Some Of The Books I've Been Reading This Summer -- Part #2

Catch-22 is like no other novel. It is one of the funniest books ever written; truly a keystone work in American literature; one that even added a new term to the dictionary. At the heart of Catch-22 resides the book's incomparable protagonist, the malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero made endlessly inventive in his schemes to save his own skin, by the grim chances and the horrible ironies of war. His efforts are perfectly understandable because, as he notes during his furious scrambles, “Thousands of people I haven't even met are trying to kill me.”

In addition to Yossarian, this book features an abundant cast of memorable characters. Catch-22 is a war novel that is much more. It is an allegory, a collection of running themes and recurring storylines. Told in a nonlinear storytelling style, Heller's novel captivates and demands attention, making reference to events in casual passing, only to return to them in increased detail. During an education session in Chapter 4, Yossarian makes passing reference to Snowden, a man killed during a mission in which he was in charge. This incident is returned to with increasing detail as the story progresses, and it is in the book's blood-drenched climax that the full horrors of the event are recounted.

One recurring theme in Joseph Heller's greatest novel is faith. The character Chaplain Tappman is the ideal vehicle for Heller's musings: he constantly preaches the word of God, questioning The Almighty's existence all the while. On the subject of the bible, Tappman recalls one soldier asking, "Did it indeed seem probable...that the answers to the riddles of creation would be supplied by people too ignorant to understand the mechanics of rainfall?" Yossarian also offers his two cents on the matter in Chapter 18, referring to a certain Supreme Being as "a colossal, immortal blunderer," saying, "When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. It's obvious he never met a payroll. Why, no self-respecting businessman would hire a bungler like Him as even a shipping clerk!" It is thought-provoking observations like these that help to make Catch-22 the immensely rewarding book it is.

Indeed, the questioning of faith and religion is justified, particularly in the environment of war, where ruthlessness and corruption are the status quo. Heller creates a world where a character with redeeming qualities is a rare and unusual blessing. Many of the book's characters are so self-absorbed it's a wonder that they came to men of respected standing in the first place. Colonel Cathcart, one of the story's central antagonists, is a prime example. A brown-nosing, elitist, social climber, he cares more about getting his picture into a future edition of the Saturday Evening Post than he cares for the well-being of his own men.

Yossarian’s primary problem is directly connected with Colonel Cathcart, who keeps raising the number of missions the men must fly to complete their tour of duty. Yet, if Yossarian makes any efforts to be excused from the perilous and ever-increasing number of missions that he’s committed to flying, he is trapped by the Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, containing the hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule from which the book takes its title, Catch-22: That is, a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes the necessary formal request to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. The great novel, Catch-22, is a microcosm, not only of the Twentieth-Century world, but of our emerging Twentieth-First Century world also. The book portrays a world, exactly as it might look to someone who is “dangerously sane.” It is truly a masterpiece for all time, and especially so for these days now, in the crazy, Catch-22 world of 2005!

--Spencer