Reading Response #2

Bang; another loud, irritating bang
Runs through my head like an overplayed melody.
As more guns sound, I wish harder and harder
For the peace I once had to return to me.
There is no hope that this spotlight will ever leave me
For one, at least one, of the other soldiers here scrambling about.
All of my past actions have been nothing but sincere
Yet these bullets are forced out of me, I have no choice but to act out.
Good Lord please send me back to my loving home
The loss of lives and the pain of seeing others in pain, is too much.
Trying to keep my sanity has never been such a challenge
Feels like I'm losing senses by the hour; no sound, no taste, no touch.
Death is closer than ever, I'm armed but not protected
I cannot help but think any second could be my last.
My hands shake and tremble every time they touch the trigger
My fragile lungs fear the thought of being gassed.
Life has never been so unfair, no one in the right mind deserves this;
To be put in a society where death is somewhat good and relieving.
The old me, the old life I had, has officially lost its grip
But no matter what, I will try to gain hope, and never stop believing.

Reading Response #1

Character

The main character, John Yossarian changed throughout the novel, but not greatly. His view on the war changed. At the beginning of the novel, his only worry was himself staying alive. He wanted nothing to do with the war. He tried, in every way, to not fly missions. He then started to care greatly about the people who were dying. He has a choice to make. Whether or not to protect himself, or protect the other members was a decision he had to make. Although he did not like participating in the war, he couldn't choose himself over the members. But in the end, Yossarian decides to escape from the war and save his own life.

Theme

One theme of this novel is struggle for survival. Throughout the novel Yossarian struggles to stay alive one way or another. He is always worried about his death and how and when it may come. It was clear that he did not want to participate in the war, and was aggravated when the number of missions raised constantly. He was always trying to find ways to stay alive, like finding a way into the hospital one way or another, or restraining from taking any action to fix his liver problems.

Mood

The mood of this book to begin with was feelings of hopelessness and negativity. Yossarian always had feeling of death in his mind and wasn't a very positive person when it came to surviving. As the novel went on feelings got stronger. When the book came to conclusion, when Yossarian finally decided to escape the war, feelings of hope and positiveness appeared.

Conflict

The conflict of this book initially was that the number of missions were raised constantly so the bombardiers had no chance of leaving the war and going home. As the book progressed the conflict changed. The conflict then was the fear of death to Yossarian. He didn't want to die. He wanted to live as long as possible and live the life he's always wanted. He was in conflict with himself, he had to choose if he wanted to protect himself or protect others.

Settings

The novel is taken place in the war, World War II to be exact. Pianosa was where the American headquarters were, this part of the setting was fiction.

Book Overview

Catch 22 is based on a bombardier named Yossarian. Throughout the novel, Yossarian forces people to believe that he is crazy by insisting to fellow bombardiers that thousands of people in the war are trying to kill him. His reasoning behind this is because crazy people were able to be hospitalized and were excused from flying the rising number of missions. The only thing stopping Yossarian is Catch 22, a rule stating that you may not be relieved from war if you insist on being relieved. A man may only be relieved if he continues to fly dangerous missions without a problem.

I chose this book because I thought it sounded interesting and it might have been easy to read. I also thought there was a lot of themes associated with it to make the essay much easier.