Catch-22 Review

Joseph Heller's Catch-22 is one of the most influential satires, and arguably novels, of the 20th century. Its impact on American culture is easy to see, as even its name has seeped into our everyday language.

Even 52 years after it was written in 1961, the book remains true. The World War II era novel, was first met with controversy. The book's writing is in no way considered to be "great", and the book's plot did not gain itself many readers. Yet, its strong commentary on the WWII Air Force rang true to liberal '60's generation and helped levy the book to its eventual fame.

The book, in all 500 pages, does not grasp the attention of today's youth. The humor that Heller uses in the novel can be seen as especially 'masculine' and probably does not hit home with many demographics. However, for those that can relish it, Heller’s crazy dialogues and impossible situations may please.

It is essential to realize that Catch-22 is an anti-war novel. Heller pokes fun at the system of medals, and denounces any society that glorifies war. Heller also satirizes the topics of religion and God.

The major problem of the novel, for me, was the writing style. Heller does not exhibit especially skillful or unique writing and his ability is none to be applauded. That is not, however, to say that the story was useless. In fact, I believe that the majority of the merit of the book comes from its satire, political commentary, and unique humor.

One of the most memorable jokes was in reference to Major Major’s alfalfa business, or lack thereof. Interestingly, the government “paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him, and he spent every penny he didn’t earn on new land to increase the amount of alfalfa he did not produce. Major Major’s father worked without rest at not growing alfalfa”(pg#).

The problem that arises is that the following God-know-how-many pages of the novel are just iterations of the same catch-22 situation. Clevinger had nothing better to do well in, he did well in school”(95), Heller states that “In an airplane there was absolutely no place in the world to go except to another part of the airplane” (42), Italians stating that we “put so much stock in winning wars," the grubby, iniquitous old man scoffed. "The real trick lies in losing wars, in knowing which wars can be lost. Italy has been losing wars for centuries, and just see how splendidly we've done nonetheless."(255).

Overall, it is crucial to notice the reason for the books rise to fame. It is not its writing style, nor its unique story telling, but that political and social commentary that Heller exhibits. The novel serves not to entertain or to impress, but to inspire thought, and that it does.