Catch-22
SynopsisPlot
Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.
Story
About this book
Catch-22, published by Joseph Heller, is set during the final months of World War II on an American bomber squadron base off the coast of Italy. The central figure is Yossarian, a bombardier who is angry and afraid because thousands of strangers are trying to kill him in combat. His frustration, however, is directed less at the enemy than at his own military command, which repeatedly raises the number of missions airmen must complete before they can be sent home.
The title refers to a circular bureaucratic rule that traps servicemen in an impossible bind. A pilot who keeps flying dangerous missions can be declared insane, but the moment he asks to stop flying, his request is taken as proof of rational thinking, which means he must continue. The rule feeds on itself: no matter what a person does, the system has already closed the exit. Heller uses this loop as the engine of the novel, building dark comedy out of official logic pushed past the point of reason.
The story moves between comic and grim episodes, with a large cast of officers and enlisted men whose individual schemes, fears, and ambitions collide with the machinery of wartime administration. Bureaucracy, self-preservation, and the gap between institutional language and lived reality run through the book from start to finish.
