Premium Essay

Cruelty In Catch 22

Submitted By
Words 895
Pages 4
In the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller cruelty play a significant part in the progression of both the story and mentality of the characters. The biggest perpetrator of the cruelty shown in Catch-22 is by the war that the novel in centered around itself. War can bring about the worst in a person and that shows throughout the novel. The war causes the higher ranks to be cruel and selfish while the lower ranks such as the main character Yossarian and his friends to be numb to the effects of death and war and driven to the brink of insanity, some even losing what they hold closest. While the cruelty of war itself is not subtle, the effects it has on the characters sneak up on them before they even know it. One such example is the death of Snowden. …show more content…
One of the biggest examples is the law of Catch-22 itself, which states “There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.” (46). Described as a loophole in the military’s rules, the higher ups exploit Catch-22 as a way to keep soldiers from going home no matter what their mental state was. They used it to say that for a soldier to be grounded on the means of insanity, they must first ask. But if they ask to be grounded they must be sane because no sane person would want to fly those missions. Therefore, no soldier could be grounded on their mental state. All the higher ups use Catch-22 throughout the novel as a way to assert their authority and boost themselves forward in the ranks. Another example is Colonel Cathcart raising the number of missions required to finish a tour of service. Cathcart wants one thing out of the war, and that is to get his name out there to get promoted and become a general. The war has created this mentality of his that he has to become the best, and in an attempt to get his name out there, he constantly raises the number of missions required only thinking about himself and not realizing that he is causing stress and pain among his troops, slowly torturing

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Cruel Games

...Katherine Kersey Dec-06-2013 Argument Research Essay English Comp Cruel Games Dogs are human’s best friends. While some people choose to treat dogs with kindness and respect, others are mistreating dogs by using them for their entertainment. Dog fighting is still occurring today. It is big business in many parts of the county. This often happens in areas where there is poverty. Dog fighting is seen as “the quick” money. Some highly organized groups even use a secret dialect called the “Cajon Dictionary” on social network sites to plan fighting events discretely. This cruelty is also most often linked between more crimes including; illegal firearms possession, drug trafficking, gambling, spousal and child abuse, rape, and homicide. Regardless of if you can make money from it or not, dog fighting is a very cruel activity that should never occur anywhere in the world. A dog cannot speak for itself and say, “Stop!” That’s why more people need to be aware of this epidemic and see what is being done to help end it. Ancient Romans pitted dogs against each other in gladiatorial contests, but dogs have also played practical roles in society. Dogs have long been used as hunting companions, defenders of property and protectors of livestock against poachers and wild animals. They play key roles in military and K-9 police units. French bulldogs and Old Boston Bulldogs killed household vermin and therefore made valuable pets. “In England, bulldogs that were crossbred with terriers...

Words: 4374 - Pages: 18

Free Essay

Who Is the Enemy? an Analysis of the Ironic Third Person Limited Narration in Empire of the Sun

..."Who is the enemy? An analysis of the ironic third person limited narration in Empire of the Sun" Thesis: "How does Ballard utilize irony to convey the idea that there may be more than one way to look at things (show Jim's competing and unexpected perspective towards the Japanese and Chinese). Quotes: “The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.” ~Ivy Baker Priest “The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on.” ~Joseph Heller, Catch-22 “I had the blues because I had no shoes until upon the street, I met a man who had no feet.” ~Denis Waitely "If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom." ~Dwight D. Eisenhower Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one. ~Albert Einstein “Not for the first time Jim realized that the Japanese, officially his enemies, offered his only protection in Shanghai.” (P.60) Here are the page numbers: 60, 78, 103, 113, 126, 180, 283, 286, 296, 304, 309, 330. Enemies are your best friends? In J.G. Ballad’s Empire of the Sun, Jim’s perspective on the Japanese and the Chinese respectively is sharply at odds with the general opinions of other characters. In general, Ballard shows that many of the books’ characters regard the Chinese more positively than the Japanese. The Japanese as a cruel occupying force are shown to be despised by the...

Words: 1203 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Novel

...Why is the divorce rate increasing? October 12, 2007 tags: Divorce, Relationships Divorce is on the rise. Whether it’s Delhi or Lucknown, Kerala or Punjab, Kolkata or Chennai, the upper classes or the middle classes, metros or semi-urban areas…the specter of divorce is now here to haunt us all. Why, just in Delhi the figures go thus: 1960’s – 1-2 cases per year 1980 – 100-200 cases per year 1990s – 1,000 cases per year This decade…a jump to 9,000 cases per year About Mumbai (update): So far nearly 7,000 divorce cases have already been filed at the family court this year, and the number is expected to reach 7,200 by year-end — 60 per cent more than the 4,500 cases filed in 2005. Couples in the 25-35 age group accounted for 70 per cent of the cases, and 85 per cent of them were filed in the first three years of marriage. A lot of us have tried to understand why the divorce rate in India has been low for so many years (post on divorce rates of the world) and why it was slated to increase. In this post I shall concentrate on the latter question…divorce rates in the context of modern society. Here are some pointers as to why divorce rates are increasing (not in order of importance) and you will find that some points are connected: Greater societal acceptance of divorcees in urban areas and also a gradual acceptance of divorced daughters by families (not in rural areas) because families have started to believe that perhaps their daughter can have a life after marriage and without a...

Words: 1216 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Food Taboos Around The World Essay

...just mentioning and showing the foods that are taboo, not giving me the proper information I wanted. At the end, an extensive reading of documents and pdf’s to newscasts formed a compelling argument. Results An instance of consuming particular foods are a result of believes in health hazards if one consumes a particular meal. One of this believes is found in New Guinea, Onabasulu and neighboring tribes. Women in this tribes are considered to be permanently sick and weak all the time since of menstruation. So women are not allowed to eat fresh meat, and all the fruits of the forest with red color including banana. If a woman eats a fresh animal out of a trap it is believed to cause bad luck, in the next set trap will not fall in order to catch the meal. Same belief with the bananas if a woman with menstruation eats of its trees the tree will not bear again. So women of the Onabasulu tribe and others are sent on a separate shack until their period is gone. If that woman walk and crosses a food the persons who consume the food will suffer and die. When the woman “matures” she is not allowed to eat fish and when they are pregnant they should not eat eggs. The young not married men receives the best food available and are given food that are taboo. When they marry they should only eat smoked meat. On the Kiriwina Island, women have food taboos to observe and not to dear consume any fruit since their newborn is believed to come with deformity taking the form of any fruit consumed on...

Words: 1361 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

No Exit Reading Log

...Dialectical Journal: No Exit 1. Garcin: “No mirrors, I notice.”(2) As Garcin enters the room with the Valet, he first notices that there are no mirrors. Mirrors in this play are important as they allow the characters to judge themselves without the judgment of others. A room without mirrors foreshadows the eventual interactions with each character as they are forced to be judged. It’s being without a mirror that causes the characters to slowly judge each other and start complications. 2. Garcin: “Ah, I see; it’s life without a break.”(2) Garcin notices that neither he nor the Valet has eyelids. Garcin, Inez, and Estelle are to be forever awake without any break. They will have to face each other constantly and they are to suffer under the continuous stare of each other. This quote is significant in that it foreshadows the effect is has on the three characters when the actual torture begins. 3. Garcin: "Yes, my wife. She's waiting at the entrance of the barracks. She comes there every day. But they won't let her in. Now she's trying to peep between the bars. She doesn't yet know I'm absent, but she suspects it...Those big tragic eyes of hers-with that martyred look they always had. Oh, how she got on my nerves."(6) This quote depicts the situation where Garcin is able to see his wife down on Earth while he is in Hell. It reveals much about Garcin's character. He is very condescending and disdainful towards his wife and foreshadows the realization that he abused...

Words: 2224 - Pages: 9

Premium Essay

Holden Caulfield: Protector of Innocence

...Holden Caulfield: Protector of Innocence The novel The Catcher in the Rye is a coming of age tale of a teenager’s journey into a mental breakdown. The main character, Holden Caulfield, sees the world as an extremely phony, cynical place that he wishes to escape from. As a result of this, he forms the idea that the only way to be free of the hypocrisy and cynicism of society is to maintain one’s childlike immaturity and innocence. Because of this idea, throughout the novel, Holden is trying desperately to hold on the shreds of innocence that he has left, all while trying to protect the innocence of those around him as well. Two minor characters mentioned in the novel that Holden tries to protect, Sunny and Phoebe, both display to the reader signs of developing maturity. Holden’s interactions with both Sunny and Phoebe provide prime examples of how even though Holden tries desperately to protect their innocence, growing up cannot be prevented. One of Holden’s most prominent traits throughout the novel is that he is has this urgent need to protect the people around him from losing their innocence like he did when his brother passed. Even though he constantly drinks, smokes, and curses, Holden’s main goal throughout the text is to make sure that innocence is maintained as long as possible before a person grows up and matures. “He struggles to preserve his own tenuous hold on youthful innocence-or as he sometimes puts it, ‘niceness’-and despairs when he finds that innocence lost...

Words: 1343 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Ghhg

...Дневник читателя READER’S JOURNAL Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea (1952). Joseph Heller. Catch-22 (1961). Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire (1959). Iris Murdoch. The Black Prince (1973). Jerome David Salinger. The Catcher in the Rye (1951). Michael Ondaatje. The English Patient (1992). Ray Bradbury. Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Ken Kesey. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962). Edward Albee. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962). Arthur Miller. Death of a Salesman (1949). ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- Ernest Hemingway. The Old Man and the Sea (1952). ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- FULL TITLE · The Old Man and the Sea ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- AUTHOR · Ernest Hemingway ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- TYPE OF WORK · Novella ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- GENRE · Parable; tragedy ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- LANGUAGE · English ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN · 1951, Cuba ------------------------------------------------- ...

Words: 43588 - Pages: 175

Free Essay

Doc for Englisg 11

...Asian Social Science May, 2009 An Analysis of the Adolescent Problems in The Catcher in the Rye Lingdi Chen Dept. of Foreign Languages, Dezhou University Daxue xi Road, Dezhou 253023, China E-mail: chld1973@126.com Abstract The Catcher in the Rye was written by famous American writer J.D.Salinger. This paper mainly analyzes the adolescent problems Holden Caulfield confronts on the journey from childhood to adulthood. These adolescent problems include Holden’s protection of innocence, his disgust for the phoniness of the adult world, and his alienation from society. This paper concludes that these adolescent problems produce great impact on him. Holden behaves almost erratically and impulsively and has negative attitudes towards almost everything and everyone he meets. Keywords: Adolescent problems, Innocence, Phoniness, Alienation 1. Introduction The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger’s masterpiece, tells the painful story of a high-school boy growing up in the world of decadent New York. Young Holden Caulfield is expelled from school because of his poor academic performance. He is afraid to meet his parents earlier than they should expect him, so he decides to stay in a New York City hotel. There he meets pimps, prostitutes and “queers.” Soon he becomes aware that the world of adults is a “phony” one. After his meeting with a friend, Holden sneaks back home to see his kid sister Phoebe. She is a loving kid, but her talk about their father “killing” him sickens...

Words: 3375 - Pages: 14

Premium Essay

Whaling

...Introduction Since the indefinite commercial whaling moratorium was introduced in 1986, the whaling nations have killed around 15,000 whales between them. At the time of writing, the Japanese whaling fleet has just returned from Antarctic waters where a further 300 or so minke whales have been killed for so called ‘research’, in open defiance of world public opinion and the IWC which has never validated the Japanese programme. The meat from those dead whales will end up on sale in Japanese restaurants and on supermarket shelves. Japan is not only defying the global moratorium on commercial whaling, it is killing whales in a sanctuary agreed by the IWC in 1994. Japan has ‘recruited’ many countries to the IWC to support the resumption of commercial whaling using foreign aid packages. If the ban is lost it will be a disaster for whale conservation efforts. This report presents the many reasons why the ban on commercial whaling must be maintained and properly enforced. We cannot wipe away the tragic history of commercial whaling, but we can, and must, prevent its repetition. The Natural History of Whales Whales belong to the order of mammals known as Cetacea. There are about 80 species of cetaceans, including all the dolphins and porpoises, as well as the ten so-called ‘great’ whale species, which have borne the brunt of commercial whaling. Cetaceans are believed to have evolved from land mammals, which adapted to an aquatic existence about 50 million years ago. They are superbly...

Words: 8170 - Pages: 33

Free Essay

Animal Liberation Front: a Threat to America

...Abstract This paper will explain many things about the Animal Liberation Front, including its operational goals; why it is a threat to the United States of America; what actions led to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation declaring it a terrorist organization; what other countries consider it a terrorist organization and why; how it acts like a terrorist organization instead of a peaceful eco-movement; and what can be done to halt or reduce this threat in the future. The Animal Liberation Front is a terrorist group for many reasons, ranging from their operational structure to their belief system. For example, they adopted the classic clandestine cell structure in order to reduce the risk of all of the cells being compromised if one person is picked up (Shorn, 2009). This allows the members of the Animal Liberation Front to continue their operations and reduce their operational risks slightly while still maintaining security. The Animal Liberation Front originally became a threat to the United States in 1976, when it claimed its’ first firebombing, and it has only grown since then. The firebombing and the hundreds of other actions that followed it plainly show that they are a terrorist organization by their targets and how they attack those targets. The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has also claimed credit for causing millions of dollars in damage in the United States alone (Bourne, 2003). The targets of the ALF have also begun to mutate and become more...

Words: 6067 - Pages: 25

Free Essay

To Waht Extent Is Masculinity Associated with Evil and Violence in Macbeth?

...monopolised by masculine characters. To show this I will be analysing female characters who demonstrate strong evil qualities and personalities such as Lady Macbeth, The Witches and Hecate. I will also discuss Banquo, Macduff and King Duncan because these characters represent chivalry, nobility and honour of human characters, even though they are male. The first character I will be looking at is Macbeth himself. This is because he is the central character and focus of the entire play. From the outset Macbeth is depicted as a fierce war hero: “Till he unseamed him from the nave to the chops, And fixed his head upon our battlements.” (Act 1: Scene 1: Lines 22 – 23) The captain using the word, “Unseamed…….nave to the chops,” gives the impression that Macbeth has an evil side to him which he is struggling to control as no admirable man would commit an attack like murder in such a heartless way. It also shows how bloodthirsty and gory Macbeth is on the battlefield. Shakespeare has used this vivid imagery of the brutal battle that Macbeth has won for King Duncan in order to show...

Words: 2680 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Crusades

...1 Part 1 of of a monumental documentary on the crusades produced by the History Channel entitled "Crusades: crescent and the cross".
This is part one of two.
A must watch, and an excellent production!
- Hosted by Nahda Media -
 2 Not Synced 
for thousand of years the holy land of the middle east was run with blood. here the scars of battle was between the three of the great religion of the world. but the deepest would was made by the war between christians and muslims began at the close of the 11 century. fought for 200 years for a state a tiny strip of land which was a few hundred miles long. But with the greatest prize Jerusalem. now this holy war is passed as legd. there were those who saw it by their own eyes. great chronicles from two different worlds Christian and Muslim wrote of great deeds, great battles and great warriors. about men who laid down their lives. ¶
 3 Not Synced 
this was the collision of two great faiths, the clash between the crescent and the cross. 4 Not Synced 
this was the crusades. 5 Not Synced 
Of all the cities in the world, Jerusalem has the most troubled past and the most troubling future. 6 Not Synced 
For the Jews, it is the site of the great temple of Hewet and Solemn. For Muslims, the place where Mohammed ascended to heaven. For Christians,a place where their messiah was crucified. 7 Not Synced 
After his death, the world of Jesus Christ took root and Jerusalem slowly shed almost 4 centuries of Roman...

Words: 2901 - Pages: 12

Free Essay

To His Coy Mistress

...transcendent, abstract) quality to a concrete (physical, tangible, sensible) object. * Mockery or satirizing of idealized romantic poetry and divines of love through crude or shocking imagery * Gross exaggeration * Expression of personal, private feelings * Presentation of a logical argument, or syllogism THE TITLE: “To His Coy Mistress” * Mistress - A young woman who has an affair with a married man - A person in- charge (manager, caretaker, courtesan) - A patron or a female sweetheart in 1650’s - The female equivalent of master * Coy -Pretending to be shy or reserved -Olden days referred it to the feeling of shyness - “To coy” (v) means to stroke - The lady is no easy catch * His - Third-person possessive pronoun -Refers to the young man The tying of both the words ‘mistress’ and ‘coy’ brings about the beauty of the poem which talks about complicated relationship and complicated communication between the speaker and his mistress. It’s a plea to a young lady by his lover. THE PERSONA (The Young Man): * First-person point of view * Presentation as the plea of another man (fictional) who is the persona of the poet * The young man is impatient, desperately so, unwilling to tolerate temporizing on the part of the young lady * His motivation appears to be carnal desire rather than true love; passion rules him. Consequently, one may describe him as immature and selfish. SETTING:...

Words: 5928 - Pages: 24

Premium Essay

Jude the Obscure

...DEMOCRATIC AND POPULAR REPUBLIC OF ALGERIA MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH MENTOURI UNIVERSITY OF CONSTANTINE FACULTY OF LETTERS AND LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH The Conflict between the Ideal and the Social in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure A Dissertation Submitted in a Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Master Degree in British and American Studies Supervised by: Pr. Brahim Harouni Mr. Hamoudi Boughenout By: Mr. Boussaad Ihaddadene June 2010 Acknowledgement I would like to thank God for His guidance and help. I would also like to thank my supervisors Pr. Harouni and Mr. Boughenout for their help and discussion of my topic. I would like to thank all the teachers of the department of English of Mentoury University. I Dedication To the memory of my mother To my father, to my brothers and my sisters and to all my friends and classmates. II Abstract The purpose of my study is to show the conflict between idealism and society in Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. In this novel, Hardy portrays the strife of the two individuals Jude and Sue to make their own ways in society by seeking to realise their ideals. He also reveals the difficulties met by the two idealists in front of society’s attempts to thwart their ideals and to force them to surrender to its norms. This study allows the reader to have a deep understanding of the origin of the conflict, the climax of the confrontation between the two opposing sides and...

Words: 16996 - Pages: 68

Free Essay

The Mystery Behind the Spiritual Alien Agenda

...Search for Earth-like Planets December 5, 2011 must have been an exciting day for astronomers all over the world as NASA announced to the public the discovery of an Earth-like planet potentially able to support life. The planet, 2.4 times the size of the Earth, is six hundred light-years away in what astronomers call the “Goldilocks Zone”, an area in which a planet has an ideal temperature because of its distance from a star. It orbits around a star similar to the sun of the Earth, and the temperature of its surface is habitable at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Scientists are hopeful that this planet might possess water and land, but they are not sure as of the moment if the majority of it is made up of solid, liquid or gas (Bloxham). Kepler 22-b is just one of the extrasolar planets observed by NASA that has a probability to be inhabited by extraterrestrial life forms. Since 1960, NASA has funded different exobiology projects, including Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), in hopes that astronomers can find evidences of life in outer space. Thinking that extraterrestrials would likely leave something behind to signal other intelligent beings during their exploration, astronomers of SETI previously tried to detect interstellar probes to be able send messages back to them, but until now, none have been discovered. Despite this, scientists working on SETI have not given up, focusing more on searching for Earth-like planets in different galaxies. So far, they have discovered...

Words: 7781 - Pages: 32