catch 22 analysis essay

Introduction to Catch-22

Catch-22 is known as the leading anti-war fiction by Joseph Heller. It became popular, despite taking more than 8 years in writing. Joseph started this novel in 1953 and published it in 1961, setting the stage for anti-war novels written in unusual postmodern strain. A non-linear narrative in the third person, the novel presents different characters and places involved and linked to the WWII and American Air Force pilots bombing the German fronts from an island. Most of the characters in the novel are inspired by his personal experiences when he was serving the WWII as a bombardier. The popularity of the book could be gauged from the fact that its title has become a catchphrase and the storyline was adapted for a movie in 1970. In 1994 Heller published the sequel titled Closing Time.

Summary of Catch-22

The novel presents chapters through characters and places. It opens with a pilot, Yossarian, stationed at the island of Pianosa, on the Mediterranean Sea, to bomb the German fronts and forces from the allied areas. What he finds torturing is that his routinized work of bombing is entangled in the bureaucratic system comprising violence and torture. He comes to know that the officers consider them working robots instead of human beings, having emotions and lives of their own. The combat missions and situations become so much routinized that Yossarian and other pilots think themselves going mad. Whenever they complete sorties of one mission, another mission awaits for them without any hiatus. The bureaucrats keep involving their subordinates in unnecessary missions in order to get praise and recognition from their higher leadership. Yossarian’s uniqueness lies in that he realizes the absurd situation of war and their task of killing human beings through senseless aerial bombings but nobody believes him.

The story sets in a non-chronological manner and is confusing since it is a wartime novel. Yossarian’s chaplain, Tappman who is kind and loves his family and God tends to Yossarian who was in the hospital because of his fake liver ailment. Soon the storyline turns to other characters but all events and places revolve around Yossarian who thinks about things from his point of view . Orr, Yossarian’s tentman, Clevinger in his squadron who abides by the concept of loyalty to his country. Havermeyer, loves dangerous missions, McWatt, cheerful one among his squadron and buzzes with his plane. Nately, son of a wealthy businessman who is madly in love with a Roman prostitute who doesn’t acknowledge his feelings and acts indifferently with him.

Yossarian, a diffident but reflective pilot, feels humiliated at the constant risks his life as a pilot involves when going on bombing missions. His wish to keep himself alive puts him to test at which he turns to the hospital to vent up his frustration and keep himself out of harm’s way. It, however, turns out that bureaucratic hurdles have entered the medical facilities, too, where doctors are either ignorant or work under the command to release the pilots too early to be ready for another mission. The most tragic incidents happen when the pilots of his squadron bomb their own camp and still the event is ignored in the fog of war, showing outright neglect of the seniors.

When meeting Doc Dankeea, Yossarian asks him to ground him so that he could live in peace but he rejects his request on the ground that there is a law of catch-22 to which he cannot violate. He, then, explains that as he is sane to fly, therefore, he cannot be grounded on this pretext. The opinion of the doctor is that only crazy persons are grounded and not the ‘sane’ ones, like him. On the other hand, Cathcart, the colonel, continues increasing the number of sorties on daily basis, keeping the pilots on tenterhooks. Although Yossarian thinks it an unjust action of his senior, he also keeps his opinions to himself, for nobody in the hierarchy of superiors cares about such things. His senior Korn is only after his promotion, while his colonel wants to see the stars of the general on his shoulders. Two other commanders Dreedle and Peckem are attending to their jobs to continue working as commanders of this bombing campaign. Both have their own fascinations; Dreedle has a mistress, while Peckem is obsessed with bombing as much as pilots could do.

Soon the critical moments of the war arrive when Cathcart signs up pilots for the Bologna bombing, the most dangerous mission of the war. Yossarian signs up for this mission and experiences a close shave when the enemy fire almost downs his plane. Soon he flees the base to meet Luciana in Rome with whom he has a one- night stand. On the other hand, the soldiers start dying and disappearing with the first disappearance of his friend, Dunbar, who disappears into thin air after making numerous complaints about unnecessary bombings, while Orr also leaves after his plane crashes in the sea. Kid Sampson gets killed in an accident when McWatt buzzes his plane but the officers do not take any action, while others also end up in one or the other mission, including a plane crash while few make it alive and settle down in other countries by not returning to their camps.

In this mess, the religious person, the chaplain, is also doing his job despite facing strong criticism from Korn and Cathcart including Yossarian. He soon faces the allegation of forging letters and has to face the threats of imprisonment and fear of not leaving for home but his tenacity in refusal wins him freedom. Although he is a deeply religious person, he feels that his intransigence against the superiors would win him respect among the pilots and soldiers.  Meanwhile, Yossarian starts changing his views about war and heroism. After seeing his friends dying in numbers, he silently leaves but faces two options of either be court-martialed or strike a deal to go home. Despite his inner decision of going for a deal, he flees toward Sweden to live his own life.

Major Themes in Catch-22

• Sanity and Insanity: The novel, Catch-22, presents the thematic strand of sanity versus insanity in that almost every character including Yossarian, the protagonist of the novel, is trapped in the vicious circle of sanity and insanity. If Yossarian demonstrates his sanity, he is liable to be used for further aerial bombing missions, while in case of insanity, he will be discharged from the service without proper honor. His other colleagues such as Kid and Orr also face the same problem. While Doc Daneeka whose real job is to check the psychological resilience of the pilots seems to be inefficient and ineffective in such a compelling situation. The chaplain becomes the victim of this conflicting situation when he comes to know about the situation of the pilots that they cannot get rid of this absurdity when the generals and commanders are racing for winning medals, ignoring the real situation and suggesting the real solution.
• Greed: The novel highlights the theme of greed through the character of Milo Minderbinder, Colonel Cathcart, and Peckam. Minderbinder represents corporations and the unethical practices that such institutions demonstrate by offering kickbacks and winning managers to manage profit and business. He shows that black marketing and profiteering are being reaped at such a massive scale, aside from the killing of the pilots by the commanders just to amass wealth from the corporations. Even Cathcart and Peckam become his linchpin in his profiteering campaign.
• Isolation: The theme of isolation seems to dominate the life of all characters, including Yossarian, the protagonist of Catch-22. For example, Major Major is undergoing extreme isolation because of his confusing name and identity, while the Chaplain, who is to become a symbol of balanced mentality, shows isolation when lecturing others. Even the doctor, Doc Daneeka, is going through the bad patch of his life due to the pressure of duty, the insistence of the pilots and the soldiers that they are being overburdened with the technicalities of the system which leaves little room for their social and private lives.
• Black Humor : The novel shows the use of black humor as its thematic strand in that it seems a tragedy that the soldiers and pilots are overburdened with the combat duties and obligations so much so that they have become rather insane and phobic. McWatt is highly fed up with the combat operations that he starts teasing others with his swishing plane and then kills Kid during one of such incidents. The chaplain also faces this type of humor when Corporal Whitcomb or Captain Black is with him as they play with his religious beliefs. Even one of them has gone so far as to kill a girl just for fun. These tragic incidents told with much-surprised humor shows the author’s intention of showing dark humor through this war story.
• Morality: The novel shows that there is no moral framework on account of the war and on account of the bureaucracy that has gathered at some other land instead of the United States where no laws apply. It appears that there is no place for morality. In such circumstances, people like Orr or in that matter like Korn have no place. Korn desires to replace Cathcart at every cost without any moral qualms. The same goes for Peckam and Dreedle in that they want to prolong the war merely to win promotions that seem a bad idea, reviewing the circumstances of daily deaths occurring among the pilots.
• Paradoxes: The novel is full of paradoxes in that even its title shows that that the characters are caught in double conflicts. The one is about their duty in the war and the other is about their lives as how to save them. Yossarian is so much frustrated from the war and duties that he is literally caught in the paradox of the phrase , catch-22. Even his seniors face the same issue, as Colonel Cathcart gets the order to increase combat missions of the pilots and he ultimately does it to save his position and to win promotion.
• Bureaucracy: The novel’s other significant theme is bureaucracy. A person caught such a system cannot move even an inch from the position/job/duty he is ordered to do. The bureaucratic circle becomes vicious where Cathcart is bound to increase the operation of the pilots, and Yossarian is bound to accept and execute it. Doc Daneeka is bound to declare them fit for duty, while the chaplain is bound to preach morality behind their actions despite knowing that they are not serving their country but serving the allies.
• Communication: The novel demonstrates the theme of communication and lack of it through Yossarian, Orr, and Chaplain. The writing of letters by Yossarian and the signing of Irwin Washington on those letters show that he wants to hide his communication. The same goes during the conversation of Appleby with Orr and between Aarfy and Yossarian during combat missions.
• Fear: The theme of fear in the novel is significant in the backdrop of war where unethical bombing and other destructive practices are going on such as Minderbinder’s contractual obligations, conspiracies of Yossarian to leave. This also includes fear of Kids and Orr getting killed during the missions.
• Violence: The novel shows violence not only within the air force base but also on the front where bombing continues. This violence has dehumanizing impacts on Yossarian as well as commanders and religious persons, showing none has time to lament the deaths of Snowden and McWatt.

Major Characters Catch-22  

• Yossarian: Yossarian is the protagonist but not the narrator of the novel, for the novel follows an unusual non-linear pattern in its narration. Yossarian is a US air force captain during WWII. He faces the dilemma of patriotism and heavy operation load that he seems psychologically and physically unable to keep up. It also burdens him with too many missions and renders him think about the absurdity of life trapped in the bureaucratic system. His sole mission by the end of the novel seems to avoid combat missions and flee from the air force base at every cost. He ends up fleeing from the duty after facing severe pressure and seeing no way out even on religious or medical grounds.
• Colonel Cathcart: The second important character, Colonel Cathcart, is an inefficient and a ruthless, mean person, who desperately wants his retinue to continue combat missions disregard of their physical fitness, or psychological distress. His selfishness about his promotion to general causes losses of man and material on the airbase. To achieve this end, he uses all fair and foul means, including an increase in combat missions and sending more men to the front. His pretentious nature as demonstrated through his cigarette holder and efforts to win only public approval only defame him among his soldiers.
• Doctor Daneeka: Doc Daneeka is a doctor, a typical character with avaricious nature and dishonest practices, making him the most hateful persona in the novel. Pilots suffering from various ailments, want him to declare them unfit for sorties, but he continues ignoring their physical or psychological wellbeing. Despite having no flying experience, he still gets himself listed in the log of McWatt to win more financial remuneration . Although he tries to win Yossarian by clarifying to him catch-22, he gets messed upon in this explanation and finds the same dilemma as Yossarian is facing that war is taking too much toll on them.
• Milo Minderbinder: Minderbinder is part of the military bureaucracy, his wily nature and malicious intentions can be gauged from his working with the black-marketers to amass money. His motto of having his share in the war becomes a source of constant nudging to him to take part in the black-market business at the expense of neglecting his principal duties. That is why the bombing of his own base goes unchecked, for he has justifications and shares for everybody around him.
• Chaplain Tappman: Simply called ‘the chaplain’, his theological significance in the novel becomes rather a point of derision. Obviously, none of the pilots or soldiers take him seriously. Despite being a staunch believer of religion, he is also shaken by the psychological toll the war is taking on him. Yet his patience does not let him become irritant against the constant bullying of the officers like Captain Black or Colonel Cathcart.
• Orr: Orr is a companion and friend of Yossarian and appears in the novel engaged in the operation and taking risks that may jeopardize his whole mission. He is an eccentric character and does not lose the funny side of things. He remains a light-hearted fellow who resolves issues like that of catch-22. He gives clues to Yossarian to solve it by fleeing to Sweden.
• Hungry Joe: The character of Hungry Joe is significant as the soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress order due to the war and subsequent senseless missions. After becoming mentally unstable in this situation, he experiences nightmares, leading him to feel suffocated. He also seems a victim of the bureaucratic system that despite the completion of his allocated share of missions, Cathcart again drags him to duties.
• Nately: Through Nately, the readers understand the importance of a woman and love in a soldier’s life. She attracts Yossarian when he visits her in Rome and becomes a point of contention between authorities that Cathcart also blackmails Yossarian about her. Her death impacts Yossarian so much so that he decides to flee from duty.
• Wintergreen: Wintergreen is a bad clerk involves in misusing his post for the wrong ends to the point that even the bureaucracy is hellbent on gladdening him.
• Havermeyer: Havermeyer is a friend of Yossarian and yet staying stable, though, by the end, he also expresses frustration over ever-increasing combat missions.

Writing Style of Catch-22

The writing style of the novel, Catch-22 , is not a smooth narrative. It is rather a combination of several descriptions of places, characters, and narration of events joined together to make up a story that seems to point to its protagonist, Yossarian. It is mostly repetitive and seems nonsense in some places. However, in terms of sentence and diction , it follows a direct and simple pattern that makes the readers take more interesting and jot down the dots to understand the story. In terms of literary devices , the author uses irony , sarcasm , metonymy , and metaphors .

Analysis of the Literary Devices in Catch-22

• Action: The main action of the novel comprises the operation taken by the US air force pilots on the Italian front and the life of a pilot, Yossarian, from the war to his escape to Sweden. The rising action occurs when Yossarian is certain that he would not be allowed to go home at every cost and the falling action occurs when Snowden dies in the aircraft.
• Anaphora : The novel shows examples of anaphora such as, i. Yossarian was in the hospital with a pain in his liver that fell just short of being jaundice. The doctors were puzzled by the fact that it wasn’t quite jaundice. If it became jaundice they could treat it. If it didn’t become jaundice and went away they could discharge him. But this just being short of jaundice all the time confused them. (Chapter-1) ii. Clevinger really thought he was right, but Yossarian had proof, because strangers he didn’t know shot at him with cannons every time he flew up into the air to drop bombs on them, and it wasn’t funny at all. And if that wasn’t funny, there were lots of things that weren’t even funnier. There was nothing funny about living like a bum in a tent in Pianosa. (Chapter-2) The examples show the repetitious use of “jaundice” and “funny” in the beginning of the successive clauses .
• Alliteration : Catch-22 shows the use of alliteration at several places. Two examples are given below, i. To Yossarian’s astonishment, began following the falling land down as fast as the plane would go, wagging his wings gaily and skimming with a massive, grinding, hammering roar over each rocky rise and dip of the rolling terrain like a dizzy gull over wild brown waves. Yossarian was petrified. (Chapter-30) ii. ‘Whee!’ and Yossarian wanted to reach out and crush his idiotic face with one hand as he flinched and flung himself away from the boulders and hillocks and lashing branches of trees that loomed up above him out in front and rushed past just underneath in a sinking, streaking blur. (Chapter-30) The above examples from the novel show the use of consonant sounds such as the sound of /s/ and /r/ occurring after an interval to make the prose melodious and rhythmic.
• Allusion : The novel shows good use of different allusions as given in the examples below, i. Captain Black knew he was a subversive because he wore eyeglasses and used words like *panacea* and * utopia *, and because he disapproved of Adolf Hitler, who had done such a great job of combating un-American activities in Germany. (Chapter-4) ii. Major Major’s orderly room window months before when Major – de Coverley had returned from Rome with an injured cornea after renting two apartments there for the officers and enlisted men to use on their rest leaves. (Chapter-4) The first example alludes not only to Hitler but also to America and Germany, while the second alludes to the military and Rome.
• Antagonist : WWII appears as the real antagonist . However, characters also show themselves working as antagonists among whom Colonel Cathcart is at the top who does not leave any chance of torturing Yossarian.
• Conflict : The novel shows both external and internal conflicts. The external conflict is going on between Yossarian and other pilots and the German forces. However, the internal conflict is going on in the mind of Yossarian about his moral duty, patriotism, and his commitment to his life.
• Characters: The novel shows both static as well as dynamic characters. The young pilot, Yossarian, is a dynamic character as he shows a considerable transformation in his behavior and conduct by the end of the novel. However, all other characters are static as they do not show or witness any transformation such as Colonel Cathcart, Milo Minderbinder, Doc Daneeka, Nately, and Orr.
• Climax : The climax in the novel occurs when Yossarian faces the choice of supporting Cathcart or facing court-martial, and second when Snowden dies.
• Foreshadowing : The novel shows many instances of foreshadows as given in the below examples, i. After he had made up his mind to spend the rest of the war in the hospital, Yossarian wrote letters to everyone he knew saying that he was in the hospital but never mentioning why. (Chapter-1) ii. Hungry Joe was crazy, and no one knew it better than Yossarian, who did everything he could to help him. Hungry Joe just wouldn’t listen to Yossarian. Hungry Joe just wouldn’t listen because he thought Yossarian was crazy. (Chapter-4) The mention of war and crazy show that WWII is going to show its toll on the soldiers’ minds and lives.
• Imagery : Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For example, i. Orr had buck teeth and bulging eyes to go with his big cheeks and was even smaller than young Huple, who lived on the wrong side of the railroad tracks in the tent in the administration area in which Hungry Joe lay screaming in his sleep every night. (Chapter-3) ii. Colonel Cathcart cracked his knuckles violently. Colonel Korn, a stocky, dark, flaccid man with a shapeless paunch, sat completely relaxed on one of the benches in the front row, his hands clasped comfortably over the top of his bald and swarthy head. His eyes were amused behind his glinting rimless spectacles. (Chapter-13) These two examples show images of sound, sight, shape, and color.
• Metaphor : The novel shows good use of various metaphors as given in the below example, i. To German intelligence, Major – de Coverley was a vexatious enigma; not one of the hundreds of American prisoners would ever supply any concrete information about the elderly white-haired officer with the gnarled and menacing brow and blazing. (Chapter-13) ii. Kid Sampson’s cry turned Yossarian to ice. (Chapter-14) iii. Orr was one of the homeliest freaks Yossarian had ever encountered, and one of the most attractive. (Chapter-22) These examples show that several things have been compared directly in the novel such as the first shows the major to an enigma, then Yossarian to ice, and Orr to a freak.
• Mood : The novel shows various moods; it starts with quite a somber and bitter mood but turns out to be highly exciting at times and tragically humorous but ends on a bitter and ironic note.
• Motif : Most important motifs of the novel are hospitals, bombing missions, and pilots’ conditions.
• Narrator : The novel is narrated from the third-person point of view, who is the author himself.
• Oxymoron : The novel shows the use of an oxymoron as given in the example below, i. The dead man in Yossarian’s tent was simply not easy to live with. He even disturbed Orr, who was not easy to live with, either, and who, on the day Yossarian came back, was tinkering with the faucet that fed gasoline into the stove he had started building while Yossarian was in the hospital. (Chapter-3) These lines from the novel show contradictory ideas of the dead and the living together.
• Personification : The following scenes are good examples of personification , i. They couldn’t dominate Death inside the hospital, but they certainly made her behave. They had taught her manners. They couldn’t keep Death out, but while she was in she had to act like a lady. (Chapter-17) ii. The borders of the two tents in the clearing stood no more than four or five feet apart. (Chapter-20) These examples show as if the death and the tents have life and emotions of their own.
• Protagonist : Yossarian is the protagonist of the novel. The novel starts with his entry in the story and moves forward as he becomes disenchanted with the war and decides to flee.
• Setting : The setting of the novel is Pianosa, an island in the Mediterranean.
• Simile : The novel shows excellent use of various similes. A few examples are given below, i. She was built like a dream and wore a chain around her neck with a medal of Saint Anthony hanging down inside the most beautiful bosom I never saw. (Chapter-5) ii. Actually, Captain Flume slept like a log most nights and merely *dreamed* he was awake. (Chapter-7) iii. Milo sniffed in consternation twice, like a shaggy brown hare. (Chapter-7) iv. Her virtuous, pale-blue, saucerlike eyes flooded with leviathan tears on unexpected occasions and made Yossarian mad. (Chapter-17) These are similes as the use of the word “like” shows the comparison between different things such as a woman is compared to a dream, a captain compared to a log and Milo has been compared to a hare.

Related posts:

• Catch-22 Quotes
• As Kingfishers Catch Fire

Post navigation

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Catch 22 — Literary Analysis of Catch 22 by Joseph Steller

Literary Analysis of Catch 22 by Joseph Steller

• Categories: American Literature Book Review Catch 22

About this sample

Words: 917 |

Published: Oct 2, 2020

Words: 917 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Karlyna PhD

Verified writer

• Expert in: Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

6.5 pages / 3030 words

7 pages / 3092 words

6 pages / 2729 words

3 pages / 1393 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Catch 22

The book I am researching is ‘Catch-22’ by Joseph Heller. It is a book set in WW2 and focuses on the terrifying aspects of the war and how the soldiers had no power or control over anything they did or even whether they lived or [...]

In the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell uses several literary techniques to develop the theme that totalitarianism is destructive. He does so by using extensive imagery, focusing on the deterioration of the Victory Mansions, [...]

Romantic love and intimacy are common features in 1984 by George Orwell. The Party works to eradicate all physical sensations of love and depersonalise sex to the point where is it referred to as a 'duty to the party' for the [...]

The fear of a dystopian future that is explored in both Fritz Lang’s film Metropolis and George Orwell’s novel Nineteen Eighty Four is reflective of the values of the societies at the time and the context of the authors. As [...]

In order for one to exist in a totalitarian society whose government is successful in its control, one must deal on a day-to-day basis with strong persuasion and propaganda. These totalitarian societies have an iron grip on [...]

Offred and Winston, the main protagonists of the two strikingly similar dystopian fictions, The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984, have disparate fates in the endings of the novels. Julia’s fate, however, is undetermined, as (like the [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Joseph Heller

Ask litcharts ai: the answer to your questions.

Paradox and Impossibility

Catch-22 is founded upon a specific “catch,” or logical paradox, introduced in a conversation between Doc Daneeka and Yossarian . This formulation is the novel’s most memorable: because war is dangerous, it is sane behavior to avoid war. So if Yossarian wants to stop flying missions, he is sane and fit to fly, and must therefore fly more missions. Only if Yossarian did want to fly these dangerous missions would he be insane, and subsequently…

War and Bureaucracy

The novel also offers a commentary on the absurdity of war, and of the bureaucracies wars create. For example: Major Major appears to have been promoted to his position simply because of his name, not his aptitude, and he remains in this position while doing nothing. The chaplain’s assistant, Whitcomb , is an atheist who will carry out none of his superior’s directives out of a desire to ascend to the role of chaplain himself…

Communication and Miscommunication

The novel opens with Yossarian censoring letters—blocking out important military information—while lying in the hospital. He begins signing his name as Washington Irving or Irving Washington. This introduces a theme of communication, and garbled communication, that runs throughout the text. Appleby , a soldier and superlative Ping-Pong player, is told by Orr that he has flies in his eyes, but hears that he has “sties in his eyes.” Aarfy claims not to be able to…

Gallows Humor

Much of the humor in Catch-22 is gallows humor (or black humor)—the kind that takes on serious subjects without sacrificing its funiness. Some of the novel’s characters use gallows humor good-naturedly; others, less so. McWatt , for example, is always “buzzing” the camp, flying low over it, but one day he flies too low and accidentally kills Kid Sampson . Captain Black and Corporal Whitcomb make fun of the chaplain constantly, because they find his…

Self-interest, Altruism, and Morality

Many characters in Catch-22 undergo moral crises, wherein they must decide between self-interest (a concern for their own safety and wellbeing) or altruism (a concern for the wellbeing of others). The chaplain , initially a morally-upright and religious man, flirts with immorality by pretending to have a fake disease and asking to spend time in the hospital. He realizes, however, that he ought instead to follow his orders and resist military authority without actively revolting…

62 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-11

Chapters 12-20

Chapters 21-25

Chapters 26-31

Chapters 32-42

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Summary and Study Guide

Catch-22 is a 1961 satirical novel by Joseph Heller, whose experiences in the US Air Force during World War II inspired the narrative . The novel is set during World War II and portrays the absurd experiences of a group of Army pilots stationed in Italy. In addition to being hailed as one of the most seminal novels of the 20th century, Catch-22 has become an idiomatic expression for a certain kind of conundrum, a paradoxical dilemma for which there is no solution or escape due to the dilemma’s inherent contradictions. The paradox , in the novel, is a central conflict: The protagonist , a B-25 bombardier, wants to feign psychiatric delusions so that his officers will ground him from perilous flying assignments—but his desire to avoid combat allegedly proves his rationality, thus confounding his malingering and keeping him on assignments. The novel has been adapted for film, television, and theater. In 1994, Heller published the sequel, Closing Time .

Be advised that Catch-22 depicts graphic violence, sexual assault, and substance use. This guide uses the 2011 Simon & Schuster eBook edition.

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

• 7,550+ In-Depth Study Guides
• 4,900+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
• Downloadable PDFs

Plot Summary

Yossarian is a captain in the United States Army Air Force. He is stationed on Pianosa, an island near the Italian coast, during the late stages of World War II. Yossarian’s goal is to fly as few combat missions as possible, but his life—and the lives of everyone on the base—are defined by the administrative and bureaucratic absurdities that confuse the men and threaten their lives. The superior officers frequently send the men on dangerous but seemingly inconsequential missions. As the pilots are permitted to return home to the United States after completing a certain number of combat flights, Yossarian carefully counts each and every flight. However, the commanding officers raise the flight quota whenever anyone nears completing their tour of duty. As a result, no men can return home. Yossarian finds himself caught amid the chaos and violence, his only goal being to survive.

The SuperSummary difference

• 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
• Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
• 100+ new titles every month

The narrative is nonlinear, jumping back and forth through time and occasionally describing the same events from different perspectives to gradually supply completing details. These temporal shifts, however, are tacit, leaving the reader to independently piece together a chronological timeline. This study guide explicitly denotes the major shifts.

While the plot’s events span 1942-1944, the novel opens in 1944 with Yossarian in a hospital; he’s invented a problem with his liver to avoid flying missions. Tappman, the Army chaplain, visits Yossarian in the hospital. Unlike most of the officers, Yossarian is not hostile or rude toward Tappman. Other characters in the novel include Orr, who shares a tent with Yossarian and is famously able to crash land his damaged aircraft; McWatt, a talented pilot who causes trouble by flying low and close to the camp; Nately, a young officer who comes from a wealthy background and falls in (unrequited) love with an Italian sex worker; and Clevinger, a highly educated pilot who later vanishes together with his plane.

Yossarian talks to one of the camp medics about finagling a diagnosis of a mental health condition to exempt him from flying missions; Yossarian wants to be declared “crazy” so that he can safely stay on the base. Doc Daneeka explains that this is not possible due to one of the military’s inherently paradoxical stipulations: Any rational man would ask not to fly missions, so anyone trying to evade missions is therefore not “crazy.” The only people who are truly “crazy” are those who willingly fly missions. Daneeka refers to this paradox as a “Catch-22.” When Yossarian complains about the constantly rising number of completed missions needed to return home, his superior Colonel Cathcart doesn’t care. Cathcart and his intelligent assistant Korn are interested only in medals and promotions for themselves. Meanwhile, their superior officers have their own self-interested motivations, such as dalliances or arbitrary aesthetic preferences for tight bombing patterns.

The narrative jumps back in time two months to when Yossarian and the other pilots are given a mission to fly to Bologna, north of their base near Rome. Yossarian nearly dies during the mission when his plane is struck by enemy fire. After returning to the base, Yossarian sneaks away to Rome. He meets a woman named Luciana in the Italian capitol and spends the night with her. When he returns to the base, he learns the mission quota has increased again, and he immediately leaves for the hospital with his fabricated liver problem; the narrative has returned to the same chronological point at which the novel began.

From this point forward, the narrative jumps around somewhat erratically, but soon after Yossarian visits this hospital, life on the base becomes darker and more ominous. Deaths become more frequent, and some pilots simply vanish and never return. Not all these disappearances are due to enemy activity. Yossarian knows a man named Dunbar whom American generals target because he complains about the frequency of the dangerous but purposeless missions. Dunbar is deliberately “disappeared” during one mission by the commanding officers, and he is never mentioned again.

Other pilots also encounter issues. Yossarian’s tentmate Orr crash lands another damaged plane, and he disappears after floating out to sea on a safety raft. When the mischievous pilot McWatt flies low over the camp in another of his pranks, he accidentally kills another man named Kid Sampson. Feeling guilty, McWatt kills himself by deliberately crashing into a mountain. The wealthy young officer Nately finally wins the love of the Italian sex worker whom he adores—only to die on his next mission. Because this sex worker blames Yossarian when he informs her of Nately’s death, she tries to stab him each time she sees him. Milo Minderbinder is a mess hall officer who runs a secret black-market operation on the base. He claims to share his illicit profits, and people praise him for delivering food to needy victims of the war, though he makes great personal profit and never intends to share the proceeds of his elaborate operation.

Chaplain Tappman builds on Yossarian’s campaign to actually allow the pilots to return to the United States when they have completed the requisite number of missions. However, his efforts are ignored or rejected by Colonel Cathcart and the others in charge of the military. The chaplain becomes the focus of an official investigation into forged letters, which bear the name Washington Irving; though no one knows this, Washington Irving is an invention of Yossarian, who forged the name on envelopes when he was bored and sorting mail. The innocent Tappman is arrested, imprisoned, and tortured. While in custody, the chaplain undergoes a crisis of faith, but he emerges with his faith intact—renewed—and, once he is released, uses it to continue Yossarian’s campaign. After Nately’s death, Yossarian slowly comes to believe that his superior officers’ behavior is no longer a bureaucratic absurdity; after so much pain and death, he is convinced that the military is immoral. With the war almost over, he does not believe the men should be placed in such unnecessary perils when they should already be at home. He refuses to fly missions. He has flashbacks to a traumatic mission on which a young man named Snowden died in his arms.

Yossarian visits a devastated Rome, exploring the ruined city. He witnesses violence, rape, and murder. He is arrested for being in the city without the correct paperwork, and he is taken back to the base, where he tells the officers that he will no longer accept their assignments. Colonel Cathcart and Korn tell him that he can either be court martialed or be sent home; however, he can only be sent home if he pretends to be friendly toward his commanding officers. Yossarian talks to the chaplain, who suggests that accepting the deal would not be morally correct while the other men are still forced to fly.

Yossarian searches for a different way to escape his predicament. He thinks about deserting the Army and escaping to neutral Sweden; he heard a rumor that Orr may have survived and washed up on the Swedish shore. Believing that his friend escaped, Yossarian plans to join Orr. Once in Sweden, Yossarian can wait for the end of the war. The story ends with Yossarian running toward the exit, determined to put his plan into action. He is attacked by the sex worker again.

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Related Titles

By Joseph Heller

Something Happened

Joseph Heller

Featured Collections

View Collection

Good & Evil

Memorial Day Reads

Military Reads

Order & Chaos

Popular Study Guides

Safety & Danger

School Book List Titles

Sexual Harassment & Violence

The Best of "Best Book" Lists

Joseph Heller

• Literature Notes
• Book Summary
• About Catch-22
• Character List
• Summary and Analysis
• Chapters 1-2
• Chapters 3-4
• Chapters 5-6
• Chapters 7-8
• Chapters 9-10
• Chapters 11-12
• Chapters 13-14
• Chapters 15-16
• Chapters 17-18
• Chapters 19-20
• Chapters 21-22
• Chapters 23-24
• Chapters 25-26
• Chapters 27-28
• Chapters 29-30
• Chapters 31-32
• Chapters 33-34
• Character Analysis
• Chaplain Tappman
• Milo Minderbinder
• Aardvark (Aarfy)
• Character Map
• Joseph Heller Biography
• Critical Essays
• Heller's Use of Satire
• Major Themes in Catch-22
• Full Glossary for Catch-22
• Essay Questions
• Practice Projects
• Cite this Literature Note

Captain John Yossarian, the novel's protagonist, is a bombardier in the 256th Squadron of the Army Air Forces during World War II, stationed on Pianosa, a fictionalized island in the Mediterranean between mainland Italy and Corsica. The squadron's assignment is to bomb enemy positions in Italy and eastern France. It is the summer of 1944, but events of the novel are not told in chronological order; sometimes time changes without warning. Most of the action takes place from spring through December of 1944, but there are flashbacks to 1942, when Yossarian was in basic training at Lowery Field in Colorado, and to 1943 when he was in cadet training at Santa Ana, California. The satirical novel is episodic and relies on character as much as it does on plot or theme.

We meet several key characters in the opening chapters. When the novel opens, Yossarian is in the base hospital, on Pianosa, faking a liver ailment. He has learned that the hospital can be a peaceful refuge and that liver ailments are difficult to diagnose. When able, hospitalized officers censor enlisted men's letters home; an early indication of Yossarian's character is the creative way he approaches this task, even altering one letter to resemble a love note and signing Chaplain Tappman's name. Others in Yossarian's ward include Dunbar, who thinks he can live longer by pursuing boring tasks and making time pass slowly, and the "soldier in white," an enigmatic figure smuggled into the ward in the middle of the night and encased from head to toe in gauze and plaster. Yossarian is so annoyed by a bigoted Texan that he soon returns to his regular quarters where his tent mate, Orr, uses outstanding mechanical talents to improve living conditions. Other squadron members include McWatt, a pilot who enjoys buzzing (flying low over) Yossarian's tent and the beach bathers; Nately, who is in love with a prostitute in Rome; Doc Daneeka, a friendly but ineffectual flight surgeon who explains the meaning of "Catch-22" (Chapter 5); and Colonel Cathcart, who yearns to be a general so he tries to look like a strong leader by raising the number of missions required of the men to complete a tour of duty.

The early chapters satirize the military and political establishment, specifically through distortions of logic and reality. Earlier in the summer, when an apparently hazardous raid on Bologna seems imminent, for example, Yossarian postpones the mission by simply moving a line on a map, indicating that the Americans and other Allies have already captured the city. Although war and death are always in the background, the tone of the first third of the novel is ironic and absurdly light-hearted.

The tone changes with flashbacks to raids on Ferrara, Bologna, and Avignon. At Ferrara, in the spring of 1944, Yossarian is an inexperienced bombardier eager to succeed in the mission so it will not be repeated. Having failed to release his bombs on the first run, Yossarian directs his flight to take a second pass so that he can hit the target, a bridge that the squadron has tried in vain to destroy for a week. The tactic works, but a young airman named Kraft is killed. Although Yossarian is promoted to Captain and awarded a medal, the death haunts him. When the squadron eventually must bomb Bologna a second time, in late June 1944, the flak (ground fire at the aircraft) is exceptionally intense. Heller's description of the raid (Chapter 15) is one of the most vivid passages in the novel. By now, Yossarian has had all he wants of war. His tent mate, Orr, is shot down and presumed lost at sea. The mission over Avignon, in July, is personally even more traumatic for Yossarian as his plane is badly hit and a gunner named Snowden severely wounded. Heller repeatedly refers to the event throughout the novel, playing it like a recurring theme in a symphony, the reader allowed to learn a little more of the horror as the story progresses. (The novel's first scene occurs shortly after the raid on Avignon.)

Leaves of absence in Rome allow respite for the men and a change of tone for the reader. Here the men initially find romance, parties, frolic, and joy. Yossarian's brief affair with a young woman named Luciana is one of the more poignant interludes, although we soon are reminded that Yossarian's relations with women are troubled at best. Nately argues patriotism with a 107-year-old cynic at a bordello, one of the novel's several debates concerning values. But Rome, too, is altered by the war, as Yossarian learns in the closing chapters.

As the story progresses, amusing antics turn grim. The squadron's mess (dining hall) officer is an entrepreneurial whiz named Milo Minderbinder, whose capitalistic expertise is satirically entertaining until it turns deadly. Using squadron funds to purchase black-market products, Milo builds an enormous syndicate dealing in everything from fresh eggs to prostitutes. He eventually contracts with both sides in the conduct of the war and goes so far as to arrange an air raid on his own base for profit. McWatt's buzzing of the beach is a practical joke until one day when he slices Kid Sampson in two in a macabre accident. Nately's devotion to his prostitute seems like an innocent young man's harmless crush until he insists on flying extra missions so that he can stay near her — and is killed the next time out.

Nately's death serves as a transition to the end of the novel. When Yossarian reports the tragedy to the young man's prostitute-fiancée in Rome, she directs all her frustration and anger toward Yossarian, attacking him repeatedly, even after he returns to Pianosa. Yossarian has refused to fly further missions. Colonels Cathcart and Korn call him in for a conference in which they offer Yossarian a "deal": He can return home if only he will speak well of the commanding officers and turn his back on the men of the squadron. Yossarian agrees. Leaving the office, he is again assaulted by Nately's fiancée and seriously wounded. In the hospital, Yossarian reflects on all his friends who have died or disappeared during the year. He decides to renege on the agreement even though he is thus eligible for court-martial. Yossarian's plan is to rescue Nately's kid sister from the streets of Rome and flee to Sweden where his buddy Orr has turned up after cleverly using his plane crash as a means of escape. Yossarian hopes to find himself by losing himself, to seek a separate peace, to run toward life by escaping the madness of war.

Next About Catch-22

by Joseph Heller

Catch-22 essay questions.

Discuss two examples of a "Catch-22" in the novel.

Possible Answer:

The most obvious example is the military code outlined in the novel. This code states that if a man expresses his desire not to go on more missions, he demonstrates his sanity by his fear of danger, and thus he is considered fit to fly. But the military cannot ground a soldier for mental health reasons if he does not ask to be grounded. Yossarian desperately wants to go home or at least stay out of harm's way, and he constantly struggles with this military code.

When Yossarian is courting Luciana, he thinks he falls in love with her. He express his desire to marry her, but she replies that she will not marry him. He asks why not, and she replies that he is crazy. When he asks why she thinks he is crazy, she responds that he must be crazy if he wants to marry her. Just as he cannot avoid flying dangerous combat missions, he cannot convince Luciana to marry him.

Yossarian is sometimes described by critics as being an antihero. Does he have any heroic traits?

Yossarian demonstrates real empathy for others, most notably with his feelings about Snowden. He eventually develops a more callous exterior, but he cannot cope with the suffering of characters--like Snowden's death. Also, he consistently and fervently rebels against a situation he sees as unjust. Though he usually explains this rebellion in selfish terms, he is fighting a repressive and sadistic system that affects everyone in the military, which makes him a symbol or icon of rebellion for the rest of the men. He inspires them in an unusual way by his example.

Is Yossarian truly in love with Luciana? What does she represent to him?

After such a brief time with Luciana, Yossarian feels very strongly about her. He probably has not had time to properly "fall in love," but it is possible. What is more likely is that she represents to him an escape from the madness of the war. The moment that makes him most enamored of her is when she tells him that the scar she will not reveal is from an American bombing. She not only confirms the cruelty of war to him by being an innocent victim of it, but she also represents the possibility of healing from past hurts. Her willingness to spend time with him shows her willingness to forgive. Luciana gives Yossarian hope, and she is a haven for him.

Is Catch 22 a parody, or is it generally realistic?

The novel is ridiculous in many ways. The misunderstandings and difficulties of communication are exaggerated sometimes so that the dialogue can sound like an Abbott and Costello routine. The decision-making of the military is inane and whimsical, and everyone is comically self-absorbed and uninterested in the larger picture of war. Though the novel is a parody in so many ways, Heller blurs the line between what is farce and what is an accurate description of life during war, which is absurd and chaotic. Often, this is true of farce; parody is used to underline life's truths and realities.

Is the novel a comedy or a tragedy?

Similar to how Heller uses parody to highlight reality, he uses dark comedy to reveal the cruel truths of wartime behavior. The novel is a comedy, but it hints that the reality of war is a tragedy. One marker of a comedy is a happy ending, and in the end of this novel, Yossarian finally escapes. This is a victory at the end of his long troubles, even though it is quite small compared to the physical and psychological ravaging he has experienced from the war. This small sweet note at the close of the novel comes in the context of a larger tragedy.

World War II is generally portrayed as a just war fought for the right reasons by brave and reasonable men. The majority of Heller's characters, however, are portrayed as selfish, depraved lunatics. Does the novel condemn the nobility of the soldiers? Are the problems pointed out by Heller just the funny, petty complaints of officers, or are there deeper troubles here?

First of all, any war is very complicated, and any clear assertion of good or evil is probably an oversimplification. There certainly are aspects of nobility and bravery in this war. The overall context remains: these people are fighting with a purpose. Heller shows noble intentions in characters such as Clevinger, who argues that it is his and every soldier's duty to fight for his country in a time of need. Clevinger's voice, however, is seen as dangerous by his own superiors, and his is an uncomfortable presence among his peers. He eventually dies an unceremonious death, having achieved nothing more noble than most of the other men, and having failed to inspire anyone. Heller shows that even noble intentions cannot prevail in the atmosphere of confusion and callous misdirection. The beliefs and reasons for war can be noble and good for some, deranged and cruel for others. The actions of war are intrinsically ludicrous, so war should be reserved only for extreme circumstances when the alternatives are worse. Nobility, in the world of Catch-22 , all too often seems futile.

Who is the villain in Catch-22 ?

There is a general absence of pure malice in the novel; all "evil" in the novel is a consequence of pride, misdirection, miscommunication, or even good intentions. The enemy is not really seen. Death usually occurs due to a mistake, or it is totally random. The men are needlessly sent on dangerous missions due to their superiors' pride and negligence. Bureaucracy's effect on society is another reason why it is difficult to identify one single character as the villain of the novel. In large groups such as corporations or government, bureaucracy thoroughly diffuses blame. Bureaucracy itself may be the villain of the novel, for it gives cover for the dark side of human nature and makes it difficult to hold an individual accountable for bad actions.

Why is the novel not written chronologically? What effect is this supposed to have on the reader?

The scattered assortment of vignettes underscores the confusion and nonsensical nature of the men's experiences during the war. Character arcs become truncated, even running backwards in some places. This parallels how the actual character development of the soldiers stationed on Pianosa is at times truncated (by events such as death) or backwards (like Hungry Joe, whose moods are the opposite of what his situation dictates). It also underscores how the situation as a whole is not progressing or evolving; it is a stagnant, complicated mess, all of a piece. Thus, the novel's structure evokes for the reader a similar feeling of confusion and fragmentation to reflect the experience of a military officer.

Are the characters in the novel moral, for the most part?

Since morality, from a social point of view, is a system that dictates one's actions in a society, one should distinguish military morals in wartime from those of civilians in peacetime. Common moral themes, such as refraining from killing, are disregarded during war. But conventional morality does not seem to apply much at all, or so most of the men seem to think. Some of them act violently, flippantly, angrily, misogynistically, or even cruelly. This is a response to their surroundings, but it is not necessary or right for them to act in these ways simply because they can get away with it. Such activity is often more a cry of frustration and non-comprehension than an affirmation of immorality. It is sad, then, to observe that human nature cannot easily stand the pressures of war and remain as moral as the same people tend to be in peacetime.

Why did Heller choose the Air Force as the branch of the military in which the men serve?

Pilots are miles away from the targets they bomb and the anti-aircraft guns that fire at them. Even when they encounter the enemy in hostile planes, they do not see faces or hear yells. For a pilot, the enemy is either miles away or is encased in a metal machine. The connection that most of the men feel to a mission or to the war is very remote compared with infantry. They do not feel a strong sense of purpose as easily, and they thus tend to feel aloof from the rallying cause that should unite them. Also, the juxtaposition of violence and the calm, almost civilized world inside a plane parallels the constant doubleness of the men's experiences in dealing with the oddities of their compatriots and of their superior officers.

Catch-22 Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Catch-22 is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

What signature does Major-Major use for signing documents?

Major Major signs his documents with the name, Washington Irving.

What does the chaplain tell Carthan about Yossarian in Catch 22?

The chaplain tells Cathcart about the wrongful increase of the number of missions to sixty--as well as Yossarian's bad health condition.

What does Milo tell Yossarian to do at the end of the chapter?

Milo tells Yossarian to put on his uniform.

Study Guide for Catch-22

Catch-22 study guide contains a biography of Joseph Heller, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Catch-22
• Catch-22 Summary
• Character List

Essays for Catch-22

Catch-22 literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Catch-22 by author Joseph Heller.

• The Portrayal of Capitalism and Free Enterprise in Catch-22
• A Story about a Yo-Yo: How Catch-22 comes full circle without being circular
• There's always a "Catch"
• The Unanswered Question: Holden Caulfield, John Yossarian and the Fate of Innocence
• Daneeka and Thoughtful Laughter in Catch-22

Lesson Plan for Catch-22

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Catch-22
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Catch-22 Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Catch-22

• Introduction