文献综述 2.docx

文献综述 2.docx

《文献综述 2.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《文献综述 2.docx（59页珍藏版）》请在冰点文库上搜索。

Catch一22；BlackHumor；TheAbsurd；Hippies

Catch一22isaclassicbookofblackhumor．Itissaid

thatCatch一22isoneofthebestnovelsin20century．An

AmericannovelistonceevaluatedCatch一22asan“antinovel

antiheroic”book．Actually，aswhattheauthorofthisnovel，

JosephHellerhimselfhassaidaboutthisbook，that，thoughit

wasanovelaboutwar．itsthemewasn’tonlyantiwar．Heller

addedthatwhathewantedtodiscloseinthisnove1wasthat

whattheAmericansocietyinl960swaslike，andthe

individualrelationshipinbureaucracyofthattime．

WhyCatch一22iss0famous?

Itisbecausethatthis

bookisthebeginningofthe“blackhumor”writings．“Black

humor'’referstothekindof“morbidandabsurdhumor”，

whichis“seekingfunfromcallousness”．Thecoreof“black

humor”isthattheauthorindicatesthetruthbyabsurdity．i．

e．disclosetherealworldbydistortedphenomena．Catch一22

iswidelyacceptedjustbecauseitexpressesonegeneration’s

worryanddespairabouttherealisticsociety，whichisfullof

darkness，uglinessandinjusticeaftertheSecondWorldWar，

andbecauseitshowsthisgeneration’scomplexpsychologyof

obtaining，andthisgeneration’ssomepsychologicalcomfort

fromhumorandsatire．

Thefollowingisabriefintroductionoftheplotof（h

一22．DuringWorldWarⅡ，thesoldierYessarianwas

stationedwithhisAirForcesquadronontheislandofPianosa，

neartheItaliancoastandtheMediferrancanSea，Heandhis

friendsenduredaniglatnlarish，absurdexistencedefinedby

bureaucracyandviolence：

theyareinhumanresourcesinthe

eyesoftheirhlindlyambiti,oussuperiorofficers．Thesquadron

wasthrownthoughtlessly，intobrutalcombatsituationsand

bombingsituationsandbombingrutlonwhichismore

importantforthemtOcaptui‘eag（x~daerialphotographofan

explosionthantodestroy"thcirtargets．Theircolonels

continuallyraisedthenumberofmissionstheywererequiredto

flybeforebeingsenthomesothat1looneiseversenthome．

StillnoonebutYo&,~arianseemedtorealizethattherewasa

wargoingon；everyollethoughthewascrazywhenheinsisted

thatnfillionsofpeopleweretryingtokillhim

Itisnecessarytoknowthehistoricalbackgroundof

Catch一22，whichishelpfulforunderstandingYossarian

wel1．IiiCat一22“infactsortiedetailsaboutthewarare

openbrrealisticthoughmanyaspectsofarmylifearewidely

distorted．But，aswellasthewar，thereareaspectsofpost—

war，peacetimeAmericantobediscernedl}eneaththe

seeminglymad‘elltSinthenoveIThepoliticalclimateof

thatperiodinfluenccsman）‘ofthecharactersandevents”．

JosephHeller，asensitive，idealisticandindividualisticman，

But,iwanttoanalysisABraveFai1ure——AnAnalysisofYossarianinC~atch

一22

wrotethenovelaftertheUnitedStateswithheralliesIladwon

thewar．Herdollars，atombombsandarmiescontrolledor

protectedhalftheworldbuthercitizenswerelittlecloserto

theAmericanDreamofequalityandlibertyforallpeople．

Here．inordertounderstandthisnovelwell，wemust

makeclearthatwhattheabsurdisItwastwoFrenchwriters

whofirstarticulatedwhatwasagenerally,feltmoodofatheism

aftertheSecondWorIdWar．JeanPaulSartre（1905—80）

andAlbertCamus（1913—60）bothexploredtheproblems

manisfacedwithwhenherealizesthatthereisnoGod．If

thereisnoultimateauthority，noafterlifeandthereforeno

salvation，thenallthatcanbesaidisthatthingsandweexist

inameaninglessuniverse．

JohnYossarian．theprotagonistofCatch一22wasboth

amemberofthesquadron’scommunityandalienatedbyit．

Althoughhefliedandlivedwiththemen，hewasmarkedasan

outsiderbythefactthatmanyofthementhoughthewent

insane．Hisdifferencefromtherestofthemenledustoexpect

somethingexceptionalfromYossarian．Hewastheonlyone

whoremainedmentallyclear—headedinthesquadronwhen

hislifewasthreatenedbydailyflyingmissions，butinothers

eyehewasinsane．Howstrangehissituationwas!

But

Yossarian’scharacteristicswerenotthoseofatypicalhero．

Hedidnotriskhislifetosaveothers；infact，hisprimarygoal

throughoutthenovelwastoavoidriskinghislifewhenever

possible．ButthesystemofvaluesaroundYossarianwasso

skewedthatthisapproachseemedtobetheonlytrulymoral

stancehecouldtake．ifonlybecauseitwansologica1．What

wecametohateaboutmilitarybureaucracyaswereadCatch

一22ishowillogicalitwas：

menwereaskedtorisktheirlives

againandagainforreasonsthatwereutterlyillogicaland

unimportant．Outofthisseaofantilogic，Yossarianwasable

toseizeandholdontoonetrue．1ogicalidea一一thatheshould

trytopreservelife．Unlikeaconventionalhero，however，

Yossariandidnotgeneralizethisideatomeanthatheshould

riskhisownlifeinattemptstosaveeverybodyelse’s．Ina

worldwherelifeitselfwassoundervaluedandsocasuallylost．

itwaspossibletoredefineheroismassimpleself—

preservation．

Yossarianwasverybraveandintelligent．Hewandered

aroundtheborderofdeathandlifesomanytimes．Forthis

reason，hewonamedalforbraveryinbattle．Hisbehavior

seemedtobealittlecoward—likeforhisfearofdeath：

does

thismeanhewasn’tbrave?

No．Hisdealingswithdeathand

withtheofficerswhoadministertheiniquitousregulation

calledCatch一22istheconsciousnessthroughwhichwe

experiencedtheabsurdworldheinhabitedandhisheroic

strugglesagainstitwerethemeansbywhichwecameto

understandhischaracterandhisworldThroughthemad

confusions，onecertaintywasthathewasutterlysane．Unlike

otherinsensitiveandignorantpilots，hewasveryconscious

andrefusedmoremisions．ButYossarian’sproblemwasnot

32

justthatsomeonewastryingtokillhim：

“⋯strangershe

didn’tknowshotathimwithcannonseverytimeheflewup

intotheairtodropbombsonthem”．Thatafterallwastypical

ofwar；andpeacetimewithitssneakydiseasesandsudden

accidentswouldnotbemuchsafer．Therealproblemwasthat

Ileandhisfriendswere“dominatedbytheadministrators

appointservethem．Theywerebullied，insulted，harassedand

shovedabout”．Fromthiswecansee，Yossarianwasn’tafraid

ofdevotinghislifetohiscentury，buthewasn’twiUingto

devotehimselftothosebureaucracies，suchasCathcartand

thelike，whichmeanthislosingoflifemeaningless．

YossarianwastherepresentationofAmericanHippiesin

1960sLikeYossarian，Hippiesdid8omanybraveactionsto

rebeltheoldandstubborntraditions．Theytokdrugs，

maintainedfreesexualrelationship，andworshiped

individualism．AIltheseactionwasverybrave，althoughthose

orthodoxpeopleblamedthem8oseverely．

AIthoughYossarianwasverybraveandintelligent，He

failedthebattleagainstthosebureaucracies．Heusedmany

trickstoavoidbombingflights．Thiscouldbeseeninthe

eventsofthreehospitalvisitsanddelayingtacticsbefore

Bologna．ButtheessenceofthewarandtheCatch一22

decidedhimadestinedfailure．BecausetheworldYossarian

eventuallyrejectedwasoneinwhichthesquadrondoctorwasa

self—pityinghypochondriac；thesquadroncommanderrefused

evertoseeanyone；themessofficersetupaninternational

cartelwhichcontractswithGermanytobombthesquadron；

thegroupcommanderwagedawarofpersonalaggrandizement

inwhichthedeathsofairmenwerehisammunition；andthe

wingcommanderinhisbattleforpromotionhadbomber

commandannexedbyentertainmentservicesandinsistedon

neatbombpatterns，nomatterwhatthetarget．Thiswas

exactlyaworldunderakindoforganizedconfusionandakind

ofsystematizedcraziness．Inthisworld，allthemasswent

mad．Yossarianwastheonlyonewhoremainedconsciousinit．

Sohewasinevitablyafailureinthisworld．

AswhatweapprehendedaboutthebokCatch一22，the

influencesofCatch一22wasprevailingallovertheworld．

MaybeYossarianhimselfthoughtthatafterheretreatedto

Swedenhecouldlcadanewlifethere．Buttherealitywason

thecontrary．Thecatch一22，thoughwasinvisible，its

influencewassopowerfulthateveryoneinthatworldcould

notstepoutofit．SoYossarian’sradicalmeasureofseeking

newlifeinSwedenjustmeantanotherfailuretohim．

Yosarian’sdecisionofretreatingtoSwedenseemedtobea

“victory”forhiminthebattlefightingagainstCatch一22，

becausehecouldgetridoftheterrDrofdeathinan0ther

country．ActuaIly，eventhoughhecouklneverescapethe

menaceofdeath，hecouklneverescapetheCatch一22．For

exampLe，whenhewasinRon1e．hecaughtthesightof

sokliersf0rcingpeopleoutoftheirI1ome．；oheaskedwhy．

TheanswerwasthatCatch一22permittedthemtodothis．

Anotherexample，Mile．thepilotonlyfliesfourmissions，at

thesametimebeingthebossofhissyndicateandmayorsof

manycities，justbecauseheunderstoodtheCatch一22,so

wel1．Undoubtedly，theworldYossarianlivedinwaswidely

prevailedbyCatch一22Whereverhewent，hecouldnever

dismistheinfluenceofCatch一22．Inthissense．Yossarian

wasafailure．

HippieswereatthesamesituationasYossarian．They

foughtagainstthoseoutdatedtraditionsbravelyandseriously

Butthestepofreformationmustbcgradually．Sotheirfinal

situationwasthesameasYossarian．Theyretreatedfromthe

realitybytakingalcoholsanddrugs．Buttheseactionsdidnot

mealltheywerewinnersinthebattleagainstold—fashioned

traditiozasOnthecontrary．theywerelosers．asYossarianwas．

Yosarianwasabravefailure；thiswasdecidedbytheage

andtheworldheIivedin．Hischaracterwasthecombination

ofbraveryandfailure，asa