According to The Merriam - Webster Dictionary “Irony is 1.) the use of words to express the opposite of what one really means 2.) incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected result” (380)

In Catch-22 the type of irony that Heller uses is the second definition “incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the expected results” (Merriam - Webster Dictionary 380). For example in Catch-22 Heller writes “Actually, there were many officers clubs that Yossarian had not helped build, but he was proudest of the one on Pianosa” (18). You would have expected Heller to write he was proudest of the club that he built but he says the opposite and that is the irony.

Catch-22 is based totally on the use of words like these ones. Heller totally keeps the reader on their toes by the use of insane combinations of words and phrases. People never hear stories like Heller tells them. That is irony in Catch-22, the out of the ordinary and complete to the way that occurrences normally happen.

“Joseph Hellers Catch-22 is a novel that deliberately sets out to show that we live in an absurd universe. In the world that Heller creates we feel like a stranger and yet feel at home. We feel just because, as Camus remarks in the ‘Myth of Sisyphus’, “in a universe that is suddenly deprived of illusions and light, man feels a stranger.” But we also feel at home, because unreason seems to rule so much of our ordinary everyday lives. The comic formula ‘Catch-22’ sums up man’s position on am absurd universe, and the novel shows that is applies to every aspect of life: to war, to love, to business, even to religion.” (Colmer 210)

Part of the irony that envelops Catch-22 is the use of it’s extremely creative dialogue and scenes in the story. Heller places the reader in a atmosphere where comedy shouldn’t be able to exist at all, but Heller somehow puts a reverse on the normality and creates a memorable scene. “Heller invents dialogue rich in humor and pathos in order to fit the serious religious and philosophical implications of ‘Catch-22’ into his comic novel.” (Colmer 212)

The comedy that Catch-22 brings is ironic in itself, think how can you get humor out of war which entails pain and suffering, that beats me how Heller does it but by whatever means used Heller creates a complete package of humor and real life occurrences which is a great fete in itself. “Though it’s comic formula riddle, Heller’s novel expresses the apparently inescapable human predicament.” (Colmer 213)

The irony is also that Heller points to something more deep and unknown that war, pain, and suffering itself. In this way Heller points to the inner realms of mans consciousness and sanity to find a completely different and unique personality that people can are drawn to and somehow feel to be parallel to this figure.

“Heller has seen that the issue is no longer war itself, but the deeper, more difficult question of man as s role player, the gap between what men want to do and what they find themselves ‘forced’ to do.” (Nagel 210)

“It is a triumph of Mr. Heller’s skill that he is so quickly able to pursued as 1.) that the most lunatic are the most logical, and 2.) that it is our conventional standards which lack any logical consistency.” (Nagel 27)

By this Heller is able to draw us, the readers, into his world of organized chaos and mayhem that he orchestrates to his audience in a seemingly unseen way to the eyes or people. Heller’s persuasion is what Catch-22 clings on. Heller gets the reader to believe one thing than he changes everything. That is Catch-22 at its finest.

“ Catch-22 is a gimmicky, bawdy novel that owes much of its popular success to its attack on authority, its deliberate shack tactics, and its moments inspire farce. ” (Colmer 221)

By heller making an attack on authority he completely goes against the thread of common thought. Normal people are afraid to make any type of move towards authority of any sort be it their boss or the government. People are afraid of what might happen if they try to say or change the authority that runs their everyday lives. That is truly ironic to be totally different than the society that you live in.

“But the point is that ‘Catch-22’ applies to many different levels of life. Reduce to essentials and as it applies to them all, the formula states that something can only happen if certain conditions prevents the very fulfilling of that condition prevents it from ever happening.” (Colmer 211)

Works Cited

Colmer, John. Colerige To Catch-22. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1978

Heller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955

Merill, Robert. Joseph Heller. Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1987

Nagel, James. Critical Essays on Joseph Heller. Massachusetts: G.K. Hall & Co., 1984

Potts, Stephen W. Catch-22 Antiheroic Antinovel. Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1989

The Merriam - Webster Dictionary. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974