of the military occurs when Yossarian sneaks out in the middle of the night to move the bomb line over Bologna. The result is that now the military behaves as if Bologna actually had been overtaken, pointing out how far removed from reality bureaucracy can often be. Obviously, it is ridiculous to assume that merely moving a line on a map would convince people that an objective has been won, but is it really any more absurd than knowingly using false information
to convince an entire country to support the invasion of a country that posed no threat?
The primary weapon that Joseph Heller uses to explode his satirical bombs in Catch-22 is black humor. Black humor has been defined by French surrealist Andre Breton as a "lampooning of social conventions and a profound
disrespect for the nobility of literature". The darkly-edged comic sensibility of the book is not there merely to draw gasps of outrage or shock, rather it is to lampoon the pinnacle of absurdity in human existence: that the most precious thing we have, life, is the price that must be paid for everything else we want. Each of the men in Yossarian's unit deal with this absurdity in ever-darker ways. Yossarian revolts by stripping naked and climbing up a tree. Chief White Halfoat is a ticking time bomb who stays sane by dreaming of killing his roommate, while Hungry Joe releases his fear of instant death by having nightmares that continually cause him to wake up screaming. Probably the most darkly comedic expression of man attempting vainly to flee the approach of his own mortality is the major subplot involving Milo Minderbinder and his syndicate. Milo is an absurdist interpretation of capitalism run amok and his presence serves to constantly remind one that at the heart of the fear of Nazi aggression was the potential for economic security to be upended. Heller connects the fear of death with the need for sexual release in darkly comical ways as well. All of the women in the novel are portrayed primarily as sex objects to be dominated by men; not just the prostitutes, but the nurses as well. The connection between prostitution and nursing is not coincidental; while it may be taken to extremes to position both professions as getting paid to special care of men, the link is a valid one exactly because Heller takes it to the point where the nurses almost seem to act as prostitutes and prostitutes seem almost to serve as nurses, healing the psychic wounds of the soldiers.
The use of black humor in Catch-22 is a perfect example of its very intention, which is to temporarily distract from the principle serious of a situation by lightening the load, only to come back full force with an even deeper appreciation of that serious. While it is true that Heller engages in black humor to satirize those elements of existence that frighten us the most-loss of control and eventual death-he also uses it for a more mundane reason. By taking things past the logical expectation and introducing bizarre and outlandish situations, the reader temporarily is distracted from the ugliness of it all. Heller avoids the trap of most war novels in which the reader gradually becomes immune to authentic depictions of battle by introducing comedy and making it more grotesque. The satire of such subplots as Milo's would not have the same effect otherwise.
The nature of insanity is a running theme throughout Catch-22; the title, in fact, reflects the very nature of how sanity is judged. It is the mental state of Yossarian that drives his actions; he
is too sane for his survival. Despite the fact he engages in deviant behavior such as stripping off his clothes for an extended period of time, Yossarian is all too sane by society's standards. He recognizes that he is putting his life on the line and getting very little in return. Obviously, one cannot be truly insane if one recognizes the value of his life and that people and events are conspiring all around him to snuff out that life. The great irony of Yossarian's life is that many around him truly do believe he is insane, but he can't convince the one person he needs to safe his life. Considering the sometimes psychotic actions of those other men, however, it may be merely that case that Daneeka is considering the source. For instance, if Hungry Joe were to try to convince Doc Daneeka that Yossarian was insane, he would immediately be questioned over
concerns of his own insanity. Hungry Joe's actions and deeds would suggest that he must clearly be disturbed, from his nightmare screams to little photography habit. But there is never any question that Hungry Joe is actually disturbed due to the lingering presence of death all around him. While Yossarian seems rational and intelligent to most readers, Hungry Joe definitely comes off as unhinged, yet both are merely reacting in their own individual ways to the nearness of death.
The absurd themes that Heller attacks in Catch-22 are realized through his use of language. The novel is not structured in a traditional linear way; events occur out of sequence or are repeated from differing perspective. This technique is fully employed in the dialogue sequences which often seem quite unreal and sometimes verge into quite funny comedy. What Heller is attempting is a negation whereby the real intent of language is hidden by inverting it. Heller uses irony as a means of inverting the meaning in order to satirize various things. The use of twisted dialogue that eventually becomes devoid of all meaning is the way the novel satirizes the corruption of the people who misappropriate the most sacred institutions and responsibilities. The use of off-kilter language and strange logic serves to underline the overwhelming absurdity. One example is the casual yet completely bizarre observation of Colonel Cargill that no other army can call themselves American. In addition, Heller also serves to negate reality through the use of symbols, such the idea of the flies Appleby's eyes or the weird little story of Orr's stuffing crab apples or horse chestnuts into his mouth. These are all indications of a world that is not as it should be and is the novel's way of asking why. When Captain Black says signing the loyalty oath is completely voluntary, but then immediately asserts that anyone who does not sign will be starved to death it is funny, but it also has an element of truth in it. Black's coerced volunteerism really isn't so different from the attempts to coerce people into supporting the actions of their President by telling them if they don't then they aren't supporting the troops. One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other. It is all a negation of the very foundation of reality. Heller's use of negation also extends to the deeds of his characters. Yossarian stripping off his clothes is his attempt to negate the reality of military service. Since everything in the military depends on rank and
rank is expressed through stripes on a sleeve, Yossarian's rejection of the very fabric of a soldier amounts to an attempt to negate all that it represents. He becomes like a child, even to the point of climbing a tree. But even in the safety of those confines, Heller introduces an action that is even more absurd a negation than Yossarian's. When Milo offers him the chocolate-covered cotton and tells him it is candy even though Yossarian can plainly see it's not, Milo is engaging in the negation of all reality that his capitalist heart admires. Society is built upon exactly Milo's type of capitalist excess and his desire to advertise to Yossarian something that is not is expressed every day in thousands of commercials and advertisements. Milo's crusade is the greatest symbol of negation in the entire book because his actions serve to negate the very basis for the war. By engaging in business with the enemy, Milo ultimately serves to prove beyond a doubt that war is utterly meaningless. The opposing sides will always reconcile and start doing business.
Catch-22 uses absurdity and satire to make a powerful indictment against not only war itself, but the agents of war. Beyond that, the book also implicates many other institutions as it paints a world where everything is topsy-turvy. The primary focus of the satire is on the war machine that
dehumanizes soldiers in an attempt to turn them into unquestioning and blindly loyal killing machines. The architects of war who sit comfortably away from the bombs are more concerned with getting ahead than protecting the men doing the fighting for them. And the men are so afraid of death that the only comfort they can take is turning every available woman into a sex object. The central thematic concern at stake is the question of insanity and Heller proves that in a world that glorifies war, there is no such thing as true insanity unless you recognize that it is in your own best interest to opt out. Yossarian's final flight from the brutal realities of war is considered by man to be an act of cowardice, but closer scrutiny reveals that it is the first truly sane decision any character makes in the entire book. Ironically, Heller achieves heroism for Yossarian in the end not by making him a warrior, but by making him a deserter. It is the ultimate act of negation in a book that attempts to negate every conception of war that was previously held. Yossarian's claim to heroism is the definitive clause of Catch-22.
It has been said by an innumerable amount of military leaders, authors, and journalists, “War is hell.” Those who have never served on the battlefield will never know the changes that happen in the minds of
soldiers. In the May 5, 2005 edition of the New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert wrote “This is what happens in war. It's the sickening reality that is seldom seen in the censored, sanitized version of the conflict that Americans typically get from the government and the media.” Consider Herbert’s quote as a renewal of the notions presented by Joseph Heller in his novel Catch 22. Although Heller’s messages were shrouded in “fiction”, they were, and still are, very real and meaningful.
Catch-22 satirizes many aspects of modern society. On the surface, it appears to be an outcry against war, but Heller criticizes not only the absurdity of war, but also capitalism and religion. He ller’s issues with the notion of capitalism are embodied in the character Milo Minderbinder and the different actions he takes. The absurdity of war is exemplified when Yossarian moves the ribbon on the map so the bomber squad does not have to raid Bologna. Colonel Cathcart’s constant upping of the number of missions for no feasible reason also hints at the ridiculousness of warfare. In Catch-22, Heller voices a sound protest against the ways of modern society. Through the disjointed, spiral plot structure, Heller plays with the mind of the reader, creating moments where he or she begins to think like a war-ravaged soldier. Events happen, situations arise, soldiers are killed,
but rarely does the reader know how, why, and sometimes even when. Such events include the dead man in Yossarian and Orr’s tent and the death of Snowden. Because of the unconventional plot structure, it is difficult for the reader to pinpoint when “now” is in the story. To aid the reader, Heller includes clues in many chapters such as the number of missions Colonel Cathcart has mandated before a soldier can go home and how many times Yossarian has been to the hospital. At times, the story is difficult to follow because chapters in the beginning of the book link up with chapters towards the end of the book, which results in some feelings of déjà vu. The
déjà vu felt by the reader is akin to the monotonous life of a soldier at war; wake up, shower, eat, perform duties, go to sleep, repeat. Both the reader and the war-torn soldier are both pondering “haven’t I done this before?”. The uncharacteristic flow of the book does accomplish one very important task: it keeps the reader engaged. Catch-22 is not a book that can be skimmed for content. It requires constant attention, understanding, and a fair amount of rereading. Similarly, since Heller’s work is rather wordy, educated, and lengthy, the reader needs to sift through which information is relevant to understanding the story.
Heller chooses a third person limited omniscient point-of-view for his novel. In this point-of-view, the reader observes the actions and environment from the outside through the senses and thoughts of a character or characters. In the case of Catch-22 the reader observes the happenings through the eyes of more than thirty characters. This point-of-view is considered limited because narration is restricted to what can be known, seen, thought, or judged from the character’s perspective. This point-of-view works well in Catch-22 because it most closely resembles how people view the world: through a pair of eyes, a set of ears, and a mind. One downfall to the third person limited omniscient is that the reader feels less involved in the story because the narration continues to shift. It’s almost as if the reader is hovering ab ove the story and checking up on each individual character as the story unravels.
In a broad sense, catch-22 is a metaphor for an ordinary person trapped in the insanity of war or life in general. In the waning chapters of the novel, Heller describes a dilapidated, destitute Rome. Its citizens are miserable, buildings are destroyed, starvation is the norm, and soldiers are dying by the thousands. All of this has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen because of catch-22. Regardless of whether catch-22 truly exists (Yossarian maintains that it does not), the common man has no control over anything. That is why Heller’s words are still relevant today. In modern society, decisions are still made by the Milo Minderbinders, Colonel Cathcarts, and politicians. They are not on the front lines sacrificing their lives. Instead, they are safe, secure, and becoming wealthier and healthier by the minute. “When I look up,” Yossarian says, “I see people cashing in. I don't see heaven or saints or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy.” Yossarian is “looking up” at those in the higher ranks in the military and other political officials.
Heller leaves the conclusion of the book very open-ended. This may bother some readers, but there is no better way that Heller could have closed out this work. Given what happened in the novel, what could have been
done? Similarly, given what is happening in society right now, what can be done? At the end of Catch-22, Yossarian didn’t ha ve an answer, which translates into Heller not having an answer either. On the surface, the reader might perceive Yossarian as a deserter and a coward. In all actuality, he did the only thing that catch-22 would allow him to do after he was left hopeless, disgusted, and helpless: run.
Catch-22 is a novel about the absurdity and self-perpetuating insanity of bureaucracies,
particularly military bureaucracies. It's a comedic attack on the rules that such organizations make and self-centered people who make them. It's also a surprisingly poignant and powerful anti-war novel, one that questions the foundations of patriotism and obedience that lead soldiers to fight. It does this set, not in Korea or another unpopular war, but in the heart of World War II.
Yossarian is a bombadier based in Italy in the closing days of the war, the (mostly) sane touchpoint for the reader in a squadron of bizarre and often humorous characters. There is, for instance, Major Major Major Major who simply can't have any other rank and who therefore got command of a squadron because otherwise the military structure would have an extraneous major, but who is so terrified of his men that he spends the war trying to hide from them. There's a hypochondriac doctor who spends the book avoiding flying and pointing out how he has it worse than anyone who's complaining to him. Orr, as mentioned above, attracts disaster; every mission he flies, he gets shot down, suffers mechanical trouble, or nearly crashes. The mess officer turns into a biting satire of a war profiteer, at one point being paid to both attack and defend a city at the same time and another time bombing their own camp to get out of debt. And, of course, there's Colonel Cathcart, the one who waits until enough pilots have finishe d their required missions and concluded their tour that he's having a hard time staffing missions and then raises the required number of missions before their transfer orders arrive.
Grounding fliers for insanity isn't the only application of catch-22. It shows up throughout the book, as do many other paradoxes. Most of Heller's humor comes from logic circles, impossible juxtapositions, and cognitive dissonance. He takes situations that make no inherent sense, or characters who are too outlandish to possibly be real, and then plays them straight and explores their implications until you can almost believe in them and understand how the war drove them to that attitude. On one hand, the cast is a slapstick group of distorted characters, entertaining the reader with pratfalls, ridiculous stories, and clashes over impossible trivia. On the other hand, the war is always lurking just under the cover of every comic scene; their antics betray a frantic desire to escape, ignore, cope with, or make unreal the ever-present threat of death. Catch-22 doesn't overwhelm the reader with constant vivid descriptions of the reality of war; instead, Heller shows a constantly unreal and apparently light-hearted comedy that casts the rare moment of terror or horrible death in even sharper relief.
The war acts in this book like a force of nature. Nearly everyone just accepts that it's happening and tries to ignore it, or revels in fighting it, without really thinking about it. It's only Yossarian, normally trying to maintain a long-suffering sarcasm, who occasionally can't help but tell the blunt truth.
Catch-22
In Catch-22, Joseph Heller reveals the perversions of the human character and society. Using
various themes and a unique style and structure, Heller satirizes war and its values as well as using the war setting to satirize society at large. By manipulating the classic war setting and language of the novel Heller is able to depict society as dark and twisted. Heller demonstrates his depiction of society through the institution of war (i.e. it's effects and problems during and after war). Heller’s satire of war and his anti war themes evoke pleasure and disquietude to show the mess of war, the victimization of the conscripts, and the monstrous egotism of the top brass. Catch-22 shows how the individual soldier loses his uniqueness not as much from the battlefield like other novels set during a war, but from the bureaucratic mentality. An example of this Lt. Scheisskopf's obsession with parades that he sees the men more as puppets than as human beings. At one point in the novel, he even wants to wire them together so their movements will be perfectly precise--just as mindless puppets would be. This theme also appears when Colonel Cathcart keeps increasing the number of missions his squadron must fly--not for military purposes, but to solely enhance his prestige. One other example of this theme is in the novel, when Yossarian is wounded. He is told to take better care of his leg because it is government property. Soldiers, therefore, are not even people, but simply property that can be listed on an inventory. In a bureaucracy, as Heller shows, individuality does not matter. In form, Catch-22 is a social satire--it is a novel using absurd humor to discredit or ridicule aspects of our society. The target in Catch-22 is not just the self-serving attitudes of some military officers, but also the Air Force itself as a mad military bureaucracy. The humor in the novel along with descriptive styles such as: Doc Daneeka, roosted dolorously like a shivering turkey buzzard; the mountains, blanketed in a mesmerizing quiet, Yossarian, wet with the feeling of warm slime, lavender gloom clouding the entrance of the operations tent These descriptive styles help depart from pure realism--they serve to transcend physical reality by making sensations metaphors for states of mind and by attributing unusual qualities to objects, making the reader take a second look at familiar objects and feelings. These help to create new and altered perceptions of the world--common in satires as they try to solve the problem being satirized by having those satirized (the human character) realize its faults. One example of the absurd humor are the deaths of some of the men. The war kills men in both expected and unexpected ways--some die through anti-aircraft fire, while others did in odd ways; Clevinger’s plane disappeared in the clouds; Dunbar simply disappears from the hospital; and Sampson is killed by a propeller of one of the bombers. This departure from pure realism (i.e. the exaggeration, the grotesque, the comic-like characters, the unusual deaths) is aimed to first make the reader laugh, then look back at horror at what amused them--and this is the technique Heller applies to satirize society. Catch-22 is the principle that informs the military-economic machine, giving it power and making war possible in the first place. It is the law that says what it commands is right because it is commanded, and the illogical must be done because the command says it is logical. Catch-22 is the untouchable power that has usurped man’s control over his own life and handed it over to an institution that manufactures fatal and incredible death traps. Heller gives us the feeling that this power could possibly be beyond even the institution that uses it. An abstraction can be evoked any time we find man subjugated to the absurd- it is reason, we would be told for his subjugation . . .
Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is one of the most humorous novels of the 20th century. This dark yet humorous novel presents a cynical view of the military and other institutions; a view which many people seemed to share during the mid-20th century. While the novel is somewhat narrowly focused on criticizing the American military and the bureaucracy that supports it, it is still well received by a vast audience. The reason that such a cynical work could be so popular is due to the humor Heller uses to convey his message. Catch-22 is effective because the reader laughs at the absurdities of war and of the military in general. Even readers who may not feel so strongly against the military and war are made to laugh and want to keep reading. There are three main elements of the dark humor that Heller uses: absurdity, anxiety, and labyrinth imagery. These elements make up the dark humor that is often found in the 1960s as they reflect the culture in many ways, making this type of dark humor an effective tool for authors such as Heller.
The use of humor to communicate a serious message is not unique to Catch-22, though the novel proves to be an effective example of how such communication is accomplished. The use of humor in this manner is often referred to as black humor, or dark humor. Dark humor allows people to see a serious subject from a different perspective thus allowing readers more freedom in how they deal with it. It is also less painful or uncomfortable when serious subjects are dealt with in a humorous way. Dark humor deals with a wide range of emotions as it makes people laugh while leading them to a greater understanding of a serious issue.
During the 1960s, many authors started using dark humor as a means of communicating ideas that were actually very important to the culture. Since dark humor became so popular at this time, it is important to study the culture in order to understand why certain elements are so useful in dark humor literature. Historical criticism and authorial intent are of foremost
Staaby 3
importance in this study, in order better to understand the literature that was produced during this time. Catch-22 will be used to provide an analytical study of the different aspects of dark humor inasmuch as it provides multiple examples of the three main elements of 1960s dark humor.
Staaby 4
Chapter One: Toward a Definition of Dark Humor
Catch-22 is one of many novels published in the 1960s which followed a distinct 1960s American dark humor style. Published in 1961, Catch-22 continues to be one of the most popular novels to come out of this time period. Heller‟s work encapsulates the elements that make up dark humor—particularly 1960s American dark humor. Writing at the same time as authors such as Ken Kesey, Thomas Pynchon, and Sylvia Plath, Heller is one of many whose works express the mood and the voice of the day (though none seem to present as comprehensive a commentary on the culture as Heller does in Catch-22). In a time of such great change and tension in both cultural and political aspects, the 1960s was a time in which people faced a great deal of anxiety and uncertainty. Humor was used in several mediums such as radio and television, but neither of those methods of communication could stand the test of time a well as the novels that were written in this manner. Joseph Heller‟s Catch-22 reflects the concerns of the 1960s generation through his use of absurdities to communicate bewilderment and illumination, gallows humor to communicate anxiety, and labyrinth imagery to show the changing times and the uncertainty of a culture that was beginning to question traditional ideals and values.。