Essay On Satire In Joseph Heller's Catch-22

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There are many things that make the novel Catch-22, by Joseph Heller, a satire. Most books from this genre are based around the mockery of life. This one specifically is based on the greed of man, irony, the insanity caused by war, and of course the meaning of life, and it has a non-traditional plot structure. All of these things combined mark the book as a satire. One thing that makes this story a satire, is its focus on the ignorance and greed of man. An example of this is when Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn fly men into a very dangerous part of enemy territory. While this may be a normal part of war, the colonels do it repeatedly in hopes that if they volunteer their men for dangerous missions, they will be promoted. Colonel Cathcart also does this so that when the men die he can write letters home to their loved ones and hopefully become a General. He sent men to die for an improved status. This is an obvious display of greed, because he risks the lives of his men. There is also lots of irony and dark humor, another atribute of this genre. Like when Milo, one of the many characters of this book, bombed his own men to make money off of Germany. Milo continues to say its his right, being part of a…show more content…
The introduction his the first half of the book. The author goes through the lives and issues and everything about every important character in the book, and in detail. The rest is rising action, this is where the deaths of most of Yossarians friends happen and the dissapearances. This is also where many things that were brought up at the beggining of the book are explained, for example: the dead man in Yossarian’s tent and why the woman was hitting Orr over the head with a shoe. The climax is at the very end of the book, when Yossarian has to decide between deserting or staying and lying to all his friends and family. That is where the book ends, is right after he

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