Catch 22 Intelligence test?

Question

I read the book Catch 22 a while back and I hope it isn't a test of intelligence because I am none the wiser. Anyone else have the same experience?

Answer 1

I read the whole book waiting for it to make sense. It wasn't until I finished the last page that I realized: it DOESN'T make sense! at all! not a bit! It's crazy and random and pointless and insane - just like war.
And that's the point of the book.

Answer 2

The old cliche is that the book is following the old theme "war is hell." Blah, blah, blah--I can read a dozen more linear books and get the same message.

But when I read, and yes even REread Catch-22, here's what I tend to get out of it: I see it as a series of absurd scenes in which common people are killed or hurt by an uncaring bureaucracy. As "catch-22" is defined by the father (or mother?) of Nately's whore, "Catch-22 means they can do anything we can't stop them from doing." But there again, we can see that theme in other texts, most notably in Terry Gilliam's brilliant mind-f*ck of a film "Brazil."

So here is Catch-22's big secret--the thing that makes it adored by the highbrow literati out there: most of the humor lies in the first third of the book. Early on we're meant to laugh at the absurdity--and most people do. But then Heller starts repeating scenes; this is where most people give up. If we look at the details, especially the repetition involving Yossarian and Snowden, we see that Heller adds more and more graphic details that turn a once humorous scene into something horrific. It's Heller's way of implicating the audience as accomplices in the soulless absurd bureaucracy that kills innocent children like Snowden and erases common men like Clevinger right out of existence. We eventually see that Yossarian is not insane; he's one of the few (along with the Chaplain) sane characters in the novel because he recognizes the absurdity. So, we might even say that he and the audience are driven sane by the novel's events. And the catch is that we can't escape because sane people must complete the mission of finishing the novel.

That's some catch, that catch-22.

It's the best there is.

Answer 3

In a few words Catch 22 is the story of a US pilot during World War II in southern Italy. He is so sickened by what he has seen and what he has to do, that he tries to convince the medic that he is insane and therefore should not be allowed to fly. The doc points out that, with all the horror going on, it's the people who want to go on flying who are insane, but they don't come to the medic - Catch 22!
Where I live, most asylum seekers coming into the country without ID papers (passport or ID card) are rejected out of hand. Asylum seekers presenting such a document are told that they can't be persecuted in their country of origin, because if they were, they would not have been able to get the document - Catch 22.
Catch 22 means that you are in a no win situation.

Answer 4

Don't worry, I'm clever and stuff and I didn't really get much from it. Try Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, I got that.

I often used to feel like I should read heavy tomes because they would make me cleverer, it's not true.

I don't bother past the first chapter if the book is annoying and I rely on Audiobooks to plough through War and Peace et cetera. If I really couldn't care less then I just send it to Oxfam. I know my old English teachers would be waving their arms in the air in horror but I really couldn't give a t*ss, I know that "the DaVinci Code" is awfully bad and that "War and Peace" is awfully long. Life really is too short for us to be reading books because we are told we should.

I have found that some people read specific books to make themselves look intelligent, I admire your honesty in saying that you are "none the wiser" after reading Catch 22. I wasn't either but some parts of the book randomly stuck with me for instance I remember the guy getting killed by the plane prop but not the fact that the pilot later killed himself (until someone told me).

I guess I wasn't concentrating, that points to a lack of care for the material which just means I didn't engage with it. That's not my fault and it's not Heller's, he wrote a book, I read it and shrugged at the end. Not my taste I guess.

I guess I am not attuned to this thing, like tasting fine wine or Opera. It doesn't mean I am unintelligent, just a Phillistine. At least I didn't read the Da Vinci Code.

Answer 5

I read the book about forty years ago, and thought it was remarkable. That was in the mid-60s. and I was an art student, which may explain why I chose not to re-read it. Rather live with the memory of a wonderful literary experience.
As for being any the wiser, I don't think it's very important.

Answer 6

Perhaps that's because you've never been in the military. But believe me, if you ARE ever in the military, especially the Marines, Catch-22 will make a WHOLE lot of sense to you.
"Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. 'That's some catch, that Catch-22,' he observed. 'It's the best there is,' Doc Daneeka agreed."

Answer 7

Sounds like an exercise in futility. Wikipedia can't even explain it:

The book sets out the absurdity of living by the rules of others, be they friends, family, governments, systems, religions or philosophies. The world itself is portrayed as insane, so the only practical survival strategy is to be oneself insane. Another theme is the folly of patriotism and honour, which lead most of the airmen to accept Catch-22 and being lied to by abusive bureaucrats, but which Yossarian never accepts as a legitimate answer to his complaints.

While the (official) enemy are the Germans, no German ever actually appears in the story. As the narrative progresses, Yossarian comes to fear American bureaucrats more than he fears the Germans attempting to shoot down his bomber.

Answer 8

I understood the concept of catch 22 but could not read the whole book - the film was almost as bad

Answer 9

At least the phrase "catch 22" made it into everyday language it means; which ever way you turn you lose,.

Answer 10

You mean you didn't get?
I didn't either, and I am intelligent enough to read and love War and Peace.