【正文】 t fly more missions, Yossarian answered that he was just afraid.
The Structure of this NovelThe development of the novel can be split into multiple segments. The first (chapters 1–11) broadly follows the story fragmented between characters, but in a single chronological time in 1943. The second (chapters 12–20) flashes back to focus primarily on the Great Big Siege of Bologna before once again jumping to the chronological present of 1943 in the third part (chapter 21–25). The fourth (chapters 26–28) flashes back to the origins and growth of Milo’s syndicate, with the fifth part (chapter 28–32) returning again to the narrative present but keeping to the same tone of the previous four. In the sixth and final part (chapter 32 on) while remaining in the present time the novel takes a much darker turn and spends the remaining chapters focusing on the serious and brutal nature of war and life in general. While the previous five parts develop the novel in the present and by use of flashbacks, it is in chapters 32–41 of the sixth and final part where the novel significantly darkens. Previously the reader had been cushioned from experiencing the full horror of events, but now the events are laid bare, allowing the full effect to take place. The horror begins with the attack on the undefended Italian mountain village, with the following chapters involving despair (Doc Daneeka and the Chaplain), disappearance in bat (Orr and Clevinger), disappearance caused by the army (Dunbar) or death (Nately, McWatt, Mudd, Kid Sampson, Dobbs, Chief White Halfoat and Hungry Joe) of most of Yossarian’s friends, culminating in the unspeakable horrors of Chapter 39, in particular the rape and murder of Michaela, who represents pure innocence. Many events in the book are repeatedly described from differing points of view, so the reader learns more about each event from each iteration, with the new information often pleting a joke, the punch line of which was told several chapters previously. The narrative often describes events out of sequence, but events are referred to as if the reader is already familiar with them, so that the reader must ultimately piece together a timeline of events. Specific words, phrases, and questions are also repeated frequently, generally to ic effect. Much of Heller39。s lives in the name of reason or morality. The author of this paper just takes Heller’s Catch22 and something wrong as examples.In Catch22, the author discarded the traditional realism, made whole works without a plete plot development clue. There was not a prominent character image. Instead, it is full of chaos, noisy, crazy atmosphere. But the authors also stressed a serious absurd, describing the whole American society from its internal dirty, corruption, and fall, especially those bureaucrats. Joseph Heller’s second novel, Something Wrong, written in 1974, described a pany staff’s mental anguish. It reflects the psychological state of American middle class. Something Wrong focused on writing external forces causing the person’s oppression and corrosion. Catch22 mainly told the characters’ inner spiritual life. The author in this novel made use of jokes to show that there was really something wrong with the society. He also satirized the reality and politics through absurd and deforming description. Heller’s Catch22
The Background of Catch22 After WWII, America experienced a period of unprecedented economic boom. In 1950s, America became the big brother of the capitalism world. The Cold War broke out between America and Soviet Union. With the stronger of Soviet Union, many American began be afraid of munism. They thought that the lives of American would be in danger. The republican from Wisconsin Joseph R McCarthy speak out the fear of the American. McCarthyism made the young be resentful and limited the development of literature. Besides, exhausting all resources to build up American military power aroused the antiwar sentiment. Under such political circumstances, Catch22 came out to express the author’s feeling to a chaotic America.At the beginning of 20thcentury, the famous new humanism critic More found that there was a kind of “the power of blackness” in American literature. O. Henry made use of “tearful humor” to tell the miserable life of ordinary people. Mark Twain used a kind of humor, which described bleeding with pleasure and made jokes on corpse. This kind of humor was very close to black humor literature created by Mark Twain has significant effects on the following writers. With the time passing, the humor literature was developed by leaps and bounds. Some scholars pointed out that ridicule was one of the characters in 20th century literature. In 1960s, black humor became prevalent. It was a new period of humor after Mark Twain. Just at that time, Joseph Heller began to write his Catch22. And after it was published, he became the representative writer of this period.There are social factors for Joseph Heller’s Catch22. Although the WWII ended in 1945, it was difficult for people to get rid of the fear and unpeaceful feelings caused by war. The crime of Nazi and the using of atom all left a very deep impression on people. Because of the using of atom, people doubted whether technology benefit human or not. In 1950s, the success of superatomatic experiments and artificial satellite all made people feel pollution made people unpeaceful. In 1960s, population explosion and deteriorated environment pollution made people feel ideological confusion. Democracy, individual pursuit religious belief all did not exist. Traditional moral beliefs and value system lost their effects. The people in modern society lost connect with history and were tapped in lone and alienation. Gist of the NovelCatch22 is a satirical, historical novel of Joseph Heller. It was set during the later stages of World War II from 1944 onwards, which is frequently cited as one of the great literary works of the