Joseph Heller’s debut novel is a tragicomic masterpiece that examines the absurdity of war and of military life. Catch-22 follows the fate of a group of airmen in the US Air Force, who are stationed on the Italian island of Pianosa during the Second World War. The book features multiple characters and proceeds non-chronologically in an anecdotal style. Published in 1961, it resonated with a generation of young people vehemently opposed to the Vietnam War and it is still very popular today.
Heller was the Brooklyn-raised son of Jewish-Russian immigrants who used his own wartime experience to inform his novel. He based the character Hungry Joe on himself: it was his army nickname, as Heller loved food.
the catch
The title of the book refers to a recurrent theme: a tricky clause in an elusive official document. The expression, coined by Heller, refers to a cruelly illogical form of entrapment that had life-or-death implications. Here it is used in reference to Orr, a particularly optimistic airman who is assumed to be crazy:
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions.”
“C’era solo un inghippo ed era il Comma 22, il quale specificava che preoccuparsi per la propria incolumità di fronte a pericoli reali e immediati era la reazione di una mente raziocinante. Orr era pazzo e poteva essere esonerato. Non doveva fare altro che chiederlo; ma appena l’avesse chiesto, non sarebbe stato più pazzo e avrebbe dovuto fare altre missioni.”
YOSSARIAN
Yossarian is the main character in the novel. He has flown more combat missions than anyone else, and survived. But he is not interested in heroism and just wants to be sent home. With this in mind, he invents medical complaints and walks around naked, in the hope that he will be considered ill and unable to fly. He even poisons everyone’s food with laundry soap to avoid a particularly dangerous mission. All these tactics backfire. As a result, Yossarian is more afraid of his own side than he is of the Nazis:
“The enemy,’ retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, ‘is anybody who’s going to get you killed, no matter which side he’s on, and that includes Colonel Cathcart. And don’t you forget that, because the longer you remember it, the longer you might live.’"
““Il nemico,” obiettò Yossarian con ponderata precisione, “è chiunque cerchi di farti ammazzare, non importa da che parte sta, e questo include il colonnello Cathcart. Non dimenticartelo, perché più a lungo te lo ricorderai, più lungo resterai vivo.””
AUTHORITY FIGURES
Colonel Cathcart is among a number of mediocre, egotistical authority figures. Cathcart is particularly odious as he continually increases the number of missions the men must fly, so Yossarian’s homecoming never comes. One airman rises to a position of power like no other, despite flying next to no missions: Milo Minderbender is a war profiteer who establishes a black market business so vast and lucrative that it rises above any notion of enemy or morality. For Milo, individual life is cheap where profits are to be made, because, he claims:
“What’s good for M & M Enterprises is good for the country.”
“Ciò che giova alla Forniture M&M giova alla patria."
NO GOD
One by one, Yossarian’s companions die, some in dreadfully absurd ways. The cocksure McWatt accidentally minces Kid Sampson in the propellers of his plane, and then commits suicide. Hungry Joe is killed by a cat that suffocates him in his sleep. It is a young man called Snowden, however, who dies in Yossarian’s arms, that haunts the captain, bringing him to a realisation.
“Man was matter, that was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out a window, and he’ll fall. Set fire to him and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot, like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage. That was Snowden’s secret.”
“L’uomo è materia: ecco qual era il segreto di Snowden. Buttalo da una finestra e cadrà. Dagli fuoco e brucerà. Seppelliscilo e marcirà, come altri rifiuti. Svanito lo spirito, l’uomo è un rifiuto. Ecco qual era il segreto di Snowden.”
THE HUMAN SPIRIT
While its themes may seem depressing, the humour and vitality of Catch-22 and its characters offer a positive vision of the human spirit. Afflicted by dark absurdities, it nevertheless ends in a miracle, when the chaplain, who is gradually losing his faith, is told that a man presumed dead, had escaped!
“It’s a miracle, I tell you,’ the chaplain proclaimed [...] ’A real miracle. If Orr can row to Sweden, then I can triumph over Colonel Cathcart... if only I persevere.”
““È un miracolo, credimi,” proclamò il cappellano [...] Un vero miracolo. Se Orr è riuscito a remare fino in Svezia, io potrò trionfare sul colonnello Cathcart e sul colonnello Korn, dovrò solo perseverare.”
For Heller, who died in 1999, in a mad world, miracles are also possible — if only one perseveres.
2019 MINISERIES
With its anarchic structure, Catch-22 was long thought impossible to film. A 1970 movie adaptation directed by Mike Nichols was not well received, and a 1973 series only released a pilot episode. Last May, however, a six-part miniseries, produced, directed by and starring George Clooney, was released to much acclaim. It reordered and sometimes rewrote bits of Heller’s novel in a way that retained the Catch-22 spirit and revealed its relevance to modern times.