Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse-Five are two very unique books in there own ways. The similarities between the two books are vast numerous while the contrasts are subtle but powerful. Catch 22 is a war satire told in their-person narration. It tells the stories of World War 2 from the perspectives of different characters all of whom help progress the plot.
Slaughterhouse-Five on contrary is almost semi-autobiographical and tells the stories of World Word 2 as well. Slaughterhouse-Five has a more serious tone and between the two books, one can learn a lot about WW2 and war in general. Though there plots are a little different, they do still share several themes and ideas. Both books ironically focus on the theme of anti war as well as a false impression of free will motif. Through each book there are many examples of these general ideas which Kurt Vonnegut and Joseph Heller expresses through the advancement of the plot and the dialogue between different characters.
The basic theme can comes across to the readers in Catch 22, is that of anti-war . This theme is reflected throughout the novel in a number of different ways. A prime example may be the large amount of black comedy included causing the novel to obtain a mockery, yet horror in the whole idea of war. This happens throughout the novel with certain events that readers may find initially amusing, but the final reaction proves so portray a rather ghastly and digested opinion of war. There are other events in which there is no comedy and the portrayal of war is simply horrific.
127 our experts are availableright now
An example of this would be the death of Snowden , “Yossarian ripped open the snaps of Snowden s flak suit, and heard himself scream widely as Snowden’s insides slithered down to the floor in a soggy pile, and just kept on dripping out” This graphic description may be set out to show the truth of war, and the pain and horror of it all. The description itself will almost certainly get a very strong reaction from the reader, perhaps leading the reader to a very anti-war opinion. As well as the portrayal of physical torture as an aspect of war, there is also a strong suggestion of what war does mentally to a person. This can be shown by language.
For example, part throughout the novel show broken language structure, and chain of thought, lead to the reader often being left in a state of confusion. One of the biggest features that achieves this is the use of the anti-climax feature . The frequent use of this feature captures the individuality of this novel and contributes to a high level the confusion created. The use of such language structure and frame may represent the desperation, the boredom and confusion of soldiers aroused by the war environment.
Vonnegut’s anti war feelings create a major theme that emerges from Slaughterhouse Five. While talking to O’Hare in the opening chapter of the novel, Vonnegut says “there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre” (19). And as Cox explains, the novel is “not an answer to the tragedy of war, but a response” (3). Vonnegut uses the characters he creates to express his reaction to the war.
Billy Pilgrim is used to show the terrible consequences of war. Billy’s time in the war greatly affected him and his outlook on the world. From his imprisonment Billy has come to feel that nothing constructive comes from war. He believes that “. . .war is not a heroic contest between the forces of good and evil but a senseless slaughter with many victims and no villains” (Marvin 113).
When Billy comes home from the war, he does not often speak about what he saw or how he felt. He tries to distance himself from the war as much as possible. Billy uses the rest of his life as an escape from the war just as he tried to use death as an escape from the war when he first arrived in the Battle of the Bulge. When Weary tries to rescue him, Billy responds with little care for his life saying, “You guys go on without me. I’m all right” (Vonnegut 47).
Billy shows no care for saving his own life. Vonnegut uses “Billy’s innocence and passivity to help Vonnegut [to] focus the reader’s attention on the brutality of war (Marvin 124). Vonnegut appeals to the readers, attempting to make them feel empathy for Billy. The reader sees the sad figure of Billy Pilgrim suffering through a war he believes is pointless and the reader begins to see the horrors of war that Billy is feeling.
Vonnegut also uses other characters to portray his antiwar theme. Marvin says that “He [Edgar Derby] is the most admirable character in the book, which makes his senseless death all the more lamentable” (126). Vonnegut uses Derby’s death to compound the reader’s feeling that war is pointless. Derby was a forty-four year old teacher with a wife at home, and his only crime was taking a teapot. But, for this simple act he loses his life after surviving the entire war, a prisoner of war camp, and the firebombing of Dresden.
Another character used by Vonnegut is Roland Weary. Weary is eager to wage war against the Nazis. Weary’s passion for war “is the prime example of how stories that glorify war shape the attitudes of young boys and make them eager to fight” (Marvin 125). Vonnegut’s novel is the opposition to the stories that make war seem great. Slaughterhouse Five shows what can happen to the zealous boy ready to fight for his country. He can die as Weary did of gangrene on a train car overflowing with soldiers on his way to a prisoner of war camp.
The most blatant antiwar discussion in the novel occurs in the opening between Vonnegut and Mary O’Hare. She fears that the book will glorify war as so many books and movies have in the past. She fears that the book will portray the “babies” fighting in the war as grown men, and these babies will be played by “war-loving, dirty old men” (14). Vonnegut assures Mary that the novel will show the savageness and horror of war. He even promises, “I’ll call it ‘The Children’s Crusade’” (15). This scene sets the antiwar tone from chapter one.
Vonnegut uses his characters to express his antiwar feelings. He cannot express his feelings on the war and the Dresden firebombing directly because he believes “there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre” (19). In the end “the conclusion Vonnegut comes to after examining the causes and effects of Dresden is that there indeed is no moral, only the Poo-tee-weet of the bird call” (Lundquist 45). “Poo-tee-weet” (Vonnegut 215) is the only rational thought on a war Vonnegut can find. He cannot explain or even comment on the death and destruction he has seen in Dresden. This strenGThens the idea that war can have terrible consequences even on those who survive the war physically and return home as Vonnegut and even Billy Pilgrim do.
Billy finds his own explanation of the bombing and the death of so many innocent people. He turns to the Tralfamadorian belief that the deaths were unpreventable and had to happen because that was how they were supposed to happen. Neither he nor anyone else could change what destiny had decided would occur. At the thought of these deaths and all death Billy sees, he has only one reaction, “so it goes” (Vonnegut 96).
This phrase is cited at any mention of death in Billy’s death. Marvin believes “while it is true that the novel adopts the Tralfamadorian custom of saying ‘so it goes’ every time a death occurs, this relentless repetition shows that the fatalistic attitude behind the saying is ridiculous” (128). Vonnegut uses Billy as an example of how humans should not react to war. Billy speaks of death as if it were casual and it had not real consequences, but in reality death causes extraordinary pain and suffering on a daily basis. Vonnegut uses this contradiction to show the reader that “death is inevitable, but some deaths are preventable, and the novel consistently demonstrates that human beings have the power to shape the present and the future” (Marvin 128).
Works Cited
- “Catch 22- Anti War.” Kibin Blog, 2016, www.kibin.com/the-theme-of-anti-war-in-catch-22-by-joseph-heller-GnAGziUS
- Heller, Joseph. Catch 22. Simon & Schuster, 1961.
- “Slaughterhouse-Five: A Deeper Analysis .” Elements of Slaughterhouse-Five, 2015, www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/102/Slaughterhouse_five_research_paper.pdf.
- Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. Dial Press, 2005.
