Catch-22
(Joseph Heller)

Absolute Power

Absolute power is one of the main themes in “Catch-22”. The soldiers’ lives are entirely dictated by the men who rank above them, and there is nothing they can do about it. Laws are woven into complicated catch-22’s that Yossarian believes do not truly exist, and they are constantly being required to complete more missions to be discharged, a fate that never seems to be coming, and for most of the men it never does come because they are killed on senseless missions. The environment is almost cultlike with Yossarian the only one who truly seems to understand the ridiculousness.

Absurdity

Absurdity goes hand in hand with power in this novel as the amount of power and control the men have over the lives of their soldiers is truly absurd. The notion of catch-22 is not only absurd but discriminatory because the only people it saves are those who are in power. The only thing that the high-ranking officers care about is how they look to the other officers, and most of them are not even qualified to be in a position of power. The scenarios depicted are absurd to the point that no one would ever even imagine them happening or understand how the situation came to be.

Fear

For a novel that is based on war and the horrors and hypocrisy within, more characters should be fearful of their fate, though Yossarian seems to be the only characters who truly embraces the absurdity of the situation and the real possibility of death. Fear drives Yossarian to be extremely cautious and even cowardly at times, but it seems to work out as he is one of extremely few who survive. The officers fear looking inferior to other officers, while the soldiers fear death and not much else.

Inferiority

The soldiers are made to feel small and inferior in comparison to the officers, and to feel as though they have no options other than the ones that are fed to them. The officers exercise their superiority by toying with the men in the form of forcing them to sign oaths of loyalty, forcing them to pray before missions, changing their mission quotas whenever they feel like it and for any reason they can think of, and by creating a catch-22 for any scenario that comes up. The men feel that because of their inferiority they cannot speak up and are brainwashed into believing that someday they may actually be discharged, though that will never happen.

Religion

By the end of this novel, even the Chaplain has lost his religious faith. According to Yossarian there is no right and just God because if there was he would not have created all of the terrible things that cause suffering, especially war. Being in the war environment shows men all of the truly horrific things in the world and they witness devastation first hand. In Yossarian’s view a God who is supposed to be the all-mighty would not have, in good conscience, created such chaos and unfairness. Because of the lack of faith in God the men must decide what is relevant to them as individuals and fight to protect their own morals and values.

Hypocrisy

The hypocrisy here lies wholly in the officers’ ability to create laws and loop holes that will suck the soldiers in and spin them around and around never to be let out. This is what is known as the catch-22 which in itself is hypocritical. Any law can be folded in upon itself to make anyone guilty of any crime with no way to argue against it. The catch-22 was created to protect the officers from being implicated in their wrongdoing and to put the brunt of blame on the soldiers.

The Meaning of Words

Many words are seen as unimportant to the soldiers in this novel as words mean nothing to them at this point. They are constantly given empty promises of being discharged and so words are lies to them. Yossarian can think of nothing to say most of the time and in the beginning of the novel he censors letters by removing random words to make the remaining words mean something else entirely. The only words that have meaning to the soldiers are the words of catch-22 because it is the absolute law, though ironically catch-22 actually means nothing at all.

Death

In “Catch-22” death is inevitable for the soldiers. Though they are promised to be discharged after flying a certain number of missions, the number is constantly increasing, making it obvious that they will never actually get out. The idea is that the soldiers will be placed into missions until they die fighting. Yossarian is the only one who seems to understand that death is certain for them and that is why he fears it and others do not. The others have hope for the future but Yossarian knows that there is no future if they stay and fight. In the end Yossarian and Orr, the two to escape the war, are the only two to survive out of their group of friends.

Greed

Greed is the driving force behind this novel. The high ranking officers’ greed comes from a hunger for power and control. They all need to be better than the guy next to them and do something to catch the attention of the guy above them. Everyone wants to be a part of Milo’s syndicate as well, hungry for the money to go along with the power, not realizing that Milo has no intentions of sharing his money with anyone. Milo is so greedy that he cannot even help the other men who need him if he sees a business opportunity looming near.

Sex

Sex is the main connection between men and women in this novel as they form no lasting, loving, relationships. To some of the men, like Nately and Yossarian, lust equals love--if even for a short period of time. The women in the novel are mainly prostitutes, and get whatever they want by promising men sex, as happened when Yossarian’s tent-mates were holding Nately’s whore back from attacking him. In a world where the men find themselves constantly alone, and without female companionship, sex is love to them because it is the only time they actually get to feel anything at all.