FREE ESSAY ON CATCH-22

CATCH-22

The Deft Touch of Catch 22:
Heller's Harmonious Unison of Comedy and Tragedy
Since the dawn of literature and drama, comedy and tragedy have always been partitioned
into separate genres. Certainly most tragedies had comedic moments, and even the zaniest
comedies were at times serious. However, even the development of said tragicomedies left
the division more or less intact. Integrating a total comedy and a total tragedy into a
holistic union that not only preserved both features, but also blended them into a new
and harmonious entity remained elusive. That is, until Catch-22. Using his unique style
and structure, Joseph Heller masterfully manages to interlay humor and terror, comedy and
tragedy, and reveals in the process the perversions of the human character and of society
gone mad.
The first stroke of Heller's deft touch is his presentation of outrageous characters,
acting outrageously. From the first chapter, we are presented with a slew of unbelievable
characters whose actions and ideologies are uproariously funny, and horrifically
disturbing. In fact, the manner in which the reader recognizes the character's dual
nature will serve as the first example of Heller's amalgamation of comedy and tragedy.
Dunbar's theory of life is first received with a burst of laughter from the audience.
Life is short, and Dunbar wishes to extend it as much as possible. If time flies when one
is having fun, then conversely, time must slow when one is bored. Dunbar endeavors to
make his life as boring as possible, thus increasing the length of its passing. Indeed,
it is understandable why such an attitude should elicit a laugh, but the further
implications are horrific. Society's emphasis on life over meaning comes as a shocking
revelation to the audience. Heller further reinforces that idea with characters such as
Doc Daneeka, who values self-preservation and money over responsibility and friendship,
and Milo who values self-improvement and fortune over the lives of thousands of others.
The motif that follows gives us characters that are, above all else, more interested in
self (Cathcart, Mrs. Daneeka, Duckett, the Old Man, Peckem, etc.). Though they are
initially humorous, their nature is ultimately revealed to be false and horrific,
arousing disgust and pity, a brilliant combination of comedy and tragedy.
The perversion of society is revealed further in a second major type of character, the
deluded. Though most serve largely as foils to Yossarian and his philosophy, much can
still be made of their condition. Clevinger is perhaps the best example of a deluded
character. His debate with Yossarian serves as an insightful evaluation of their psyche.
He argues that, although everyone is trying to kill him, everyone is not trying to kill
him. The humor of the debate cannot be denied, but horror and tragedy are equally
present. The debate leaves the audience struggling to decide who is crazy. Clevinger
falls into an obvious contradiction, but his argument still strikes as common sense. In
face of Yossarian's triumphant What difference does that make? the audience is left not
only with the realization of its speciousness, but of the realization that they believed
it. The terror evoked by the deluded lies mainly in that the audience is equally deluded.
Perhaps Clevinger, Appleby, and Havermeyer are fighting for what they have been told was
their country-- and perhaps so has the audience. The genius of Heller's characterization
is further enhanced as the audience sees itself in the hollow rationale of the deluded,
and is aghast with horror, even in face of such humor. With this revelation, Heller
compels the audience to follow the rebellious path of Yossarian, or fall victim to the
indoctrination of society, and meet the same fate as the deluded.
As the audience is bombarded with insanely comedic ironies of Catch-22, they are further
aware of its horror. A primary example of irony is found in Milo, when he is praised for
bombing his own company when it is learned that he made a great deal of money. Again,
this evokes a staunch laugh, and then leaves the audience aghast with horror.
Exaggeration makes this funny-- an event such as this occurring, and then inciting such a
reaction by those affected is almost unfathomable-- but the ultimate truth provides the
terror. Society truly does reward persons for profit, even if it results, as it often
does, in terrible distress. The further instances of ridiculously backward behavior--
Hungry Joe's screaming, Havermeyer's disregard for life, McWatt's destructive flying,
Cathcart's list, etc.-- further provide the audience with humorous instances of
exaggeration, whose ultimate truth proves to be horrifying. Heller's blend of hyperbole
and truth create a horrifying, though comedic, charge for his irony.
Perhaps the most memorable attribute of Catch-22 is its mind-boggling paradoxes, or, as
they are more commonly referred to, catches. These paradoxes range from the harmlessly
absurd, to the insanely catastrophic. When Yossarian and his friends begin asking clever
questions to disrupt boring educational sessions, Colonel Korn decides that only those
who never ask questions may ask questions. When they want to discuss a problem with Major
Major, they are allowed into his office only when he is out. Even when Yossarian is
offered an apparently harmless deal that would allow him to go home as a hero, there is a
catch. He must betray his friends by praising the officers who caused many of them to
die. And as Heller shows, life is reduced to one frustrating paradox after another.
The most notable instance of the paradox is Catch-22. The first solid reference is Doc
Daneeka's version, presented to Yossarian on the matter of groundings. To be grounded,
one must be insane, but one must also ask to be grounded. However, asking to be grounded
shows the desire for self-preservation, a sure sign of sanity. For, if one were truly
insane, one would fly the missions voluntarily. Thus, no one is grounded. This is
striking for its sophistry and circularity, and is certainly humorous, but its
implications are equally grotesque-- more and more deaths. As the novel continues, the
paradoxes remain equally humorous, but their implications even more gruesome. The Catch
decays, moving into the civilian world with the Luciana marriage conundrum. Later, it
appears with official regulation stating that one's orders must be obeyed, even if they
conflict with official regulation. Finally, the truth of Catch-22 is revealed in the MP's
destructive and inhumane rendition, they can do whatever you can't stop them from doing.
Ultimately, Catch-22 is the unwritten loophole that empowers authorities to revoke your
rights whenever it suits their cruel whims. It is, in short, the principle of absolute
evil in a malevolent and incompetent world. As humorous as Catch-22 is (initially at
least), the horror intertwined with it is strikingly evident. 
Likely the most important element of Catch-22 is its absurdity. Absurdity pervades the
novel, creating dually humor and terror. The absurd Lt., Col., Gen., Sheishkopff's
obsession with parades is quite droll. Again, however, the implications are ghastly.
Sheishkopff views his soldiers as puppets, wanting at one point to wire them together to
create a perfectly precise machine. This reflects society's insane obsession with order
and conformity, even at the cost of individuality and humanity. A further example of such
dehumanizing absurdity occurs at the hospital. Yossarian has suffered a leg injury and is
told to take better care of his leg because it is government property. Soldiers,
therefore, are not even people, but simply property that can be listed on an inventory.
In a bureaucracy, as Heller shows, individuality does not matter.
Maybe the most absurd character in the novel is Colonel Cathcart. He continually raises
the number of missions for no other reason than personal prestige. Though he achieves
nothing by this, he continually persists. Cathcart's absurd drive for prestige is again
emphasized in the Saturday Evening Post incident. He tries to copy another squadron's
prayer meetings, not for morale, but for the absurd thought that he will be featured in
the Saturday Evening Post. Even his reason for not going forward is absurd; he refuses to
accept the enlisted men praying to the same God as the officers. Perhaps Cathcart's most
ridiculously absurd action is his List. Ultimately, his career is measured out in Black
Eyes and Feathers in His Cap rather than in success, morale, or human life. Cathcart
remains one of the novel's funniest characters, but his essential inhumanity and
selfishness creates an equally contemptible character. Cathcart presents another example
of Heller's beautiful weaving of comedy and tragedy.
Final examples of the horrifically humorous absurdity of the novel are the death scenes.
Clevinger is the first to make his departure, flying into a cloud and never returning.
The unreasonable logistics of his demise are certain to garner laughs. Likewise, Kid
Sampson's gruesome death at the blades of a propeller-- followed by McWatt's suicide-- is
sadistically funny. The absurdity of Dunbar being disappeared cloaks its awful truth.
Even life and death can be at the whim of the army bureaucracy, as demonstrated by Mudd's
life, and Daneeka's death. At the outset these deaths are indeed comically absurd, but
the basic horror of it is enough to make one nauseous. Absurdity represents one of
Heller's most skillful blends of comedy and tragedy in the entire novel.
Though seemingly irreconcilable genres, horror and tragedy are nimbly fused into a whole
creation by Heller's unique style and structure. Heller creates situations where the
audience laughs, and then must look back in horror at what they were laughing at. Through
brilliant characterizations, superb irony, mind-boggling paradoxes, and ingenious
absurdity, Heller manages interlay humor and terror, comedy and tragedy into a beautiful
whole as Catch-22.