Anti-Everything

Analytical Essay # 4533

English > Analysis
Literature > American

Anti-Everything

Discusses Joseph Heller's satire of the military, medical establishment and big business in "Catch-22".

1,240 words () | 2 sources | 2002 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Joseph Heller's satire of the institutions that run and support the war (i.e.: the military establishment, the medical institution, and big business) in "Catch-22." The author looks at the bureaucracy and absurd tactics of military hierarchy during World War II.

From the Paper:

"Pogo once said: we have met the enemy and it is us. This sums up Joseph Heller's entire message, in his novel, Catch-22. He satirizes entire American ideologies and values. The most targeted was the military institution, during World War II. Heller also criticized Capitalist big business, and portrayed it as a leech that profits off of the hardships of the war. Finally, the medical establishment is severely satirized, against the traditional view of doctors, for acting presumptuous and lacking compassion for the ill. There was only one catch;and that was catch-22. "