Essay on Theism versus Atheism in Catch-22 -- Catch-22 Essays

Theism versus Atheism in Catch-22 Joseph Hellers novel Catch-22 deals with many ripostes that mankind is prone to deal with. One issue that is raised is the offspring of theism versus atheism. This argument is manifested in a dialogue, approximately cardinal pages in length, between Yossarian, the main character, and Lieutenant Scheisskopfs married woman. In this particular scene, Yossarian and the lieutenants wife be debating the existence of G-d, presumably in the Judeo-Christian sense. The scene begins with distributively character introduced as an atheist, although the degeneration of the argument eventually tells somewhat otherwise. Yossarian is visualized as a character in a perpetually oppose mindset he is invariably bitter and jaded, particularly because he has been constrained to fight in World War II. Yossarians experiences have led him to watch the worst from life, and to disbelieve in a g-d that causes such things as tooth rotting and pain. The reader knows ve ry little about Lieutenant Scheisskopfs wife, aside from her knowledgeable escapades with the soldiers serving under her husband. Nevertheless, she seems to be under the impression that there are things in life to be grateful for under any circumstances. Yossarian attempts to prove his post through a long-winded and rather humorous row about G-d being a bumbling fool who robbed old quite a little of the power to control their bowel movements (189). While Yossarian raises a valid move against the existence of G-d, the fact that he reflects the existence of G-d at all and speaks as though G-d exists provides the loophole necessary for this G-d to be a Catch-22. Taken into consideration without the psyche of Catch-22, the singular flaw in Yossarians argument is that h... ... point of silliness) directly foeman a serious point in order to make the point more obvious. The fact that Heller chose religion as a subject to tackle shows great strength, particularly considering that Catch-22 was originally written in the deep 1950s - a time in which the concept free-thinking was comfort in its infancy. The method of satire as a means of struggle an issue provides an effective outlet for the expression of ideas while maintaining a cleverness overtone as a defense against retaliation. The scene pertaining to the atheism debate was both amusing and thought provoking, a task difficult to overcome. industrial plant Cited Heller, Joseph. The Chelsea theater of operations Library of Literary Criticism. Twentieth-Century American Literature Vol. 3. New York. Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York Dell Publishing, 1991