For my last blog, I just wanted to comment one more time on the idea of satire: funny or depressing? Parts of this book were very funny. When Yossarian kept requesting fruit from the doctor to cure his liver disease, but never actually ate the fruit himself, I laughed. When the doctor talked about his former office, most infamously the story of the virgin newlyweds, I couldn’t see anything harmless except cute humor. But throughout the course of Catch-22, one of Yossarian’s only friends, and one of the sanest characters in the entire book, dies. There is nothing at all funny about this. This summer, when this book was recommended to me, I expected full, innocent humor. I was misguided. That’s why the one thing I want to say to anyone considering reading this book: you will be greatly entertained, but be prepared to be faced with deep questions concerning life, war, society and sanity.
Secondly, I think it is only fair I say one more thing about this idea of Catch-22. The idea of a no-win situation, where you are forbidden to do one thing because of how it affects the other, is one more common than we may think. If I stay up late to finish my homework, I risk falling asleep in class and missing out on precious learning time. However, if I go to bed without finishing my homework, I risk turning in an incomplete assignment. Either way I’m hurting myself and my education. (This is twice as ironic because the whole point of school is to learn, and my Catch-22 is forbidding me from doing this.) This isn’t the greatest example, but it’s one I’m sure a lot of students have faced. And it shows how this humorous concept of Catch-22 is present even in our lives today.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Why Pledge?
I am sitting at Starbucks, peppermint mocha at my side, reading Catch-22. Have you ever experienced that awkward moment where you want to burst out laughing, but know you’re in a public place and it probably wouldn’t be a good idea? That’s what I experienced as I read my ninth section of Catch-22.
Captain Black is very proud. And with pride comes the need to be the best. To prove he is the best, Captain Black has come up with a scheme. He would make his squadron more loyal than all the other ones by making them sign loyalty oaths. If someone entered his tent, they would have to sign a loyalty oath. He loved his system so much; he soon changed it to two loyalty oaths. Then three. Then four. Soon, along with the loyalty oaths, they are also required to say the pledge of allegiance and sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Then Captain Black, in attempt to justify himself, says something very interesting: “The important thing is to keep them pledging… It doesn’t matter whether they mean it or not. That’s why they make little kids pledge allegiance even before they know what ‘pledge’ and ‘allegiance’ mean.”
Is this true? I have always found the idea that small children are taught to pledge allegiance in school when they don’t know any current events, specifics about government, or even that much about American history. Is it fair to make them make pledges like this when they don’t even know what they’re pledging too? I strongly support the fact that we aren’t forced to say the pledge. However, I often wish it wasn’t said at all. It causes so much confusion and no one even really knows exactly what you’re pledging too. What’s so important about a flag? It represents our country. So why not just say, “I pledge allegiance to the United States of America”? This is something that has always confused me and I’m glad they brought it up in this book.
Captain Black is very proud. And with pride comes the need to be the best. To prove he is the best, Captain Black has come up with a scheme. He would make his squadron more loyal than all the other ones by making them sign loyalty oaths. If someone entered his tent, they would have to sign a loyalty oath. He loved his system so much; he soon changed it to two loyalty oaths. Then three. Then four. Soon, along with the loyalty oaths, they are also required to say the pledge of allegiance and sing “The Star Spangled Banner.” Then Captain Black, in attempt to justify himself, says something very interesting: “The important thing is to keep them pledging… It doesn’t matter whether they mean it or not. That’s why they make little kids pledge allegiance even before they know what ‘pledge’ and ‘allegiance’ mean.”
Is this true? I have always found the idea that small children are taught to pledge allegiance in school when they don’t know any current events, specifics about government, or even that much about American history. Is it fair to make them make pledges like this when they don’t even know what they’re pledging too? I strongly support the fact that we aren’t forced to say the pledge. However, I often wish it wasn’t said at all. It causes so much confusion and no one even really knows exactly what you’re pledging too. What’s so important about a flag? It represents our country. So why not just say, “I pledge allegiance to the United States of America”? This is something that has always confused me and I’m glad they brought it up in this book.
Faking a Sickness: we've all done it
“Clevinger is dead.” This is the first line of the next section. The line surprised me. Clevinger seemed to be the only other sane person besides Yossarian in the book. How could this be? It’s strange I should be surprised. After all, haven’t I already proven that this is a very strange book? Anyway, Colonel Korn, in this section, decided to do something very crazy. He has nailed the medical tent door shut and forbade anyone from reporting sick. Captain Black, as a joke, then nails a note to the door that says, “Closed until further notice. Death in the family,” And Doc Daneeka is left sitting on a stool outside of the tent. I suppose you can imagine why they’d close the medical tent. It was because too many officers were reporting sick, just so they wouldn’t have to fight. I was instantly reminded of my elementary and middle school years, when students would often fake being sick avoid a test or a class. After thinking that, I began to wonder if it was unfair of me to make that connection. After all, I’m comparing a matter of life and death with a matter of skipping class. It all comes back to the definition of satire. It is a serious issue that has been given a funny, childish twist. Does that mean satire in itself might not be fair? I’ve been told satire is a very controversial form of humor, but not until this book did I really start to understand that concept for myself.
Major*4
I was excited to read this chapter the moment I saw it’s title: Major Major Major Major. The story itself is even more interesting: a young boy is given the name Major Major Major and is mocked all through his childhood. When he enters the army, he is made a Major simply because the officers think it would be funny. There is another man very much more qualified for the job, but how could the officers possibly give up an opportunity like this? Having a Major named Major Major Major Major? Then the story starts to get depressing. The Major hates being a Major. He is treated differently by all the other men who are suddenly a ranking below him. He is forced to sit in an office all day and sign papers. Everyone is complaining to him about one thing or another, and he has no idea how to solve any of the problems because as he and everyone else knows he really isn’t qualified for the job. Finally, there is no other solution. Major Major Major Major finds a way to prevent himself from ever having to see anyone ever again. He will eat all of his meals alone in his office. He will forbid anyone from seeing him if he is in his office. Only when he is not in his office will they be allowed to enter his office and talk to him. Hmmm… could this be a Catch-22? A man may not talk to Major Major Major Major in his office if he himself is in his office, and can only enter his office to talk to him when he is not in his office. The concept of Catch-22 is more evident in this book than I thought. It’s very interesting that the writer was able to incorporate this concept of Catch-22 so subtly.
A Lieutenant's Power
Lieutenant Scheisskopf is a very interesting character in this story. He trained Yossarian when they were still in America. In this section, Yossarian is remembering Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s obsession with parades while they were in training. In training, whichever squadron could march the best in the weekly parades won a yellow pennant on a pole. Yossarian saw these pennants for what they truly were: worthless. Lieutenant Scheisskopf, on the other hand, wanted them so badly he made his squadrons practice marching until they won. The Lieutenant’s wife hated the fact that he was so obsessed with parades. She was constantly trying to get his attention but never could. Instead, she had affairs with all the other men in the squadron.
The next section on Lieutenant Scheisskopf interested me even more than this though. He traps one of his cadets, Clevinger, in a silly game of trying to do the right thing. Their conversation went like this:
Lieutenant: “In sixty days you’ll be fighting Billy Petrolle and you think it’s a big fat joke.”
Clevinger: “I don’t think it’s a joke, sir.”
“Don’t interrupt.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And say ‘sir’ when you do.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Weren’t you just ordered not to interrupt?”
And it goes on. The reason this passage struck me as interesting was because of the utter simplicity of this humor. I mean, this is the sort of humor we could find in a children’s slapstick movie. Yet it is still so funny.
The next section on Lieutenant Scheisskopf interested me even more than this though. He traps one of his cadets, Clevinger, in a silly game of trying to do the right thing. Their conversation went like this:
Lieutenant: “In sixty days you’ll be fighting Billy Petrolle and you think it’s a big fat joke.”
Clevinger: “I don’t think it’s a joke, sir.”
“Don’t interrupt.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And say ‘sir’ when you do.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Weren’t you just ordered not to interrupt?”
And it goes on. The reason this passage struck me as interesting was because of the utter simplicity of this humor. I mean, this is the sort of humor we could find in a children’s slapstick movie. Yet it is still so funny.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
The True Definition of Posession
Because of his liver problems, Yossarian receives as much fruit and juice as he wants from the kitchen. However, Yossarian never eats his fruits as he does not want his liver to get better. You see, if his liver were to be healthy, he wouldn't be obtaining such interesting benefits. So instead of eating the fruit, he gives it away to the other men.
This chapter made me question the definition of possession. When the doctor wrote the letter that allowed Yossarian all the free fruit he wanted, I'm sure the doctor's intentions were that Yossarian would eat the fruit and eventually heal his liver disease. What would the doctor say if he knew Yossarian wasn't really eating the fruit? Yossarian argues that once the fruit is his, he can do whatever he wants with it.
This story seems ridiculous. If I were to do this in my everyday life, I'm sure that a) someone would discover what I had been doing and force me to eat the fruit, and b) take away my free fruit privileges. Why isn't this happening to Yossarian? He's very open about the fact that he's not actually eating his fruit. He leaves the box outside on his front steps for anyone to come over and help themselves. What's more obvious than that? I suppose it all comes back to the central idea of this book: that everyone and everything about the war is crazy. The rules are crazy, the logic is crazy, the people are all crazy. I think I can count at least fifteen times in each chapter where they use the word "crazy".
However, I continue to thoroughly enjoy the book.
This chapter made me question the definition of possession. When the doctor wrote the letter that allowed Yossarian all the free fruit he wanted, I'm sure the doctor's intentions were that Yossarian would eat the fruit and eventually heal his liver disease. What would the doctor say if he knew Yossarian wasn't really eating the fruit? Yossarian argues that once the fruit is his, he can do whatever he wants with it.
This story seems ridiculous. If I were to do this in my everyday life, I'm sure that a) someone would discover what I had been doing and force me to eat the fruit, and b) take away my free fruit privileges. Why isn't this happening to Yossarian? He's very open about the fact that he's not actually eating his fruit. He leaves the box outside on his front steps for anyone to come over and help themselves. What's more obvious than that? I suppose it all comes back to the central idea of this book: that everyone and everything about the war is crazy. The rules are crazy, the logic is crazy, the people are all crazy. I think I can count at least fifteen times in each chapter where they use the word "crazy".
However, I continue to thoroughly enjoy the book.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
2 Citations
Sirs. 2008. ProQuest LLC. 7 Dec. 2008 <http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hst-portal-display?id=SMN0307H-0-1118>
This site lists the proponents and opponents of the issue, as well as backs up their information with primary sources. These primary sources include books or articles of first-person accounts, studies and surveys, and other items that reflect the view. The site remains unbiased and equally explains each side of the issue. The intended audience is students.
The First Amendment First-Aid Kit. Chip Gibson. 2007. Random House Children’s Books. 7 Dec. 2008
This is the site for the program First Amendment First Aid-Kit which is run by Random House Children’s Books. The site quotes well-known authors and politicians to help support its cause of stopping censorship in schools and libraries.
This site lists the proponents and opponents of the issue, as well as backs up their information with primary sources. These primary sources include books or articles of first-person accounts, studies and surveys, and other items that reflect the view. The site remains unbiased and equally explains each side of the issue. The intended audience is students.
The First Amendment First-Aid Kit. Chip Gibson. 2007. Random House Children’s Books. 7 Dec. 2008
This is the site for the program First Amendment First Aid-Kit which is run by Random House Children’s Books. The site quotes well-known authors and politicians to help support its cause of stopping censorship in schools and libraries.
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