Roger
D.


Rowles

University
of
Idaho


May
11,
2009

Spilling
the
Guts:

How
Joseph
Heller
mocked
the
greatest
army
in
the
world
and
got
away
with
it.


It’s
incredible
how
a
single
event
can
impact
one’s
life
so
greatly.
In
some


cases,
a
single
event
that
can
take
place
over
a
matter
of
minutes
can
define
a


person’s
life
and
their
existence
forever.
For
Joseph
Heller,
that
single
event
would


become
the
basis
and
backbone
of
one
of
the
most
important
American
novels
of
the


century:
Catch­22.

The
book
would
become
a
stepping‐stone
into
a
career
as
a


satirical
novelist
for
Heller.
Moreover,
that
single
event
would
also
dictate
the


existence
of
another
person,
a
seemingly
immortal
character.
His
name
is
Yossarian.


And
no
matter
the
circumstances,
Yossarian
has
and
always
will
live
on.


Catch­22
and
its
main
character,
Yossarian,
have
become
icons
of
their
era.


Wittingly
satirizing
American
society
during
the
cold
war
and
largely
impacting


societal
changes
during
the
sixties,
have
solidified
its
legacy
as
a
novel.
But
it
was


Heller’s
mastery
of
rhetoric
combined
with
impeccable
timing
that
solidified
Catch­

22
as
one
of
the
most
important
books
in
America’s
turbulent
history.
The
book
has


been
ranked
in
several
top‐100
modern
English
language
books
lists,
was
removed


and
banned
from
several
high
school
libraries,
added
a
new
term
to
the
English


language,
and
coined
a
popular
anti‐Vietnam
war
slogan.
Needless
to
say,
Heller’s


satirical
war
novel
has
created
quite
a
legacy,
all
stemming
from
a
single
moment.



 That
moment
was
when
Joseph
Heller,
a
young
man
of
only
19,
realized
that


fighting
in
World
War
II
wasn’t
fun
and
games
anymore.
Everyone
was
trying
to
kill

 Rowles
2



him.
Heller
served
as
a
bombardier
during
World
War
II
in
a
Martin
B‐25
Mitchell,


completing
60
missions
throughout
Europe.
A
Mitchell
was
a
medium
sized,
two‐

engine
bomber
that
quickly
became
the
bread
and
butter
of
America’s
air
force,


especially
in
the
European
theatre
of
World
War
II.
The
bombardier
is
situated
in
a


glass
bubble
at
the
nose
of
the
plane,
with
a
large
scope
that
can
hone
in
on
the


targets
below.
But
I
imagine
releasing
the
bombs
over
the
target
would
have
been


the
easy
part.
The
hard
part
would
have
come
from
simply
sitting
a
glass
bubble
in


the
nose
of
plane
waiting
until
that
moment,
at
the
mercy
of
the
pilot
and
the


enemy’s
bullets.
To
put
it
into
perspective,
one
must
imagine
sitting
in
the
passenger


seat
of
a
race
car.
But
instead
of
have
a
door
handle
to
grip
in
anxiety,
you’re
riding


out
on
the
hood,
head
first,
and
people
are
shooting
at
you.
I
can
clearly
understand


why
Heller
feared
for
his
life.



Heller
recounts
his
experience
during
World
War
II
as
being
somewhat
exciting


and
fun.
“[I]t
was
all
play,
all
games,
it
was
being
in
a
Hollywood
movie.”
Or
at
least


until
that
moment,
that
moment
when
Heller
realized,
“Good
God!
They’re
trying
to


kill
me
too.”
(Whitfield
178)




Heller
was
stuffed
into
the
glass
bombardier’s
compartment
of
his
B‐25.
A


shockingly
green
France
filled
his
vision
as
the
formation
of
bombers
made
their


way
to
Avignon,
their
target
for
the
day’s
mission.
As
they
neared
their
target,
black


clouds
of
anti‐aircraft
fire
peppered
the
sky.
The
planes
began
taking
on
fire
and


Heller
moved
towards
his
scope,
trying
to
concentrate
and
seal
off
the
chaos
around


him.
In
the
next
moment,
Heller
was
ripped
from
searching
for
the
targets
through

 Rowles
3



his
scope
and
pinned
to
the
ceiling
of
the
glass
compartment.
The
plane
was
in
a


nosedive
and
Heller
was
completely
helpless.


After
a
few
terrifying
seconds
of
freefall,
he
was
able
to
put
his
headset
back
on


after
it
had
been
pulled
off.
All
he
could
hear
was
the
pilot
sobbing,
“Help
him.
Help


him.”
Who?
“The
bombardier.
Help
the
bombardier.”
Heller
replied,
“But
I’m
the


bombardier.
I’m
fine.”
After
shuffling
out
of
his
bubble
as
the
plane
stabilized,
Heller


found
the
person
in
need
of
help.
It
was
the
gunner
and
a
large
piece
of
flak
had


sliced
through
the
planes
aluminum
shell
and
into
his
leg.
Heller
did
what
he
could,


and
when
the
group
got
back
to
their
base,
the
gunner
was
treated.



That
experience
was
one
that
would
change
Heller’s
life.
The
mission
over


Avignon
was
his
37th
mission.
After
23
more,
Heller
was
honorably
discharged
and


went
home.
He
did
not
fly
for
the
next
fifteen
years.
(Whitfield
179)
Instead,
he


wrote.
Focused
on
that
day
over
Avignon,
Heller
wrote
Catch­22
and
created
the


infamous
protagonist
Yossarian.



Throughout
the
novel,
Yossarian
works
laboriously
to
simply
survive
the
war.


The
war
represented
in
Catch­22
however,
is
a
bit
wacky.
A
whole
slew
of
characters


with
names
like
Scheisskopf,
Hungry
Joe,
Milo
Minderbender,
and
Major
Major
(that


is
actually
his
first
and
last
name.
Naturally,
he
is
also
a
Major
in
ranking)
come


together
to
exaggerate
the
absurdities
of
war
through
bizarre
events
as
soldiers
on
a


base
in
Italy
flying
B‐25’s
over
Europe
in
World
War
II.


The
term
“catch‐22”
comes
from
the
rule
that
is
constantly
cutting
Yossarian
off


at
every
corner
as
he
desperately
tries
to
get
out
of
flying
his
missions.
Essentially,


Yossarian
tries
to
get
himself
out
of
flying
his
missions
on
the
grounds
of
being

 Rowles
4



crazy.
But
the
mere
fact
that
he
doesn’t
want
to
fly
his
missions
means
he
is
sane,
as


only
a
crazy
person
would
fly
the
missions.
And
so,
caught
in
a
confusing
circle
of


ambiguity,
he
tactfully
comes
up
with
ways
to
survive
the
war,
or
anything
for
that


matter.


Catch­22
is
a
masterpiece
in
its
structure
and
rhetorical
techniques.
The
novel


itself
cannot
be
formed
into
any
shape.
Essentially,
one
could
read
it
backwards
and


it
would
make
no
difference.
Heller
designed
the
novel
to
mimic
its
own
message,
a


convoluted
cycle
of
confusion.
As
one
wades
through
the
42
chapters
of
the
book,
no


real
order
or
organization
is
present.
The
chapters
don’t
even
have
numbers,
simply


names.
When
composing
the
novel,
Heller
actually
used
a
complex
collection
of


index
cards
with
notes
of
each
chapter,
its
events,
and
its
characters
to
work
with


the
incredibly
intricate
connections
among
the
chaos.
This
technique
beautifully


mirrors
the
essence
of
Catch­22,
and
essence
of
irony,
absurdity,
and
confusion.


(Nagel
51‐61)


The
most
stable
tag
that
can
be
given
to
Catch­22
is
satire.
Heller
masterfully


uses
satire
as
a
form
of
rhetoric
to
get
his
points
across.
In
the
words
of
Stephen
E


Kercher,
satire
is
“humor
with
a
social
purpose
–
protest.
”
(1)
In
Heller’s
story,
the


main
form
of
humor
he
utilizes
is
black
humor
or
dark
humor.
It
is
the
sort
of
humor


that
takes
something
that
is
truly
appalling,
or
not
funny
at
all,
such
has
soldiers


dying
in
war,
and
makes
it
funny.
This
form
of
sick
humor
first
began
to
show
its


smirking
face
and
gain
popularity
around
the
fifties
with
the
rise
of
the
Beats,


around
the
time
Heller
was
composing
the
novel.
By
using
this
element,
Heller
was

 Rowles
5



able
to
get
his
points
across
to
a
large
population
as
his
argument
took
the
shape
of


something
funny
and
entertaining.


Another
tool
Heller
utilized
in
his
satirical
work
is
irony
and
parody.
A
catch‐22


is
the
epitome
of
irony
itself,
and
throughout
the
novel
irony
hammers
every
page.


Aristotle
might
apply
the
term
logos
to
this
tactic
as
it
toys
with
the
readers
logical


process.
However
Heller
turns
logic
against
itself.

He
turns
the
readers
thought


process
into
a
pretzel,
essential
forcing
them
to
rethink
what
they
thought.
And


Heller
was
able
to
direct
his
reader’s
re‐thoughts
toward
certain
foundations
of


society
with
the
use
of
parody.
If
he
could
outrageously
exaggerate
a
certain
element


of
American
society,
and
twist
the
reader’s
thought
process
enough
with
irony,
he


we
force
them
to
rethink
that
foundation.



A
perfect
example
of
this
technique
in
Catch­22
is
Milo
Minderbender’s
M&M


enterprises.
Minderbender,
in
charge
of
running
the
cafeteria
for
all
the
troops,


builds
a
huge
enterprise
on
internationally
trade
to
eventually
overthrow
his
own


entity,
the
U.S.
military.
It
all
starts
with
fresh
eggs
bought
from
some
place


somewhere
in
Italy,
which
he
uses
to
trade
with
someone
else
somewhere
else.


Eventually,
the
scheme
snowballs
into
Minderbender
becoming
mayor
of
several


towns,
controlling
the
Egyptian
cotton
market,
and
using
his
own
planes
to
bomb


their
own
base.
The
whole
concept
is
truly
mind
bending.

However,
it
serves
its


purpose
as
a
means
to
mock
the
military
industrial
complex.
Heller
tactfully
exposes


the
immorality
of
making
money
on
war
in
an
entertaining,
yet
effective
way
using


irony
and
parody.

 Rowles
6



Heller
also
has
pathos
and
ethos
among
his
long
list
of
rhetorical
tools.
His


writing
style
is
truly
original.
His
descriptions
are
incredible
and
the
character


development
allows
the
reader
to
closely
connect
with
every
zany
caricature
they


meet.
This
creates
a
sense
of
enargeia
that
is
uncanny.
The
reader’s
tears
will
dry


only
in
time
to
grasp
their
own
gut
in
laughter.



Amidst
all
of
this,
the
sarcasm,
whit,
dark
humor,
and
war,
one
thing
was


absolutely
essential.
Heller
had
to
have
credibility.
He
had
to
have
the
authority
to


make
fun
of
a
war
hero.
Luckily,
or
unluckily
as
the
case
may
be,
he
did.
And
Heller


used
this
authority
indirectly
to
form
the
ethos
of
his
rhetorical
work.
One
must


keep
in
mind
the
fact
that
one
of
the
major
events
of
the
novel
was
based
on
the
real


event
in
Heller’s
life,
an
event
that
would
change
it
forever.
Heller
created
Yossarian


as
an
alter
ego
of
himself,
and
painted
him
in
a
way
that
all
readers
could
relate
to


and
sympathize
with.




Heller
was
able
to
master
the
satirical
novel
with
his
skill
as
a
writer.
He
used


several
rhetorical
techniques
to
get
his
points
across
to
a
wide
audience
in
a
funny


way.
But
given
the
context
of
the
composition
of
this
book,
the
fact
that
Heller


mocked
our
own
nation,
our
own
way
of
life
and
got
away
with
it
is
rather


impressive.
How
did
Heller
escape
scotch
free?
How
could
he
mock
the
most


powerful
army
that
ever
existed,
a
defender
of
world
peace?
How
could
Heller
take


the
hero
mold
from
WWII
and
turn
him
into
a
coward?
How
could
he
turn
a


foundation
of
Americanism
into
a
joke?
And
how
could
he
do
all
these
things


escaping
unscathed?
Let
alone
launching
a
successful
literary
career?
In
retrospect,

 Rowles
7



the
irony
in
the
situation
epitomizes
the
work
of
Heller
himself.
He
must
have


learned
a
thing
or
two
from
Yossarian.



Aside
from
his
refreshing,
original
style,
personal
credibility,
whit,
and
mastery


of
rhetoric,
a
lot
of
it
had
to
do
with
luck.
Catch‐22
was
published
at
just
the
right


time.
It
was
published
on
the
brink
of
a
monumental
shift
in
American
thought
and


society.
And
Heller’s
book,
in
many
ways,
identified
what
was
to
tip
the
balances.



One
key
task
Catch­22
completed
rather
easily
was
finding
and
fitting
into
a


literary
niche.
Or
in
this
case,
inventing
one.
Stephen
Potts
revisits
the
emergence
of


Catch­22
into
the
literary
world
in
his
book
titled
Catch­22:
Antiheroic
Antinovel.
He


claims
American
literary
circles
were
looking
for
something
to
fill
the
void
after


James
Joyce
had
broken
the
mold
of
the
modernist
novel
with
Ulysses
and
Finnegan’s


Wake.
Potts
suggests
Jorge
Luis
Borges
and
Vladimir
Nabokov
had
seemingly


stepped
in
to
quench
America’s
literary
thirst
during
the
fifties,
but
as
the
sixties


began
a
new
literary
genre
would
accompany
a
new
culture.
That
new
genre
would


later
be
dubbed
“postmodernism,”
and
Catch­22
led
the
pack.
In
its
first
edition,


Catch­22’s
leaflet
would
read
“Catch­22
is
like
no
other
novel
we
have
ever
read.
It


has
its
own
style,
its
own
rational,
its
own
extraordinary
character.
It
moves
back


and
forth
from
hilarity
to
horror.
It
is
outrageously
funny
and
strangely
affecting.
It


is
totally
original.”
(5‐8)


Aside
from
inventing
its
own
literary
niche,
giving
American
readers
a
gasp


of
fresh
air,
the
political
and
social
eras
which
the
book
spans,
combined
with
the


timing
of
Catch­22’s
publication,
are
the
key
to
its
success
and
impact.
In
his
essay


Still
the
Best
Catch
There
Is,
Stephen
J.
Whitfield
recommends
situating
the
novel

 Rowles
8



over
“four
distinguishable
time
periods:
the
experience
upon
which
the
author
drew


for
much
of
the
material,
the
period
in
which
it
was
composed,
the
moment
in
which


it
was
published,
and
the
era
that
it
so
eerily
anticipated
–
the
in
which
our
own


sensibility
has
inevitably
been
shaped.”
(178)



Setting
the
novel
during
World
War
II
allowed
Heller
to
accomplish
a
few


different
things.
It
provided
Heller
a
bank
of
experiences
to
write
about
and
also


supported
his
own
credibility
as
a
rhetor,
as
discussed
above.

But
more
than


anything,
it
provided
him
a
familiar
role
model
to
distort.
The
World
War
II
soldier


was
a
hero
embedded
in
American
memory.
It
epitomized
the
strength
and
bravery


of
American
momentum.
The
United
States
was
one
of
the
few
countries
that


emerged
from
that
terrible
war
in
better
shape,
so
to
speak,
then
when
it
started.
It


had
become
the
world
power,
and
as
its
sons
returned
from
the
battlefields
to
spend


their
GI
bills
and
raise
the
baby
boomers,
a
solidified
image
of
the
perfect
family


headed
by
the
hero
father
would
march
into
the
fifties.
This
hero,
of
which
Heller


himself
was
a
good
example,
would
serve
as
a
perfect
sacrifice
to
illustrate
the


hidden
faults
of
America
during
the
fifties.




 Heller,
on
several
occasions,
reiterated
that
the
book
was
not
critical
of
the


time
period
in
which
it
takes
place.
Rather,
as
he
stated
in
an
interview
with
Paul


Krassner
of
The
Realist,
he
was
being
critical
of
the
fifties:


I
tried
to
give
it
a
structure
that
would
reflect
and
complement
the


content
of
the
book
itself,
and
the
contents
of
the
book
really
derive


from
our
present
atmosphere,
which
is
one
of
chaos,
of


disorganization,
of
absurdity,
of
cruelty,
of
brutality,
of
insensitivity,

 Rowles
9



but
at
the
same
time
one
in
which
people,
even
the
worst
people,
I


think
are
basically
good,
are
motivated
by
humane
impulses.
(19)









It
is
important
to
understand
the
culture
of
the
fifties,
to
understand
exactly
what


Heller
is
referring
too.
The
absurdities
illustrated
in
Heller’s
work
were
meant
to


resemble
and
criticize
the
Korean
War,
American
foreign
policy
at
the
time,
and
the


amplified
paranoia
of
the
Cold
War.
As
Whitfield
explains,
“the
intrusions
of
political


orthodoxy
and
of
bloated
bureaucracies
had
injected
absurdities
into
American


society
that
contaminated
the
ideals
of
a
moral
life,
that
seemed
to
be
corrupting


everything.”
(Whitfield
179)
Black
lists,
government
conspiracies,
and
fear
of
“the


Bomb”
infiltrated,
even
dictated,
American
life.
It
was
as
if
every
one
was
as


petrified
as
Yossarian.



 However,
it
was
the
moment
in
which
Catch­22
was
published
and
the
years


that
followed
that
solidified
its
importance.
In
Whitfield’s
words,
it
was
the
way
the


book

“so
eerily
anticipated”
the
chaos
of
the
sixties.

And
being
published
just
as
the


fifties
bowed
down
to
the
sixties,
as
American
society
caught
on
to
its
faults
and


began
to
do
something
about
it,
allowed
Catch­22
to
play
an
important
role.



In
analyzing
a
psychological
study
performed
during
the
fifties
and
sixties,


Whitfield
summarizes
the
differences
between
the
civic
mentalities
of
the
two


decades
as
a
shift
of
perspective
on
authority:


The
1950s
posed
the
problem
of
the
tyranny
of
the
majority;
group


pressures
activated
the
anxiety
that
someone
would
be
left
with
the


short
end
of
the
stick.
The
1960s
presented
another
kind
of
tyranny,


as
policies
were
pursued
outside
of
democratic
restraint,
as
self‐
 Rowles
10



government
seemed
to
transform
itself
into
an
irrationality
that


expected
unthinking
allegiance.
Civic
health
thus
meant
sticking
it
to


authority.
(183)


In
other
words,
civic
mentality
of
the
1950s
was
very
much
under
the
repression
of


the
cold
war.
American
society
thrived
in
the
conformity
of
perfect
families
raised
in


perfect
homes,
with
a
fully
stocked
nuclear
fallout
shelter
hidden
beneath
a


perfectly
trimmed
yard.
Ironically,
anything
communist
was
feared.
As
the
products


of
ultra‐conformist
families
became
students
at
universities,
views
on
authority


shifted
and
student
bodies
began
“sticking
it
to
authority.”


Of
course,
American
politics
at
the
time
didn’t
help
the
situation.
America’s


cold
war
foreign
policy
was
an
easy
target
for
rebellious
spirits,
as
was
the
draft
for


the
Vietnam
War.
Numerous
civil
rights
movements
involving
anyone
with


pigmented
skin
were
vehicles
for
social
reform
and
personal
freedom,
and
the


Birkenstock
wearers
of
Berkley
were
getting
arrested
for
sticking
it
to
authority
in


the
Free
Speech
Movement.
Needless
to
say,
the
sixties
were
progressive
in


comparison
to
the
rigid
paranoia
of
the
fifties.




Morris
Dickstein
claims
Catch­22,
and
the
black
humor
novels
like
it,
are
like


a
“secret
history
to
the
Kennedy
years
when
the
terrifying
specter
of
thermonuclear


war
flared
garishly
one
last
time
before
beginning
to
dim…when
a
President’s


civilized,
cosmopolitan
vision
helped
conceal
the
expansion
of
our
imperial
role.”


(Kercher
299‐300).
The
whole
concept
of
which,
of
covering
up
unethical
acts
with


good
ones,
saturates
every
page
of
Catch‐22.
From
awarding
medals
to
men
for
poor

 Rowles
11



behavior,
to
trying
to
force
down
chocolate
covered
cotton,
Heller
wittingly
satirizes


what
would
befall
the
sixties.
And
he
did
it
all
before
it
even
happened.


Many
factors
played
a
role
in
solidifying
Catch­22
a
classic
novel.
From
the


incredibly
entertaining
uses
of
satire
to
the
incredibly
interesting
and
important


times
it
emerged
from,
the
book
has
an
important
role
in
our
nations
history.
And


anything
important
in
our
nations
history
his
important
today.



Strangely
enough,
the
legacy
of
the
novel
has
played
a
rather
large
role
in
my


own
life
already.
I
can
clearly
remember
a
conversation
with
my
father
in
our
living


room
in
which
he
explained
the
term
catch‐22
to
me.
I
was
in
the
6th
grade,
long


before
I
would
have
been
able
to
comprehend
the
book.
Then,
six
years
later,
while


living
on
my
own
for
the
first
time
in
Oregon,
I
stumbled
across
a
copy
of
the
book


on
my
cousin’s
bookshelf.
So
excited
to
read
this
fabled
novel,
I
started
immediately.


When
I
reached
page
90,
I
realized
a
100‐page
section
of
the
book
was
missing.
Oh


well,
I
suppose
it
just
wasn’t
the
right
time.
Finally,
last
summer
I
received
a
gift


certificate
to
Borders
Books
and
purchased
a
copy
of
the
novel
as
my
summer


reading.
The
bizarre
circumstances
in
which
the
book
finally
made
its
way
onto
my


bookshelf
are
strangely
reminiscent
of
the
book’s
style
and
prose.


Perhaps
more
impactful
is
the
books
effect
on
my
own
thought
as
look
back


into
my
childhood
and
my
own
families
history.
Both
of
my
grandfathers
were
pilots


in
World
War
II
and
as
such,
I
grew
up
listening
to
their
stories
of
heroes
in
a
heroic


war.
As
I
grew
older,
I
became
more
interested
in
their
experiences
and
began


prying
information
out
of
them
whenever
I
could.
I
could
understand
better
the


history
of
the
war
itself,
and
the
impact
it
had
on
the
lives
of
my
grandfathers
as
I

 Rowles
12



was
around
the
same
age
they
were
when
they
were
fighting.
As
I
heard
more
and


more
stories,
I
began
to
hear
hesitation
in
their
voices,
and
see
wandering
in
their


eyes.
It
became
apparent
to
me
that
the
heroic
tales
I
had
been
told
in
my
youth


were
only
a
small
side
of
the
story.
During
this
time
I
had
come
to
know
other


veterans
of
Vietnam,
who
would
not
even
address
the
war,
let
alone
romanticize
it.


And
as
our
country
continues
to
send
troops
over
seas,
many
of
them
my
friends,


and
all
my
age,
thoughts
of
a
soldier’s
life
and
my
own
forming
opinions
of
war


frequented
my
thoughts.
All
of
these
circumstances
led
to
a
much
more
thoughtful


read
of
Catch­22
and
consequentially
a
much
deeper
relation
to
the
chaos
that
is


inscribed
in
one
of
the
best
war
novels
ever
written.


Simply
put,
Heller’s
rhetoric
is
masterful.
Combined
with
the
way
he
utilizes


an
American
foundation
to
criticize
its
own
faults,
and
the
impeccable
timing
of
its


publication,
uncannily
predicting
the
future,
Catch­22
has
become
a
work
embedded


in
the
top
tiers
of
American
literature,
and
indebted
to
the
turmoil
of
the
eras
it


spans.



Long
live
Yossarian.


 Rowles
13



Works
Cited


Kercher, Stephen E. Revel With a Cause. Chicago: University of Chicago Press,

2006.
Krassner, Paul. "An Impolite Interview with Joseph Heller." The Realist Nov
1962. 19-31.
Gregson, Ian. Character and Satire in Postwar Fiction. London: Continuum
International Publishing, 2006.

Whitfield, Stephen J. “Still the Best Catch There Is.” Rethinking Cold War
Culture, Eds. Peter J. Kuznick, James Gilbert. Washington: Smithsonian
Institute, 2001. 175-200.
Nagel, James. The Catch-22 Note Cards. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co.1984.
Potts, Stephen W. Catch-22 Antiheroic Antinovel. Boston: Twayne Publishers,
1989.