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Catch 22
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Catch 22
A cult classic, Catch-22 is also considered a classic in American literature. It tells the story of Captain John Yossarian, bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Force in the Second World War. Yossarian sees himself as one powerless man in an overpoweringly insane situation. Heller himself was a bombardier for the U.S. Army in the Second World War, flying in combat over Italy. He flew 60 missions before he was discharged as a lieutenant at the end of the war. After the war, Heller took a job as a copywriter for a small New York advertising agency. In 1953 he started working on Catch-22 --which he didn't complete until 1961. There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. 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. One of the most important qualities of Catch-22 is its experimentation with the experience of time; by presenting...
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