Catch-22

Catch-22 is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration, describing events from the points of view of different characters. The separate storylines are out of sequence so the timeline develops along with the plot. The novel is set during World War II, from 1942 to 1944. It mainly follows the life of antihero Captain John Yossarian, a U.S. Army Air Forces B-25 bombardier. Most of the events in the book occur while the fictional 256th US Army Air Squadron is based on the island of Pianosa, in the Mediterranean Sea west of the Italian mainland, although it also includes episodes from basic training at Lowry Field in Colorado and Air Corps training at Santa Ana Army Air Base in California. The novel examines the absurdity of war and military life through the experiences of Yossarian and his cohorts, who attempt to maintain their sanity while fulfilling their service requirements so that they may return home. The book was made into a film adaptation in 1970, directed by Mike Nichols. In 1994, Heller published a sequel to the novel entitled Closing Time. The main character, Yossarian, is introduced in the setting of a military hospital where he has retreated under the guise of chronic liver condition to avoid flying further combat missions since he has grown disillusioned with the war effort and distrustful of his commanding officers. Throughout the novel, the commanding officers show extreme disregard for the lives of their troops and are all too willing to sacrifice their men to further their own ends. Especially, Colonel Cathcart volunteers his unit to fly dangerous missions and forces his men to fly more combat missions than any other unit, constantly raising the number of missions necessary to complete a tour of duty so that the men can never return home, because he wishes to be seen as brave by his superiors even though he has only ever flown a single combat mission.