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Joseph Heller - Catch-22

• Joseph Heller (1923 - 1999)
• Catch-22
• completed after 8 years of writing
• First published on the 10th of November 1961
• highly satirical criticism of WW2 and the armies
  command structures

Praises The greatest satirical work in the
English language since EREHWON
Observer Blessedly, monstrously, bloatedly,
cynically funny, and fantastically unique. No one
has ever written a book like this. Financial
Times
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Joseph Heller - Catch-22

• Reactions to Catch-22
• The Plot / The Characters
• Structure of Catch-22
• Historical Context
• Authors intention
• Style Analysis
• Author Short Biography

• Reactions to Catch-22
• The New York Times
• Wildly original, brutally gruesome, a dazzling
  performance that will outrage as many readers as
  it delights. Vulgarly, bitterly, savagely funny,
  it will not be forgotten by those who can take
  it.
• ? heavily advertised for from the beginning on
• ? almost instantly New Yorks underground book
  no.1
• ? received as many negative critiques as
  approving ones, but
• never received any prices

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Joseph Heller - Catch-22
2. The Plot / The Characters 2.1 The
Setting ? WW2, Pianosa, an island west of
Italy ? camp of the Fighting 256th Airborne
squadron (? the development of the protagonist
John Yossarian)

• ? no obvious main plot
• but several sub-plots describing situations of
  the members of the squadron
• all adding to the picture of John Yossarians
  time as a bombardier

2.2 The Characters / Sub-Plots Colonel
Cathcart ? desperately wants to be promoted to
general ? tries to impress the generals ? unsure
of himself (black-eyes vs. feathers in his
cap) ? volunteers his squadron for every
mission that is to be flown ? keeps raising
the number of missions
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Joseph Heller - Catch-22
2. The Plot / The Characters 2.2 The Characters
/ Sub-Plots Major Major ? was promoted to
Major by a computer as a result of his given
name Major Major ? squadron commander ?
isolation from squadron ? fanatically tries to
avoid any human contact Milo
Minderbinder ? squadron mess officer ? head
of his import/export-syndicate ? absolutely
profit oriented ? uses squadron vehicles to
transport his goods (? chocolate covered cotton
as a snack) Orr ? pilot, who crash-lands
during every mission he flies (and he
volunteers for every mission that Cathcart
volunteers the squadron for) ? nobody wants to
enter his plane ? shares his tent with
Yossarians ? in the end crash-lands a last
time and seemingly disappears
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Joseph Heller - Catch-22
2. The Plot / The Characters 2.2 The Characters
/ Sub-Plots John Yosssarian (Protagonist) ? bo
mbardier ? tries to avoid having to fly any
additional mission ? paranoid ? believes
everybody tries to kill him (this includes the
enemy as well as the whole his superiors) ? b
elieves every of the squadron members to be
insane ? main aim being grounded possible
reasons having flown enough missions being
crazy
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Joseph Heller - Catch-22

• Cathcart keeps raising the number of missions
  necessary to be grounded
• Yossarian wants to be grounded for being crazy
• ? Catch-22 One can only be grounded for being
  crazy if one asks to be grounded, which
  again is proof of ones being totally sane

• Main plot ? Yossarians rebellion against the
  command structure
• appearing naked for his being awarded a medal for
  having turned back a second time to destroy the
  bridge of Ferrera
• taking extreme evasive action after having
  dropped his bombs somewhere near the target
• having himself sent to hospital for a constant
  temperature, which is neither defined as a the
  temperature of a sane man nor a sign for being
  ill
• poisoning the whole squadron by having the cook
  mix soap into the soup
• secretly moving the bomb-line on the map to avoid
  the mission over Bologna (? rumors about a Lepage
  glue gun)
• finally just refusing to fly more missions
• and in the end deserting

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Joseph Heller - Catch-22

• 3. Structure of Catch-22
• Arrangement of chapters
• chaotic arrangement throughout the first half of
  the novel
• starts out with scenes characterizing the main
  characters (? personalisation of suffering and
  giving the reader a direct object for his anger
  about the command structure guilty for this
  suffering)
• towards the end more and more of a chronological
  order
• Recurring elements
• one scene keeps popping up ? mission over Avignon
  ? Snowdens death ? flashbacks
• interconnections between scenes/chapters
• (allusions to incidents involving another
  character, who is then presented in his own
  chapter)
• Whole picture is fragmented and has to be
  rearranged by the reader!
• 4. Historical Context
• ? Storyline and criticism derives from authors
  impression of WW2
• ? is published during the Vietnam war

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Joseph Heller - Catch-22

• 5. Authors intention
• ? military command structure criticized
  throughout the book
• bureaucracy
• inner squabbling
• absurd tactics to move up the ranks
• absurd obsessions
• abuse of patriotism for someone's personal
  ambition (Captain Black's episode with the
  Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade)
• abuse of religion for someone's personal ambition
• (Cathcarts attempt of using religion as a
  pretext for sending letters of condolence)
• questioning the effectiveness of a war
• ? old man in bordello telling Nately that
  America will lose the war as it will lose
  soldiers whereas Italy (which is momentarily
  occupied) will finally win the war by not
  participating and therefore not losing soldiers
• ? psychological analysis of the isolated
  character trying to flee from neurotic or hostile
  societies which fail to recognize the needs of
  the individual

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Joseph Heller - Catch-22
6. Style analysis Yossarian sidled up drunkenly
to Colonel Korn at the officers club one night
to kid with him about the new Lepage glue gun
that the Germans had moved in. What Lepage glue
gun? Colonel Korn inquired with curiosity. The
new three-hundred-forty-four-millimeter Lepage
glue gun, Yossarian answered. It glues a whole
formation of planes together in
mid-air. Colonel Korn jerked his elbow free
from Yossarians clutching fingers in startled
affront. Let go of me, you idiot! he cried out
furiously, glaring with vindictive approval as
Nately leaped upon Yossarians back and pulled
him away. Who is that lunatic, anyway?
When Nately finally coaxed him to the door,
Captain Black came stomping in from outside,
banging his sloshing shoes down hard on the wood
floor and spilling water from his eaves like a
high roof. Boy, are you bastards in for it! he
announced exuberantly, splashing away from the
puddle forming at his feet. I just got a call
from Colonel Korn. Do you know what theyve got
waiting for you at Bologna? Ha! Ha! They have got
the new Lepage glue gun. It glues a whole
formation of planes together in mid-air. My
God, its true! Yossarian shrieked, and
collapsed against Nately in terror. -- The New
Yorker doesnt even seem to have been
written instead, it gives the impression of
having been shouted onto paper.
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Joseph Heller - Catch-22

• 7. Author Short biography
• Joseph Heller
• - born on May 1, 1923, Brooklyn, New York
• - during World War II, he served in the U.S.
  Air Force as a bombardier in Italy and flew
  sixty missions
• - discharged in 1945 and pursued English at
  New York University
• - literary career until 1952
• - later worked as advertising copywriter until
  1958, then as promotion manager until 1961
• - afterwards writes several mostly satirical
  novels
• - Heller dies in his home on December 12, 1999
  of a heart attack

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Joseph Heller - Catch-22
Sources http//www.bellmore-merrick.k12.ny.us/cat
ch22.html http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catch_22 ht
tp//www.gradesaver.com/classicnotes/titles/catch