Humor In Joseph Heller's Catch-22

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Literature during and directly after WWII tended to portray soldiers as heroes and war as a noble cause, but still realistic about the harsh realities of War. Heller’s Catch-22, published in 1961 introduced a format for war stories. Before Heller’s work Americans and the Allies were always the heroes. Catch-22 revolutionized war novels with its criticism of both forces and focus on the individual. Yossarian enters the war not as an idealistic recruit ready to fight for a nation, but fully aware of the brutal and heartless forces on both sides. Central to Catch-22’s style and plot is its lively quick-fire sense of humor that closer resembles a stand-up comedian’s jokes than other novels of its time. The novel focused not on literary
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