Catch-22

Catch-22 is a 1961 novel by American novelist Joseph Heller.

"Catch-22" in the novel

Within the book, "catch-22" is a military rule, the circular logic of which most notably prevents anyone from avoiding combat missions:

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• One may only be excused from flying bombing missions on the grounds of insanity;
• One must assert one's insanity to be excused on this basis;
• One who requests to be excused is presumably in fear for his life. This is taken to be proof of his sanity, and he is therefore obliged to continue flying missions;
• One who is truly insane presumably would not make the request. He therefore would continue flying missions, even though as an insane person he could of course be excused from them simply by asking.

As in the above example, much of Heller's prose in Catch-22 is circular and repetitive, exemplifying in its form the structure of a catch-22.

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Catch-22 is also invoked at other points in the novel to justify various other actions. At one point, victims of harassment by military agents quote the agents as having explained one of Catch-22's most macabre and rococo provisions in this fashion: Catch-22 states that agents enforcing Catch-22 need not prove that Catch-22 actually contains whatever provision the accused violator is accused of violating. An old woman explains: "Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can?t stop them from doing." Yossarian comes to realize that Catch-22 doesn't actually exist, but that because the powers that be claim it does and the world believes that it does, it nevertheless has potent effects. Indeed, it is worse than if it had existed because there is no way it can be repealed, undone, overthrown, or denounced. The combination of brute force with specious legalistic justification is one of the book's primary motifs.

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Another theme is that of the folly of patriotism and honor, which leads most of the airmen to accept Catch-22s and being lied to by abusive bureaucrats, but which Yossarian never accepts as a legitimate answer to his complaints.

Related Topics:
Patriotism - Honor

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One of the many strange aspects of this book is that, despite the fact that the (official) villains are the Germans, no German soldiers ever actually appear in the story. As the narrative progresses, Yossarian comes to fear American bureaucrats more than he fears the Germans attempting to shoot down his bomber.

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