Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

This war novel, Catch-22, by Joseph Heller starts off by introducing the reader with the different aspects of each character and briefly describes the setting. Throughout this novel the protagonist, Yossarian, is going through many dilemmas of attempting to survive this war. Yossarian and his squadron face many obstacles in order to survive. Such as, the colonel increases the number of missions every time in order for them not to go back home. They also have to face Catch-22 which is a paradoxical law. Catch-22 applies to many different aspects of wartime life. This is pretty much a trap that is shown throughout the novel. The novel climaxes to the point of Yossarian having the option to return back home but with a catch or face prison. After one of his fellow squadron dies Yossarian clings onto his idea. The novel ends up with tying up all the loose ends with each character.  Heller ends the novel with Yossarian making a decision of fleeing to Sweden and escaping the war.

The main theme of Catch-22 is death. Heller shows this by having Yossarian's main goal to stay alive or at least die trying. Yossarian is constantly worrying about death and imagining the ways he could possibly die. Throughout the novel Heller presents many deaths of the squadron. I believe Heller wrote about this theme mainly to either show the certainty of death or to show how precious life really is. I also believe Heller showed death a lot to present how war really is.

The protagonist is very dynamic and round.  Yossarian is a complicated character to realize if he changed or not. But, throughout the novel Yossarian's main objective is to stay alive. He has changed his attitude and morals after the many obstacles such as the number of missions increasing, Catch-22, and the people in his squadron. His decision to escape wasn't at first his objective because he did not want to end up in the consequence of it. However, in the end he satisfied himself to escape in order to stay alive. Another main character is the chaplain. He is an easy person to point out to be dynamic and round. At first he was very fearful, a saint, friendly,  and always going by God's words. At the end of the novel, the chaplain ends up lying, not being quite as fearful as before and not going a lot by God's word. Like he lied to the hospital to benefit for him to stay there and avoid the war.

There are many symbols, motifs, and metaphors that are significant to the novel. One would be the soldier in white. The soldier in white pretty much represents how the army treats soldiers as interchangeable/replaceable objects. This reveals the character's mindset of believing its the same person without realizing the army's work. The number of missions is another significance in the novel. Throughout the novel, the number of missions increases. It helps with the understatement of Catch-22. This is a primary trap from which soldiers in the squadron cannot escape. This allows soldiers like Orr and Yossarian to seek alternative ways to escape.

I chose this book because Mr. Ostini kept mentioning to the class this book is excellent and we should read it. I chose this book also because it had to deal with war and I always wanted to read a war book. It especially caught my attention when I read a summary about it online. Many things kept me to want continue reading. Such as, the many obstacles each character had to face, morals, sanity, staying alive, and especially Catch-22.

It made me many connections with me especially the part of trying to stay alive and Catch-22. In my life such as Yossarian I had faced many obstacles that changed my perspective of morals and giving myself hope to stay alive. My life used to be another obstacle of trying to stay alive everyday. I gave myself hope and decided like Yossarian to escape this battlefield in order to survive. Catch-22 connects very much with life because there are traps in life which are paradoxical and very confusing/complicating.

One idea that I'll remember from this novel is the will to stay alive. This has related to me in different ways especially my past life. Yes people are going through different obstacles with different levels of pain. However, only you have the choice of will to stay alive and keep your importance/morals together in order to get through this. From my experience of my past life staying alive is one of the best choices you will choose in life and I guarantee you will not regret it.