Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Book Analysis)

This practical and insightful reading guide offers a complete summary and analysis of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It provides a thorough exploration of the novel’s plot, characters and main themes, including war, insanity and identity. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time.

This clear and detailed 50-page reading guide is structured as follows:

• Biography of Joseph Heller
• Presentation of Catch-22
• Summary of Catch-22
• Character study
  • Yossarian
  • Milo Minderbinder
  • Colonel Cathcart
  • Orr
  • The chaplain
• Analysis of Catch-22
  • Insanity
  • Identity
  • War and heroism

About Catch-22

Catch-22 is generally considered Joseph Heller’s masterpiece. It tells the story of Yossarian, an officer in the Air Force during World War II whose sole aim is to stay alive. Given that many of his friends have died in combat, he therefore employs a series of increasingly questionable schemes to boycott his flying missions, while his superiors’ refusal to allow him to be discharged from service on grounds of insanity foster a growing sense of paranoia within him. The novel’s bleak, blackly comic view of war and bureaucracy sets it apart from more typical war fiction, and has cemented its legacy as a classic of 20^th-century literature.

About Joseph Heller

Joseph Heller was an American writer who is best known for his satirical anti-war novel Catch-22, which was first published in 1961, as the controversy surrounding the Vietnam War was beginning to mount. Heller had served as a bombardier during the Second World War, and this experience is believed to have influenced his work. Although he also penned a number of other novels, Catch-22 remains his best-known work.