The beauty of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is also the tragedy of Catch-22. Every single rule, regulation, and medical condition in the entire novel by Joseph Heller is a paradox. The novel even starts out with a paradox: Yossarian’s medical condition, which looks like jaundice, but isn’t actually jaundice, can’t be treated medically because it isn’t quite jaundice. If he were actually more debilitated, he would recuperate faster.

Heller’s book is genius in how it shows the tragedies and absurdities of war in ways that other authors couldn’t. (Vonnegut might be the one other writer who has written about war in such a unique way.) Characters such as Major Major Major Major and Dunbar act as foils to the “crazy” Yossarian who actually grasps more of the harsher realities of the war that he is in.

Yossarian’s observations about war seem to contain more truths than anything else I’ve ever read on the subject. Yossarian, for example, points out that he doesn’t really want to leave the hospital because there is a war going on and people are trying to kill him. (Yossarian is the only one who doesn’t seem to make the distinction that the people trying to kill him are not just trying to kill him; his perception is that if people are firing at him, they are, indeed, trying to kill him.) He is also one of the few to note that the death rate is actually much less lower inside the hospital walls than outside of the hospital. 

Which is largely because of war. 

Yossarian also seems to get at the truths of the people around him more than others; he recognizes, for example, that the chaplain is “a sincerely helpful person who was never able to help anyone.”

Through the scenes and dialog that Heller chooses to share, the readers learn more of the dark side of war. And, again, in interesting ways. One nurse tells Yossarian that his leg is not his own, but is actually an appendage that the United States government has made a considerable investment. Yossarian complains, the nurse smacks him across the face. 

While the above example may be extreme, it truly exemplifies the idea that the government does not necessarily have the best interests of the soldiers at heart during wartime. Other examples clearly portray the ineptitude of higher ranking officers in their decision-making process. 

If you haven’t read Catch-22 yet, you should.