Common Themes In Joseph Heller's Catch 22

Catch 22 Joseph Heller was born May 1, 1923, in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was a son of Isaac, a truck driver. His mother's name was Lena Heller. In 1942, Heller joined the Army Air Corps at the age of nineteen. He spent one of the wars years flying sixty missions as a wing bombardier in squadron of B-25's stationed on Corsica. This was a very crucial part of Heller life; this provided him with great material, and a bitter attitude, which help him with his major work on Catch 22 and three other plays. In 1945, he achieved the rank of first lieutenant. Shortly after he married Shirley Held, with whom he had two children. Under the G.I. Bill, he attended much college. During the last part of the 1950's, Heller was employed with Time, Look, and McCall's
By using many different themes throughout the book, he satirizes war and uses it as a setting to satirize society at large. By altering the setting of the war, Heller is able to show how society is dark. He depicts this through institution of war. Joseph Heller’s novel not only satirizes war, but society as well. (NY Times Books of The Times) Heller actually served in the war. He stated when he wrote the book, he felt much differently than he did when he was serving, and much different than Yossarian felt. He spent much of the 1950s writing Catch 22, having gained a contract from Simon & Schuster while he was still on the first chapter. Despite the setting being WWII, it was written after. Most of the reviews were not so good. Richard G. Stern, in The New York Times Book Review, stated the novel "gasps for want of craft and sensibility" and that the book was "no novel." He said that Heller was like an artist that throws "all the ideas in his sketchbooks onto one canvas, relying on their charm and shock to compensate for the lack of
And during this time, he said his lover was hurting, so he can stay off duty instead of going to war. Many of the nurses he had during this time didn’t like him. After a little while, his liver stopped hurting and he never told anyone because he didn’t want to go to war. In addition to Yossarian, there were other soldiers in the book including Clevinger. He was a very passionate man, when arguing about his beliefs, grows very inarticulate. So when he talks to Yossarian, it often makes him sputter. Next, there is Osiris, who is Yossarian’s roommate. He is a mechanical genius. Thanks to him, Yossarian’s tent is one of the most luxurious there. Some of the other soldiers there include McWatt and Havermeyer. McWatt is considered crazy because he enjoys buzzing and flying his plane, and Havermeyer like to eat a lot and shoot random mice he finds around the