Catch-22 was the first book in American to treat the absurdist theme with absurdist techniques.It protests against the absurdity of modern American as embodied by the military power structure is describes. It is an anti-war novel.
The main plot of Catch-22 is about various efforts made by Yossarian, a bombardier of the American Bomber, to refuse to execute the task of taking a flight. During the World War two, there is an American squadron stationed in the fictional Island Pianasa. The captain Toh Yossarian has already made 48 bombard flying towards Italy and France, nearly finishing his quota flight and stopping flying. However, the invidious Colonel Cathcart still increases the amount of flying to stop Yossarian from quiting flying. Catch-22 has a provision in army regulations: it stipulates that a solider's request to be relieved from active duty can be accepted only if he is mentally unfit to fight. So, Yossarian decides to be insane. However, any solider who has the sense to ask to be spared the horror of was is obviously mentally sound, and the therefore must stay to fight. Therefore, Yossarian now is in a predicament. His desperate attempts to escape death and to presence a meaning code of morality reflect the ongoing human struggle against overwhelming and frequently life-threatening forces or institutions. Paranoid that an unidentified "they" are trying to kill him, Yossarian feigns insanity, seeks refuge in the hospital, poisons his squadron with soap power, and moves a bomb line on a map. When he does fly combat missions,"Yo-Yo" traces inregular patterns in the sky, evading flak right and left. Snowden, a bombardier, dies in Yossarian's bosom when he takes his mission to bomb Avignon. After seeing his friend's death, Yossarian is sane in believing his life endangered and again begin to feign madeness. At last, Yossarian escape from the base.
网友评论