Catch22 Theme Essay Essay Research Paper Catch22

Catch-22 Theme Essay Essay, Research Paper

Catch-22 Theme Essay

The fresh Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a really interesting and really amusing book. It

is filled with brainsick characters and unusual events. All of these characters and events aid

the writer to exemplify one really obvious subject. Subject of Catch-22 is that war and the

military are full of madnesss, gimmicks, and unfairness.

One gimmick of the military expressed to the reader in Catch-22 is located on pages

46 and 47. A regulation of the air force provinces that any adult male who is brainsick may be grounded. A

conversation between Yossarian and Doc Daneeka goes as follows:

? Is Orr loony? ? asked Yossarian.

? He sure is. ? Doc Daneeka said.

? Can you anchor him? ?

? I sure can. But first he has to inquire me to. That? s portion of the regulation. ?

? Then why doesn? T he ask you to? ?

? Because he? s loony, ? Doc Daneeka said. ? He has to be brainsick to maintain winging

combat missions after all the close calls he? s had. Certain, I can anchor Orr. But first he has

to inquire me excessively. ?

? That? s all he has to make to be grounded? ?

? That? s all. Let him inquire me. ?

? And so you can anchor him? ? Yossarian asked.

? No. Then I can? t land him. ?

? You mean at that place? s a gimmick? ?

? Sure at that place? s a gimmick, ? Doc Daneeka replied. ? Catch-22. Anyone who wants to

acquire out of combat responsibility International Relations and Security Network? T truly brainsick. ?

This gimmick, for which the book is named, was created by the military to let

anything to go on, or non to go on, as they desired. This improbably simple clause could

be used at will by the military to take even more power off from the common soldiers.

In this peculiar instance, catch-22 was used to maintain brainsick work forces on combat responsibility.

Another madness of war expressed to the reader in Catch-22 is found on

pages 77 through 82. Lieutenant Scheisskopf hates Clevinger. Lieutenant Scheisskopf is

a member of the Action Board which prosecutes, defends, and finds condemnable suspects

guilty of offenses. Members of this board have the power to penalize anyone for anything.

For illustration, one twenty-four hours Clevinger stumbled while processing to category ; the following twenty-four hours he was

officially charged with? interrupting ranks while in formation, criminal assault, indiscriminate

behaviour, mopery, high lese majesty, provoking, being a smart cat, listening to classical music,

and so on. ? This was all brought on by Lieutenant Scheisskopf who had a personal

job with Cl

evinger. Not merely were the charges brought against him farcical, but the

test was besides. There were three members of the action board, the bloated colonel with the

large fat moustache, Lieutenant Scheisskopf, and Major Metcalf. Lieutenant Scheisskopf

was one of the Judgess who would weigh the virtues of the instance against Clevinger as

presented by the prosecuting officer. Lieutenant Scheisskopf was besides the prosecuting officer. Clevinger

had an officer supporting him. The officer supporting him was Lieutenant Scheisskopf. This

is another manner that the military can take power off from the lower ranks. Peoples of

higher ranks can make about anything they want to by mistreating their power and commanding

the people of lower ranks.

One more illustration of madness in war and the military comes in the signifier of greed

and corruptness. During the war, Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder started a concern called

M & A ; M Enterprises. Most of the money he made came from purchasing and selling Egyptian

cotton. When the market for his cotton disappeared, he tried urgently to maintain his

concern traveling. So Milo started taking contracts from the Germans to bomb his ain work forces.

One illustration of this takes topographic point on pages 263-266. Milo uses his ain work forces, who he has

hired, to utilize Twenty-Seventh Air Force planes to bomb a Twenty-Seventh Air Force base.

From this contract, Milo made adequate money to reimburse the authorities for all the

people and belongings he destroyed, and still hold adequate money to maintain his concern

running. But Milo did non reimburse the authorities, claiming that, in a democracy,

authorities is the people, and by maintaining the money he would merely be cutting out the

jobber. This is a all right illustration of how the end of a war can be overlooked by some in

order for them to do money. Milo went against his ain people for money. This shows

that non everyone cares about war which is another gimmick of the armed forces. The military

forces people to contend even if they don? T attention about the cause for which they are contending.

Many people do non hold with war, and think that there are better ways of work outing

jobs. Others think that war is necessary. Whether it is necessary or non, it will

ever be true that war and the military are filled with madnesss, gimmicks, and unfairness.

Peoples of higher ranks in the armed forces are given manner excessively much power, particularly during

war clip. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller does an first-class occupation of demoing this to the reader.