I would like to start off by saying that the premise of your research paper was very interesting. The way Heller focused the development of his characters as his method of conveying meaning was definitely compelling to learn about. Yossarian seems to be a very cynical character, which contrasts the incredibly hopeful (at least at the start!) members of the Joad family in my book.
I find it a bit odd that Yossarian decides to mess with the war effort just because he is cynical about war itself. I’ll be honest, you claim that Yossarian is a “morally ambigious” character but to me he seems downright corrupted. Granted I have a much less familiar with him, but I feel the wickedness he shows in the book does, as you claim, show that not all soldiers are the ideal, brave, stalwart men we are led to believe they are through movies or propaganda. You claim that his cowardness makes him human, a point I feel is very important because it does show him to be more than just a crook.
I appreciated your detailed consideration of your novel as a societal satire, and believe it or not, although Madame Bovary discusses provincial love affairs and Catch-22 considers global war, your presentation helped me discover that the two are similar in that they question cultural values. Catch-22 may be considered more extreme because it literally questions life and death, marking intentional death without concrete benefit as a sign of insanity. Madame Bovary analyzes bourgeois pettiness regarding marital fidelity, but I would not consider it a stretch to liken the nineteenth-century French middle class with that of mid-twentieth-century America.
Average citizens in both America and France were profiting off of commercial innovations, drowning in consumerism. They were also absorbed by a sanctimoniousness— a fierce flaunting of religious virtue in Madame Bovary; vigorous patriotism in Catch-22. Both Flaubert and Heller create characters that represent the repercussions of their backward cultures. I enjoyed how the depth of your analysis prompted me to think creatively, a technique I can use for essays on the AP exam.
Carter,
ReplyDeleteI would like to start off by saying that the premise of your research paper was very interesting. The way Heller focused the development of his characters as his method of conveying meaning was definitely compelling to learn about. Yossarian seems to be a very cynical character, which contrasts the incredibly hopeful (at least at the start!) members of the Joad family in my book.
I find it a bit odd that Yossarian decides to mess with the war effort just because he is cynical about war itself. I’ll be honest, you claim that Yossarian is a “morally ambigious” character but to me he seems downright corrupted. Granted I have a much less familiar with him, but I feel the wickedness he shows in the book does, as you claim, show that not all soldiers are the ideal, brave, stalwart men we are led to believe they are through movies or propaganda. You claim that his cowardness makes him human, a point I feel is very important because it does show him to be more than just a crook.
I appreciated your detailed consideration of your novel as a societal satire, and believe it or not, although Madame Bovary discusses provincial love affairs and Catch-22 considers global war, your presentation helped me discover that the two are similar in that they question cultural values. Catch-22 may be considered more extreme because it literally questions life and death, marking intentional death without concrete benefit as a sign of insanity. Madame Bovary analyzes bourgeois pettiness regarding marital fidelity, but I would not consider it a stretch to liken the nineteenth-century French middle class with that of mid-twentieth-century America.
ReplyDeleteAverage citizens in both America and France were profiting off of commercial innovations, drowning in consumerism. They were also absorbed by a sanctimoniousness— a fierce flaunting of religious virtue in Madame Bovary; vigorous patriotism in Catch-22. Both Flaubert and Heller create characters that represent the repercussions of their backward cultures. I enjoyed how the depth of your analysis prompted me to think creatively, a technique I can use for essays on the AP exam.