Reader Response - Catch-22

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A set of circumstances that seemingly has no answer is often referred to as a no-win situation . Frequently encountered in life , these situations can range from the mundane to the important , but they generally create a frustrating challenge in logic and reason for the persons they involve . Joseph Heller 's novel Catch-22 explores a series of circumstances that are so wrapped up in circular reasoning that the title of

his piece has become synonymous with a situation that has no clear-cut , rational solution : a catch-22

Trying to discuss nonsensical things in a sensible manner is a fool 's task , so Joseph Heller wraps his discussion in a package that is at times clear and at other times obfuscated - much like the reality ' of the circumstances involved - and the result is a satirical examination of the psychological ramifications of the truth as it is recorded versus the truth as it is

Catch-22 opens with the protagonist , Yossarian , in a military hospital feigning illness to prevent his having to fight in a war in which he no longer believes . The ailment he claims resides in his liver , a fitting illness as it has no clear-cut diagnosis . It seems that the novel 's protagonist is a whining , paranoid soldier who will do anything to get out of performing his tasks , but as the novel moves forward , the reader grows to understand that Yossarian is merely a man so horrified by the hopelessness of his situation that he is doing whatever he can to remain alive and sane

Words play an important role in Catch-22 , for it is through words that the fates of all of

the characters are determined , the truth is twisted , and psychological damage is done . In the

world Joseph Heller has created , words are arbitrary , and they are subject to the whim of those

who have control over them . All the officer patients in the [hospital] ward were forced to

censor letters written by all the enlisted-men patients [ .] . To break the monotony , [Yossarian]

invented games . Death to all modifiers , he declared one day , and out of every letter that passed

through his hands went every adverb and every adjective (Heller 16 The connection between

the arbitrary nature of Yossarian 's modifying words and the various tenets of Catch-22

become clearer as the events in Catch-22 unfold , and what begins as a harmless alteration of the

truth morphs into something far more vile

The irony of words , their application , and the satirical nature of rules ' is made clear immediately following Yossarian 's release from the ward

No one was around when Yossarian returned from the hospital but Orr and the dead man in Yossarian 's tent . The dead man in Yossarian 's tent was a pest [ .] . Having him lying around all day annoyed Yossarian so much that he had gone to the ly room several times to complain...