Abstract
Joseph Heller's Catch-22, with its irreverent and bitterly comic description of the last days of World War II, has seemed for many of its readers a frighteningly accurate portrait of the mentality behind contemporary social and intellectual institutions.' Heller's novel, however, issues more than just a simple challenge to the various commercial, military, and religious organizations which govern the lives of its characters. In the world of Catch-22, patients' illnesses always coincide with their doctors' areas of specialization (182-3), fliers disrupt political indoctrination sessions with cries of Who is Spain? or When is right? (35), and Yossarian, the bombardier, must struggle against the logic of the Air Corps if he is to continue to survive. Such situations reveal how society's institutions reflect fundamental discontinuities in language, thought, and behavior.2 More than this, they suggest that at the heart of such dislocations is that problematic and radical discontinuity which has been the subject of so much critical discussion.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
