Of all the insane
actions society thrusts upon human beings, war has to be the most pointless and
detrimental to our existence. In Catch-22, Joseph Heller explores the insane nature
of war by placing his characters in ridiculous situations while in the face of
combat. Catch-22 is different from most war stories in many regards and raises
the question: is war absurd? Throughout the novel, Heller uses Yossarian and
his experiences to demonstrate how it is so.
Yossarrian, our main character,
is one of the most interesting characters I have encountered. His Machiavellian
schemes to remain alive in war despite his superior´s attempts to make him remain
in combat are so pointless they reflects the whole meaninglessness of war as a
whole. Many people describe Yossarian as insane but I don’t agree, with his
strange quirks aside I would say Yossarian is forced into an insane situation
rather than being insane himself. His end goal is to remain alive, which I would
say makes a lot of sense to me. It is when you see the absurdity of his
situation or rather his “Catch-22” that war begins to seem pointless. To
Yossarian his enemy is anyone one who can get him killed, which doesn’t necessarily
mean the Germans. This creates conflict in the novel as Yossarian´s greatest
enemy becomes Colonel Cathcart. If in war the person who you consider you “enemy”
is on your side then something strange is happening. When the main goal is to
live then everything about war becomes an absurd situation, Yossarian exemplifies
this by his illogical dialogue and irrational actions. Yossarian is so set on his
task he is determined to “live forever, or die in the attempt.” The
contradictory and pointless nature of that statement greatly represents
Catch-22´s views on war.
In Catch-22, Joseph Heller uses
Yossarian as a vehicle to expresses the thoughts of the everyday solder in war.
Yossarian makes us realize how war makes fools out of everyone and in the end
is meaningless and absurd.
