War?

As Catch-22 progresses, it continues to shed light on the nature of war and continues to amuse the reader. The many characters in the story each help show a different aspect and side on war, helping the reader to analyze and think more about the realities of war. Besides Yossarian, there are many dilemmas that the characters face that shed light on a previously unthought-of aspect of war.

One of the most amusing scenes of the novel is when Yossarian meddles with the official plans of the war. Before the bombing of Bologna, Yossarian moves the lines of the bombings to falsely show that Bologna has already been bombed. Yossarian is able to mess with the plans of the highest commanders and mess with the highest plans of the war. It is interesting to think that Yossarian, an ordinary man in the readers’s eyes, is able to mess with grand schemes of operations. The reader begins to wonder how many things such as this are possible in a real war. How many plans in wars were skewed by mischevious prankster-soldiers? Though people do not think of war as susceptible to pranks and mischief, Catch-22 shows that it is entirely possible and sometimes unnoticeable.

One aspect of war that Catch-22 reveals more about is romance. Typically we think of husbands and men going to war away from their loved wives and sweethearts. The reader rarely gets to see much of romance during the actual war scene, but Catch-22 is able to show how romance exists during war. The issue of romance during war can be associated with the characters of Yossarian and especially Nately. Both characters fall in love with whores that soldiers frequently are involved with. Though this relationship should seem purely for physical happiness, the characters become love-smitten. The whores call both Yossarian and Nately “crazy” many times, and this shows the soldiers may actually be “love crazy”. They feel as though there is no time in the world and must settle down with a loved one immediately, for there might never be another chance for love. The relationship between the soldiers and the whores show the sense of urgency that is involved during war. Though the reader may typically think of love as an object that is set far away for soldiers during war, love is sometimes right in front of the soldiers, dangling with a sense of urgency.

These two issues seen in Catch-22 are associated with war, but are shown in a different light. The beauty of Catch-22 is that it helps show different angles to a stereotypical issue. The reader’s mind is opened with new possibilities and the reader starts to question what really can and did happen in war.

When I Have Fears...

Many people frequently wonder what happens after death. What will they lose? What will death be like? What will they find? These questions are asked very often, and it almost seems that one time or another, in one’s lifetime, these questions will be asked and tried to be answered. John Keats also asks these questions about deaths, and places his thoughts on death in his poem “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”.

The poem, “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” can be better understood by connecting what the speaker says in the poem with John Keats’s personal life history. Keats died at a young age of twenty six years, because of a serious case of tuberculosis, the same disease that killed so many of his family members. This premature death had an important effect on Keats’s writing. Also, Keats had a troubled relationship with a woman named Fanny Brawne. A series of letters between the two show that Keats and Brawne’s relationship caused Keats much pain, not joy, and this was a source of trouble for Keats. Keats did not maintain any strong relationships during his short-lived life. His troubled love life can be seen to have an effect upon “When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be”.

The first four lines of the poem show Keats’s fear of not being able to complete his writing and thoughts. The line, ”Before my pen has glean'd my teeming brain” shows that Keats feels that his brain is brimming with important thoughts and the only way he can get them out of his head is to use writing. Keats does not want to die without leaving what he feels and thinks unsaid or unwritten. To Keats, his thoughts are like a storage house filled with grain that has not been used yet. Keats does not want to let this grain, or his thoughts, get wasted. Keats’s fear of “unfinished business or writing” is extremely common; many people are afraid of wishing they had done things before death. They regret not saying “I love you,” “I’m sorry,” or not having gone and done certain things before death. Keats knew his death was approaching at a young age, and in his poem he chose to write about his fear about not being able to accomplish all that we wanted to as a poet.

The next eight lines of the poem are a testament of Keats’s regret that he had not been able to experience a true feeling of love before his death. Keats through the line of “When I behold, upon the night’s starr’d face, Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance” shows that he has and will continue searching for a true “romance” or a true emotional attraction. Keats regrets that his death will not allow him to use the “magic hand of chance” to find the true emotional attraction that could have existed if Keats had not died so early. Keats, near the end of the poem talks about his regret that he put so much time into an “unreflecting” love. This regret can relate to his painful love for Fanny Brawne, a love that was “unreflecting”. Keats’s tone starts to turn from regret to bitterness, which is seen in the last few lines of the poem.

The last lines of the poem end with a sharp tone of bitterness that Keats purposefully creates. The last few lines also show Keats’s fears of death. The lines, “then on the shore. Of the wide world I stand alone, and think. Till love and fame to nothingness do sink.” show that Keats is afraid of being forgotten and unloved when he is dead. Keats, as the speaker, is also afraid of being alone when he is dead, which is one of the biggest fears of humans. The image of being alone on a shore of a huge world is extremely frightening and discomforting. Keats is afraid of what is to come in his approaching death.

Got My Vans On

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 is a very humorous but thought provoking novel. The novel begins with introducing Yossarian to the reader. Heller’s writing makes the reader see a different side to the traditional image of war that has been imprinted on society’s mind. The character of Yossarian presents new perspectives to war as well.

The beginning scene in the hospital is a very interesting scene. Traditionally we picture soldiers in hospitals to be valiantly injured, horribly sick, or tragically-mentally affected patients. But in Yossarian’s case he apparently is none of those “typical” patients, other than the maybe slightly damaged mental patient. Yossarian uses the hospital as a subterfuge from the war; he is presented with whatever he desires: comfort, security, and complacency in the hospital.

This use of the hospital as a shelter from the war is interesting. We start to wonder, to think: how many soldiers did this in the war? Were all injured soldiers who were placed in hospitals really worthy of a purple heart? We also realize how logical it would seem for a soldier to use a hospital as a source of security and comfort from a hostile environment. Heller uses this scene to provide the reader with a different take on a traditional image.

One of the funniest moments of the beginning of the novel is the censorship scene, where Yosarrian censors letters during his hospital duty. Heller is able to make a scene of traditional importance seem very humorous. The method with which Yosarrian censors the letters is hysterical and it brings lightheartedness to a serious subject of war. Heller is constantly able to present a new angle on various ideas and topics in his Catch-22.