Catch 22

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       In Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, war is portrayed as a bureaucratic machine that doesn't care about the soldiers who are actually fighting it. Yossarian, fights this by trying to survive. Normally, when people think of heroes, we think of people risking their life in order to benefit many. However, in Catch 22, the war is not fought for the benefit of many people. This makes Yossarian's mission, survival, a very heroic one. However, Yossarian quickly comes to a problem. Yossarian puts his squadron's lives in front of his own and wants to save theirs but does not want to keep flying pointless decisions and endangering his own. Yossarian solves this problem by walking away from the war. This way, he is able to prevent himself from having to choose between his life and his squadmates. 

      Catch 22 contrasts from many other war movies and books I have watched and read. In Catch 22, heroism is shown in the ability to save your own life while in other war stories, heroism is shown in the ability to put your life before a cause. In this way, Catch 22 is much more realistic than the other war stories. Catch 22 depicts war from a realistic standpoint: very few soldiers truly believe that their life is less important than a certain cause. Self-preservation is a very important moral responsibility and Catch 22 is able to show this importance in ways that other war stories are not. 

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