The existential Catch-22

A while back, we had to read a tiny passage from Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and it really got me thinking. I read Catch-22 about four years ago as a summer reading assignment for my English class in high school (it was either that, or Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club). At the time, I read the book without looking for any sort of deeper meaning. I really enjoyed the book, but liked it mainly for its humor and unforgettable characters. Although Catch-22 remains one of my favorite books since then, I never took the time to really examine the meanings found in it. So I was a little surprised when it popped up for this Existentialism class. I had never even considered relating Yossarian to anything existential. After our reading, it really got me thinking about the book in its entirety, and I've found that a lot of Catch-22 is extremely existential, not just that little quip. 

Catch-22 is all about the absurd and the finite. Taking place in WWII, Catch-22 follows Yossarian and several other characters in a U.S. Army Air Force on an island in the Mediterranean. The very time setting of the novel is related to existentialism- the existentialist movement was very popular following the end of WWII. The main character Yossarian is obsessed with the idea of his own end. It really reminded me a lot of what we read on Camus. Yossarian is in this absurd situation and has full realization of it and his ultimate end. I think Yossarian is a lot like Sisyphus. Yossarian is a man who lives life to the fullest, hates death, and is condemned to a seemingly meaningless task within an absurd system. 

A critique of bureaucratic operation and reasoning, Catch-22 compares the bureaucratic system to Camus' idea of the absurd. The absurd for Camus arises when our human need to understand is suddenly confronted by the unreasonableness of the world. It is like trying to understand the catch-22. Yossarian inquires as to why he can't be grounded if he's crazy. Doc Daneeka tells him that catch-22 requires that if someone is crazy, they can be grounded, but only if they ask. The problem is, if you ask to be grounded, you are showing concern for your personal well being, and therefore cannot be considered crazy. You try to understand, but are confronted by the absurdity and unreasonableness of it all. "That's some catch, that Catch-22," Yossarian observed. 

Although the absurd is the main thing I got out of rethinking and remembering Catch-22, there's still more. Throughout the novel, Yossarian is constantly confronted by death and the finiteness of human existence. So many of his friends simply die throughout the book (don't worry, I won't give names and spoil it for you). Yossarian has the constant angst that accompanies the realization of your own end.

Reviewing Catch-22 and finding so many little existential connections makes me really wonder what else I've been reading that might be considered essentially existential. I don't think I'll be able to read another book or watch another movie without wondering and searching for these possible connections. This class will have made me into an existential critical reader. It has convinced me that once you go existential, you can't go back.