Sunday, November 20, 2011

Literature Analysis # 3: Catch 22

1. The plot is about how Yossarian ( the protangist) tries to be sent back home during War World Two. But can't because of many obstacles that are in his way. One being the catch of catch-22, which has many different meanings throughout the book. One meaning being how, if you are crazy, you can be discaharged, but Catch-22 states that once you say you're crazy, that means you're sane because you realize you are crazy. Basically going around in a circle. Yossarian's main goal during the book is too stay alive throughout the whole war and always fend for himself, which in turn makes the men think he's crazy.
2. I think the theme of Catch-22, is that, everything in life will always have a "catch-22" ( a circular reasoning)
In Yossarian's life, he not only had the written statement, but he also had his mental one too,  life is not worth living without a moral concern for the well-being of others, but a moral concern for the well-being of others endangers one’s life.
3. I think that author's tone is sarcastic, in the sense, that only person that really understands war, is the person everybody in the army thinks is crazy.
"His nature was invariably gentle and polite. He had lived for almost twenty years without trauma, tension, hate or neurosis, which was proof to Yossarian of just how crazy he really was."
"They were the most depressing group of people Yossarain had ever been with. They were always in high spirits."
" He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive."
4. Heller's irony, hyperboles, foreshadowing and symbolism helped me really get the theme.

  •  "There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he would have to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to." Irony is very prevalent in this quote, which basically makes you realize that the book is set around this one quote.
  • The book is really one big hyperbole, in the sense that the author writes each character with huge exaggeration so you can really see what Yossarrian has to deal with.

2 comments:

  1. I like your connection from the book title to real life. It made me realize how big a connection (metaphor) there is and why the author wrote it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The quotes you picked from the novel helped me understand why the tone is sarcastic.

    ReplyDelete