I would have to say that Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, was at least enjoyable to
read. There were several aspects about it that made it good and bad at the same
time. First, I think the most important thing aspect to look at, is that Heller
makes death, a traditionally sickening topic, a humorous event. It is humorous
because of the way he illustrates who is crazy. I assumed that Yossarian was the
insane one in the beginning. Now, I can’t say that I am sure. I like how this
book makes the reader think. Who really is crazy? Does anyone know? Yossarian is
doing anything he needs to, to survive. Does that make him insane? In my eyes,
he is living on instincts, the way he should. The threat of death keeps him
going. He is not insane. So who is insane, the reader, the writer? I don’t
feel that I can answer that. If anything, I think all of the above. It is neat
to see how one would act when faced with death. I think what Heller was trying
to say is that when someone knows they are dying, nothing makes sense to them.
When we see people that know they are dying, we think that they don’t make
sense. So, we can’t really know who is making sense. It’s very tricky in
that way. This at least kept me awake and thinking while reading it. I think the
main conflict of the story, was between humanity and the rules. We are forced to
do something by law then we pay the ultimate price for it. The best part is that
we do it all for the idea that we are protecting those laws. The idea of a
Catch-22 is interesting. It’s like saying, “A person has the right to do
anything that another person cannot stop them from doing.” This catch appears
throughout the entire book. It was quite evident when the Italian woman is
talking about the Military Police. It is also clearly evident when Yossarian is
walking down the stairs. He is cursing Catch-22, although he doesn’t believe
in it. There is no real explanation for Catch-22, that’s the catch. It can
only be defined as Catch-22. When Yossarian discusses with Colonels Cathcart and
Korn, it is easy to see the Catch-22. This situation shows that a Catch-22
causes a person to betray all the values that they have. All this time, I’ve
been trying to explain what I feel about the book, when I don’t know how I
feel. This Catch-22 is so strange that my thoughts about it keep changing as I
type, changing the way I feel about the book as a whole. It’s very odd. I
liked the book, but the ideas in it are so marveling that I’m not sure what to
think. How Heller wrote this impresses me. His use of the Character Yossarian
causes the reader to examine oneself, and also examine the idea of insanity.
Overall, I’d have to say that this book is definitely good to read, but my
feelings are still questionable. I hate to see a book such as this go to waste
in the end, lie so many others. There is no reason for it to end this way. It
just shows a lack of imagination. There is no sense of individuality in the
books ending. IT was simply bad guy dies and loses. There is nothing that is
different from any other form of book All of the above stated things are true.