Catch-22 Themes

Some of the logic in Catch-22 is just weird. It involves exaggeration of certain traits or situations to the point of ridicule. Just consider the absurd as anything that a person in his right mind...

The logic known as Catch-22 is one of endlessly creative rationalization. It can take contradictory statements and reconcile them. It can make completely irrational statements sound logical. By tak...

Heller goes to great lengths to point out the incompetence, pettiness, and corruption within the bureaucratic ranks. Its officers are often blindly selfish, heartless, indecisive, deeply insecure,...

Many of the characters have no qualms about lying to each other to achieve their goals. But most of the deception comes from above. It is the military administration that falsifies news or twists t...

In Catch-22, the mechanized efficiency of modernity and the madness of war keep many of the characters isolated from one another. Though they hang out together, none of the men really forms meaning...

Language in Catch-22 is impotent. Words lose their integrity because much of what the bureaucracy says is often a blatant lie. The men live in a world where their superiors have no problem deceivin...

The characters in the novel often cannot control what is happening around them and become victims of fate. Chance happenings and coincidences often have serious consequences. And most of them are u...

War and constant death tend to breed fear. Add in a key ingredient of Catch-22, a bureaucracy that covers up ugly truths to seem competent and successful, and you've got a good recipe for paranoia....

Many of the characters are so jaded and corrupted by all the madness and sin around them that they can no longer differentiate between good and evil. They think it is pointless to aspire to goodnes...

In Catch-22, capitalism functions to maximize profit, and everyone works to increase their share of the profit. Milo shows that everyone, regardless of nationality, race, or gender, responds to mon...

Mortality and the inevitability of death pervade Catch-22. Yossarian's friends die in unnecessary and brutal ways. This instills a terror in Yossarian that some might consider irrational. In fact,...

The only mentions of love and sexuality happen in the realm of prostitution in Catch-22. Many of the men often mistake lust for love. Sex is often used as a tool of distraction and coercion, not ju...