The End

Text-to-Text Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is a novel centered around war – WWII to be exact. It is a satire, though not a very funny satire by the last few chapters. It ceases being funny (or at times, downright obnoxious) when there is the first talk of a horrific attack on an undefended Italian city in chapter 32. From there, all of Yossarian’s friends either die or go missing, or befall other terrors, and his world is shattered. In this respect, Catch-22 is a much less serious All Quite On the Western Front. Yossarian is an awful lot like Paul Bäumer in that, they are both disillusioned and destroyed by war (though Yossarian is not as devastated as Bäumer, as Yossarian finds that Orr is still alive and is cheered by that). They both lose those who mean things to them – in some cases, those who mean everything – all because of a war they shouldn’t have any part in.

Text-to-Self I, like the main character Yossarian, some times find myself stuck in a Catch-22. This “catch” is one that Doc Daneeka defined as the army’s rule that, if you’re insane you can be grounded and stop doing missions, but if you request for it (which is the only way you can be grounded), you’re automatically deemed sane. The army can be equated to society, and I am the insane soldier who needs not to fly any more missions, or go any further in school, work, or dance. The instant I ask for a leave from one of those three institutions, I’m deemed unfit to quit because that’s what slackers do, and slackers will never make it in life. But if I continue on mindless and miserable, essentially insane, everything is fine.

Text-to-World As a country who has been at war in the Middle East since around 2001, we should have a good understanding of how absurd it is to allow innocent men and women die, not for their countries but, for the leaders of their countries who cannot take care of their own issues with words. Yossarian and his friends are sent to kill or be killed constantly, and every time they think they’ve met their required number of missions, the government decides that they need just a few more, and just a few more after that. The same goes with our government and the military now. They send young men and women who are obviously brave and caring to be killed for a conflict that they’ve had no part in – much like WWI, which was fought because of treaties and not an actual hatred of anyone or anything by those involved.