Summary And Imagery In Kurt Vonnegut's Catch-22

Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut utilize structure and imagery to convey their antiwar viewpoints; however, Heller incorporates irony while Vonnegut adds motif. It is through the stories of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-five and Yossarian in Catch-22 that the reader learns how war negatively affects the soldiers involved (Wallin.)
Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut use a non-chronological structure in their novels. At first, the novels skip from episode to episode in a nonspecific order that forms an illogical mess. Not only does this accomplish presenting the protagonists as insane, but it causes the reader to experience life as someone who has been traumatized by what they witnessed in war (“Time and Structure” 9-11.) It is for this reason a traditional structure could not be applied to the novels because the illogical order of events that seem to have no relevance forces the reader to experience
The most ironic part of Catch-22 is Catch-22 itself. Catch-22 can best be described as a goal someone is trying to achieve, but when they are about to reach that goal it’s manipulated so they cannot. Colonel Cathcart raises the number of flight missions to be flown before a soldier can be dismissed because he wants to be promoted to General. Just as Yossarian nears the number or Hungry Joe completes the required number of missions, the number is raised. The only other method of escaping is through claiming insanity, but it too is a Catch-22. Ironically, in order to be grounded, the soldier has to be considered insane, but if he asks to be grounded, he is clearly sane because nobody wants to be in war (Scoggins.) Here, Heller identifies two problems: the soldier cannot escape the war through any form of discharge, and the fate of the soldier is determined by the acquisition of power (Scoggins.) Heller points these problems out because they support the antiwar theme by giving examples of how war is