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1、Catch一22； Black Humor； The Absurd； HippiesCatch 一22 is a classic book of black humor It is saidthat Catch一22 is one of the best novels in 20 century AnAmerican novelist once evaluated Catch一22 as an“antinovelantiheroic” book Actually， as what the author of this novel，Joseph Heller himself has said a

2、bout this book， that， though itwas a novel about war its theme wasn t only antiwar Helleradded that what he wanted to disclose in this nove1 was thatwhat the American society in l 960s was like， and theindividual relationship in bureaucracy of that timeWhy Catch 一22 is s0 famous? It is because that

3、thisbook is the beginning of the“black humor” writings “Blackhumor refers to the kind of“morbid and absurd humor”，which is“seeking fun from callousness” The core of“blackhumor” is that the author indicates the truth by absurdity ie disclose the real world by distorted phenomena Catch一22is widely acc

4、epted just because it expresses one generation sworry and despair about the realistic society， which is full ofdarkness， ugliness and injustice after the Second World War，and because it shows this generation s complex psychology ofobtaining， and this generation s some psychological comfortfrom humor

5、 and satireThe following is a brief introduction of the plot of( h一22 During World War ， the soldier Yessarian wasstationed with his Air Force squadron on the island of Pianosa，near the Italian coast and the Mediferrancan Sea， He and hisfriends endured a niglatnlarish， absurd existence defined bybur

6、eaucracy and violence： they are inhuman resources in theeyes of their hlindly ambiti, ous superior officers The squadronwas thrown thoughtlessly， into brutal combat situations andbombing situations and bombing rutl on which is moreimportant for them tO captuie a g(xd aerial photograph of anexplosion

7、 than to destroy thcir targets Their colonelscontinually raised the number of missions they were required tofly before being sent home so that 1lo one is ever sent homeStill no one but Yo&, arian seemed to realize that there was awar going on； everyolle thought he was crazy when he insistedthat nfil

8、lions of people were trying to kill himIt is necessary to know the historical background ofCatch 一22， which is helpful for understanding Yossarianwel1 Iii Cat 一22 “in fact sortie details about the war areopenbr realistic though many aspects of army life are widelydistorted But， as well as the war， t

9、here are aspects of postwar， peacetim e American to be discerned l eneath theseemingly mad elltS in the noveI The political climate ofthat period influenccs man) of t he characters and events”Joseph Heller， a sensitive， idealistic and individualistic man，But, i want to analysis A Brave Fai1ure An An

10、alysis of Yossarian in Catch一22wrote the novel after the United States with her allies Ilad wonthe war Her dollars， atom bombs and armies controlled orprotected half the world but her citizens were little closer tothe American Dream of equality and liberty for all peopleHere in order to understand t

11、his novel well， we mustmake clear that what the absurd is It was two French writerswho first articulated what was a generally, felt mood of atheismafter the Second WorId War Jean Paul Sartre(190580)and Albert Camus(191360) both explored the problemsman is faced with when he realizes that there is no

12、 God Ifthere is no ultimate authority， no after life and therefore nosalvation， then all that can be said is that things and we existin a meaningless universeJohn Yossarian the protagonist of Catch 一22 was botha member of the squadron s community and alienated by itAlthough he flied and lived with t

13、he men， he was marked as anoutsider by the fact that many of the men thought he wentinsane His difference from the rest of the men led us to expectsomething exceptional from Yossarian He was the only onewho remained mentally clear headed in the squadron whenhis life was threatened by daily flying mi

14、ssions， but in otherseye he was insane How strange his situation was! ButYossarian s characteristics were not those of a typical heroHe did not risk his life to save others； in fact， his primary goalthroughout the novel was to avoid risking his life wheneverpossible But the system of values around Y

15、ossarian was soskewed that this approach seemed to be the only truly moralstance he could take if only because it wan so logica1 W hatwe came to hate about military bureaucracy as we read Ca tch一22 is how illogical it was： men were asked to risk their livesagain and again for reasons that were utter

16、ly illogical andunimportant Out of this sea of antilogic， Yossarian was ableto seize and hold onto one true 1ogical idea一一that he shouldtry to preserve life Unlike a conventional hero， however，Yossarian did not generalize this idea to mean that he shouldrisk his own life in attempts to save everybod

17、y else s In aworld where life itself was so undervalued and so casually lostit was possible to redefine heroism as simple self preservationYossarian was very brave and intelligent He wanderedaround the border of death and life so many times For thisreason， he won a medal for bravery in battle His be

18、haviorseemed to be a little cowardlike for his fear of death： doesthis mean he wasn t brave?No His dealings with death andwith the officers who administer the iniquitous regulationcalled Catch 一22 is the consciousness through which weexperienced the absurd world he inhabited and his heroicstruggles

19、against it were the means by which we came tounderstand his character and his world Through the m adconfusions， one certainty was that he was utterly sane Unlikeother insensitive and ignorant pilots， he was very consciousand refused more misions But Yossarian s problem was not32just that someone was

20、 trying to kill him： “strangers hedidn t know shot at him with cannons every time he flew upinto the air to drop bombs on them” That after all was typicalof war； and peacetime with its sneaky diseases and suddenaccidents would not be much safer The real problem was thatIle and his friends were “dom

21、inated by the administratorsappoint serve them They were bullied， insulted， harassed andshoved about” From this we can see， Yossarian wasn t afraidof devoting his life to his century， but he wasn t wiUing todevote himself to those bureaucracies， such as Ca thcart andthe like， which meant his losing

22、of life meaninglessYos sarian was the repres entation of Am erican Hippies in1960s Like Yossarian， Hippies did 8o many brave actions torebel the old and stubborn traditions They tok drugs，maintained free sexual relationship， and worshipedindividualism AIl these action was very brave， although thoseo

23、rthodox people blamed them 8o severelyAIthough Yossarian was very brave and intelligent， Hefailed the battle against those bureaucracies He used manytricks to avoid bombing flights This could be seen in theevents of three hospital visits and delaying tactics beforeBologna But the essence of the war

24、and the Ca tch 一22decided him a destined failure Because the world Yossarianeventually rejected was one in which the squadron doctor was aselfpitying hypo chondriac； the squadron commander refusedever to see anyone； the mess officer set up an internationalcartel which contracts with Germany to bomb

25、the squadron；the group commander waged a war of personal aggrandizementin which the deaths of airm en were his am munition； and thewing commander in his battle for promotion had bombercommand annexed by entertainment services and ins isted onneat bomb patterns， no matter what the target This wasexac

26、tly a world under a kind of organized confusion and a kindof systematized craziness In this world， all the mass wentmad Yossarian was the only one who remained conscious in itSo he was inevitably a failure in this worldAs what we apprehended about the bok Catch一22， theinfluences of Catch一22 was prev

27、ailing all over the worldMaybe Yossarian himself thought that after he retreated toSweden he could lcad a new life there But the reality was onthe contrary The catch 一22， though was invisible， itsinfluence was so po werful that everyone in that world couldnot step out of it So Yossarian s radical me

28、asure of seekingnew life in Sweden just meant another failure to himYosarian s decision of retreating to Sweden seemed to be a“ victory” for him in the battle fighting against Catch一22，because he could get rid of the terrDr of death in an0thercountry ActuaIly， even though he coukl never escape theme

29、nace of death， he coukl never escape the Catch一22 ForexampLe， when he was in Ron1e he caught the sight ofsokliers f0rcing people out of their I1ome ； o he asked whyThe answer was that Catch一22 permitted them to do thisAnother example， Mile the pilot only flies four missions， atthe same time being th

30、e boss of his syndicate and mayors ofmany cities， just because he understood the Catch一22, sowel1 Undoubtedly， the world Yossarian lived in was widelyprevailed by Catch一22 W herever he went， he could neverdismis the influence of Ca tch一22 In this sense Yossarianwas a failureHippies were at the same

31、situation as Yossarian Theyfought against those outdated traditions bravely and seriouslyBut the step of reformation must bc gradually So their finalsituation was the same as Yossarian They retreated from thereality by taking alcohols and drugs But these actions did notmeall they were winners in the battle against oldfashionedtraditiozas On the contrary they were losers as Yossarian wasYosarian was a brave failure； this was decided by the ageand the world he Iived in His character was the combinationof bravery and failure， as a