Catch-22 Theme of Insanity

During the early nineteen forties, war was raging throughout the world. Countries sought to obliterate each other and eradicate all forms of existence outside of their own perimeter. While bombs were being dropped by the hundreds and bullets being fired by the thousands, families back home yearned for the safe return of their newly drafted instruments of war: their husbands and sons. The soldiers of the Fighting 256 Squadron fight their desperate battles against the odds, against the battles of fatigue and torture, against the deadening will to survive. Joseph Heller’s masterpiece Catch-22 has enlightened generations of readers to the insanity caused by corrupt bureaucracy and the pseudo-law of Catch-22.

Heller’s creation of the pseudo law of Catch-22 shows the insanity caused by the corrupt powers of bureaucracy that overwhelm the military base and all of its contained soldiers. Catch-22 is a law of circular reasoning’s. It is introduced to them and the soldiers must live their lives according to what the “non-existent” law states. One version of the Catch-22 keeps the soldiers continuously flying combat missions. A soldier’s goal is to meet the required number of flying missions; then you are discharged and can go back home. Two obstacles lie in the way for a soldier to be honorably discharged: one is that Colonel Cathcart continuously raises the number of flying missions, and the second is the Catch-22 law that explains you can be grounded, from flying anymore missions, for insanity. The Doc Daneeka can only ground a pilot if they are to be declared insane.