Catch 22

Characters

Yossarian

Main character

Believes God wouldn't
create suffering

Weird "hero," doesn't
want to die for others

Major Major Major Major

Awkward

Only sees people when he
isn't in his office

Scheisskopf

Funny name

Milo Minderbinder

Sells tons of things

Eventually strikes deal
with Germans to bomb
his own unit

Doc Daneeka

Explains Catch 22 to
Yossarian

Snowden

Dies gruesomely, makes
Yossarian learn about
human existence

Chaplain

Losing his religion

Religion being used for personal
gain

Major de Coverly

"Let them have eat"

Themes

Absurdity of War

Serious parts where people die

Completely crazy situations

Soldier in White

Bombing for Photographs

Humor

Power of Language

Yossarian deletes words
from letters

Catch 22 idea itself

Loyalty Oaths

Dehumanization

Yossarian with every girl ever

Soldier in white

Scenes of death

Chaplain

Style

Stream of Conciousness

Only in certain chapters,
but flies back and forth
between tangentially
related subjects

No sense of time whatsoever

Point in time varies,
changing from early
war to late war

References same
events several times

Humor

Lots of irony

Examples

p. 490 "If nothing else, that episode...should teach you the evil of sexual immorality." "It teaches me the evil of candy."

See bookmarks on phone for lots of examples

Ridiculously absurd

p. 398-405: really weird and funny reasoning

Frankness

Tells gruesome statements
like they are nothing

Juxtaposition

Shows how horrid war is

Criticisms

Daniel Green

Examples of Humor

Louis Hasley

War juxtaposed by humor

Jean Kennard

Absurdity of war theme

Characterization

More juxtaposition

Walter McDonald

American Rebel

Yossarian faces moral
dilemmas

Robert Merrill

Style