Catch-22

Catch-22

Hypocrisy within Catch-22 Catch-22 utilizes a variety of literary devices, in order to
generate a set of picaresque characters that serve Heller's goal of instigating within the reader a desire to analyze the duality of morals and double standards and to foment a perspective that contradicts the constant glorification of war. His use of a contorted chronological order allows him to capriciously administer vital occurrences through out the novel. Heller's recurring paradox of Catch- 22 initiates a mindset in which the characters view themselves as sane but act contrary to their manifestation.
Heller's juxtaposition of similar situations provides an insight into many of the characters psychological disorders. Major Major is one of the apparent products of this literary device. Major is very social phobic due to his distorted father-figure. Heller describes Major's father as a person who "advocated thrift and hard work and disapproved of loose women who turned him down."(1) Heller then conveys the reward of hypocrisy by stating "His specialty was alfalfa, and he made a good thing out of not growing any. The government paid him well for every bushel of alfalfa he did not grow. The more alfalfa he did not grow, the more money the government gave him? Neighbors sought him out for advice on all subjects, for he had made much money and was therefore wise. "As ye sow, so shall ye reap," he counseled one and all." (1) Heller obviously expresses an opinion that differs from Ecclesiastes in respect to the reciprocity of consequence. The bible says: "Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return."(2) Ecclesiastes points out that life is vane and that the just and unjust suffer equally. Heller's character boldly represents the contrary of this perspective....