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Humour in Catch-22

Introduction

The writer Joseph Heller has dwelt in a humorous and satirical way to address the serious issue of war, explaining its madness and its disastrous effects on the soldiers and the general population. Though the contents of the novel at times are directed against the USA in the sense that its military and bureaucracy come under frequent attack, yet the portrayal of criticism in a humorous manner makes the novel form a favourable impression of the majority of the readers.

The novel presents a sort of a rebellion against the activities of the American bureaucracy and holds it responsible for the gruesome and appalling deaths of soldiers and the deplorable measures they have to endure simply because the establishment uses them as tools to meet their goals and targets.

The military's blatant disregard for humanity is reflected in the attitude of the senior officers in a humorous manner and fun is invoked at the foolishness of those ridden by a blind desire to realize their ambitions through the usage of war.

In discussing the brutalities of the war, the novel urges readers to change their perceptions about war. The perception of the people was already going through a major change after the two World Wars. To attain this target, the writer uses black humour that dominated the American society during the 60s to highlight and forward his opinions.

Though the examples given are fictions, yet the topic and issues addressed are so much true and genuine.

Discussion

The book is flooded with instances of humour with the topics of comedy and tragedy widespread in the book. Both these topics are closely discussed, and this puts them at close odds to one another. Humour does prevail in the novel in the sense by blunting any serious effects of the harsh topics the book covers, but as the plot unfolds the reality of war and its horrors do strike the readers but not in a painful manner.

One of the first occasions where humour is used is the catch-22 phrase. This phrase forms a sort of motif that repeatedly occurs in the book.

Phrase-22 is one of the humours used by the writer in the book for a repeated number of times. The humour lies in the meaning that the “phrase-22” implies. Phrase-22 is a sort of blockade that the military establishment uses to thrust its soldiers on unrealistic endeavours to win the war. With many soldiers vying to escape the war, this phrase imposes a restraint in their bid to escape. If they want to escape the high fatality flying sorties, they are to plead insanity. However, in case if they do render such a claim, it is dismissed on the pretext that only sane people would be avoiding such missions and hence they are sane (Heller, pp 55).

If you twist it the other way around it would be, only insane men would desire to go on such mission, therefore, by looking for a way out of these horrendous tasks, the men testify ...