What is Catch-22 used to describe?

Catch-22, English name Catch-22, has become synonymous with the dark rules of "insurmountable obstacle" or "unavoidable dilemma". These rules are contradictory, "deceptive", absurd and deceptive.

brief Introduction of the content

At the end of World War II, in Pianosa, an American air force base in the Mediterranean eight miles south of Elba, Italy, the bomber captain Josselian was like a frightened bird, ignoring all authority and creed in chaos, absurdity and fear and trying his best to save his life.

On this island, his only purpose in life is to escape from combat flights. So he pretended to be ill and went to the hospital again and again, because he found that only there was the best shelter. Finally, he is going to desert and escape to neutral Sweden, where he will spend his happy life.

Creation background

Before the start of World War II, the American government encouraged young people to take part in the war, claiming that it was for freedom, peace, glory and honor. Young soldiers joined the so-called glorious war with full enthusiasm and love for their motherland. In this war, innocent civilians were the victims, but the ruling class and profiteering businessmen benefited from it. ?

In 1950s, American life was fundamentally polluted and destroyed by hysterical McCarthyism, which was involved in Chapter 2 1 of Catch-22. The civil rights movement in the United States and the Vietnam War further aggravated the turmoil in the domestic situation. More importantly, more and more people are beginning to doubt everything and lose faith.

In addition, due to the development and breakthrough of new technology, although it gives people a sense of strength enhancement, it deprives people of the last mystery of life itself and further alienates people from humanity. All these have fundamentally shaken people's firm belief in God and the universe, and people can no longer find spiritual comfort from Christianity.

Catch-22 was born under such a special background: God and Christianity are increasingly losing the cornerstone role that was widely recognized in the past and played a moral and spiritual guiding role.

Heller was a bomber of the US Air Force during World War II. He carried out 60 combat missions in Italy and France. Rich military life provided him with writing materials for writing Catch-22.

Catch-22 was written by Heller in1955-1961year, during which he worked in a sales company that made advertising books in new york.

Creative technology

The author abandons the traditional realistic writing techniques in the novel, so that the whole work has no complete plot development clues, no prominent characters, and is full of confusion, noise and madness. But the author also emphasizes a "serious absurdity". Obviously, the novel compares the American army to the whole American society, and its essence can be judged from its internal filth, corruption and degeneration, especially those high-ranking bureaucrats.

Therefore, the special artistic form and content of the novel is not to show off absurd skills, but to better express its theme. As Harris pointed out in Contemporary American Absurd Novelists (197 1): "Although Heller's novels are technically innovative, they are actually following a specific literary tradition.

Catch-22 is a radical protest novel after all. Like The Grapes of Wrath and The American Tragedy, his protest is aimed at the current power center in the United States. "

In casual ridicule, the author reveals sharp irony and points to the absurd point. He couldn't help laughing at first sight, and the fine products had a long aftertaste. Authors often deliberately use words and sentences with contradictory or opposite meanings. For example, Brigadier General peckham boasted: "My only shortcoming is that I have no shortcomings" (from Wilde's Paradox).

Dr. Danica said, "Saving lives is not my business." A colonel "feels proud when he finds himself incompetent" (similar to Dilbert's law), Milo said, "I never lie, only when necessary" and so on.

Refer to Baidu Encyclopedia -Catch-22 for the above contents.