Essay/Term paper: Catch 22 2
Essay, term paper, research paper: Catch 22
Free essays available online are good but they will not follow the guidelines of your particular writing assignment. If you need a custom term paper on Catch 22: Catch 22 2, you can hire a professional writer here to write you a high quality authentic essay. While free essays can be traced by Turnitin (plagiarism detection program), our custom written essays will pass any plagiarism test. Our writing service will save you time and grade.
The Lack of Comprehensive Speech in Catch 22
Most of what we really say has no meaning. This concept is perfectly supported in Catch 22, by Joseph Heller. Almost every character and scene in the novel contain dialogues where the people speak aimlessly and have no explanation for why they are talking. Colonel Cargill addresses his men by saying, ﾃ’Youﾃ瓶e American officers. The officers of no other army in the world can make that statement. Think about it.ﾃ“(29) Even though the remark is true, it has no meaning. These type of random statements and dialogues occur throughout the whole book.
Another situation when two people speak without making any sense is when Clevinger is being questioned.
ﾃ’I didnﾃ付 say you couldnﾃ付 punish me,ﾃ“ said Clevinger.
ﾃ’When?ﾃ“ asked the colonel.
ﾃ’When what, sir?ﾃ“
ﾃ’Now youﾃ瓶e asking me questions again.ﾃ“
ﾃ’I am sorry, sir. Iﾃ瀕 afraid I donﾃ付 understand your question.ﾃ“(79)
Later in the interrogation, the colonel is so twisted in his conversation that he no longer wants to know when Clevinger said that he could not be punished. He now wants to know when Clevinger did not say that he could not be punished. Clevinger quickly rebuts and states, ﾃ’I always didnﾃ付 say you couldnﾃ付 punish me, sir.ﾃ“ Finally, the colonel is satisfied with that answer even though Clevingerﾃ不 statement did not answer the question and has no meaning.
Major Major often spoke with a lack of meaning. He simply did not make sense. For instance, he told Sergeant Towser, his assistant, ﾃ’From now on, I donﾃ付 want anyone to come in to see me while Iﾃ瀕 here.ﾃ“(102) According to this statement, when would anyone be able to see him if they could only go to his office when Major Major was out? When Appleby once went to see Major Major, he started to talk to Sergeant Towser.
ﾃ’About how long will I have to wait before I can go in to see the major?ﾃ“
ﾃ’Just until he goes to lunch,ﾃ“ Sergeant Towser replied. ﾃ’Then you can go right in.ﾃ“
ﾃ’But he wont be there then. Will he?ﾃ“
ﾃ’No, sir. Major Major wonﾃ付 be back in his office until after lunch.ﾃ“(110)
The famous catch 22, stated that one can only be grounded from flying if he/she is crazy. However, if one asks to be grounded, he/she is no longer considered to be crazy and the soldier would have to fly more missions. Yossarian always fell into this trap. He wants to be grounded but he couldnﾃ付 be considered insane because he keeps on asking to be grounded. Dr. Stubbs comments about Yossarianﾃ不 catch 22. He says, ﾃ’That crazy bastard may be the only sane one left.ﾃ“ This obviously represents a complete contradiction.
When Orr explains why he walks around as a kid with crab apples in his cheeks, he too speaks with no meaning. His explanation was, ﾃ’because theyﾃ夫e got a better shape than horse chestnuts.ﾃ“(23) But, why put anything in your cheeks? This conversation is so ambiguous and had such little meaning that the answer to ﾃ’why?ﾃ“ is never explained to Yossarian.
For no reason, Yossarian and Orr convince Appleby that he has flies in his eyes. Appleby becomes extremely worried and asks Havermeyer if he truly has flies in his eyes. Havermeyer confirms that he does not. A few minutes later, Appleby says to Havermeyer, ﾃ’Youﾃ夫e got peanut brittle crumbs on your face.ﾃ“(48) Havermeyer quickly responds by saying, ﾃ’Iﾃ錨 rather have peanut brittle crumbs on my face than flies in my eyes.ﾃ“(48) Havermeyer contradicts himself because he first says that Applyby has nothing in his eyes and then moments later abruptly says that he has flies in his eyes.
Another example of when the characters in the novel talk and act without making any sense is when Captain Black started the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade. Captain Black encouraged the soldiers to sign this optional oath to show that they were not communists. However, he says to Milo, ﾃ’The men donﾃ付 have to sign.......if they donﾃ付 want to. But we need you to starve them to death if they donﾃ付.ﾃ“(118) Obviously, this statement is a contradiction. If Captain Black is going to starve them to death, then the oath is, in fact, forcing every member of the squadron to sign.
Colonel Cargill, Clevinger, Major Major, Dr. Stubbs, Sergeant Towser, Captain Black, Appleby, Havermeyer, Orr, and of course, Yossarian are all notorious for speaking profusely and rarely saying anything of substance. Frequently, the jumbled dialogues are a result of two characters communicating on different wave lengths. This is seen when Clevinger is being questioned. The colonel and Clevinger are thinking so differently at the time, that there is no way they would be able to understand one another. This book definitely makes one realize how difficult it is to communicate, the problems people have trying to understand one another, and realizing that sometimes what we say has no meaning.
.
