On the Theme of Alienation in Catch-22

By

Shi Haili

Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

For the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

June, 2017

Acknowledgments

This paper is finished with guidance of my supervisor Professor Zhao Yamin. She is professional and profound in her field, and she is serious with her work. This paper is done with her help from the decision of title to the construction of the whole article. Therefore, I am supposed to express my sincere gratitude to my professor. Apart from this, she helped broadened my horizon in both American and English literature. With her help, I come to realize that it is of great importance to read widely and receive encyclopedic knowledge.

And I am very grateful to all my respectable teachers who have provided me with basic knowledge of literature studies in my college study, because that provides the foundation for my academic goal.

In the end, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my parents and my friends because they provide me with great spiritual support and the invaluable memory.

Contents

Abstract i

摘要 i

1. Introduction 1

2. Alienation in Catch-22. 3

2.1. Alienation of characters 3

2.1.1. The alienation of upper figures 4

2.1.2. The alienation of lower figures 5

2.1.3. The alienation of women 6

2.2. The alienation of faith 7

2.3. The alienation of communicative reason 8

2.4. The alienation of bureaucracy 9

3. The cause of alienation 10

Constraint of “catch-22” 10

Conclusion 12

References 13

On the Theme of Alienation in Catch-22

Shi Haili

Department of English

School of Languages and Cultures

Nanjing University of Information Science amp; Technology

Abstract: Alienation is an abnormal phenomenon that occurs when variation appears on human’s nature, relations and social systems and so on. This thesis tries to explore the theme of alienation in Catch-22. Various characters are depicted in Catch-22, including soldiers, Squadron leader, Captain, Colonel and Generals. Besides, some words are used to describe female characters. In a society controlled by an absurd rule Catch-22, people of all ranks and sexes are alienated. The soldiers have to devote their lives to bombing missions set and increased by their superiors at will. Thus, gradually they become fearful of war and lose their faith in duty and country. Everybody is deterred by danger. Those who are alienated by Catch-22 lose themselves gradually and have no their own thought and belief any more. They turn to be the stepping-stones of their superiors’ pursuit of higher military positions. However, superiors envy of others’ fame and status and vie with each openly and secretly. They use Catch-22 to control subordinates for the aim of gaining fame and profits. On top of this, female images become a tragedy in the society dominated by Catch-22. They descend to be a tool for men to pomp out and nobody cares about their inner world. In addition, the relationships between people are alienated and distorted. Superiors and subordinates use, suspect and hate each other. Relations between men and women develop in an original direction. Moreover, couple’s love and affection are replaced by the desire for money and status. This paper probes into the theme of alienation by discussing the alienation of characters, relationships and bureaucracy, with an aim to reveal the spiritual crisis and institution crisis prevalent in post-war America.

Keywords: Catch-22; alienation; absurd; distorted

摘要：异化是指在特定情况下人的本质，人物关系，社会制度等发生的变异现象。本文旨在对第二十二条军规的异化主题进行研究和分析。小说中描述了很多人物，包括士兵，少校，上尉，将军及其少数几位女性人物的描写。在第二十二条军规的束缚下，士兵们不得不在上级无厘头的增加任务的情况下做无谓的牺牲，渐渐地，军队意志和信仰被扭曲，人人自危。被军规异化的人失去自我，没有思想，沦为力量上级攀升高职的棋子和台阶。而上级之间却明争暗斗，觊觎对方的职位和名声，利用军规为自己谋取名利，对于飞行员的生命毫无顾忌。在这个被军规统治的世界，女性人物变得愈加悲哀，她们的内心世界被忽视，沦为男人发泄的工具。人与人的关系也变得微妙可笑。上下级之间相互利用甚至相互敌对，男女之间的关系也向最原始的方向发展。夫妻之间的爱情或是亲情都被金钱和地位所取代。本文通过对人物及人物关系和制度的分析探讨小说的异化主题，揭示二战后美国社会的精神危机和制度危机。

关键词: 第二十二条军规；异化；荒诞；扭曲

1. Introduction

It is widely acknowledged that Joseph Heller is one of the most prominent black humorists, and his popular masterpiece Catch-22 earned him an overnight fame. Joseph Heller was born as a son of poor Jewish parents in Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York on May 1, 1923. His father died when he was just five years old. Thus, he had to live a pretty, tough life with his mother and brother. Some critics consider that this memorable but extremely miserable life experience exerts great influence on his style of writing and outlook of life. He completed his primary and secondary education in New York and showed his gift and appetite for writing when he was a child. Unluckily, he had to work as a mail carrier because he had to support his family at a very young age, which has laid solid foundation for his future career as a writer. This seems to be a shared feature of great writers. When he was a teenager, he wrote a story about the Russian invasion of Finland and sent it to the New York Daily News but got no response. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller spent the next year working as a blacksmith's apprentice, a messenger boy, and a filing clerk. During the World War II, he joined the U.S. Army Air Corps at the age of 19. Two years later, he was dispatched to the Italian Front, where he served as a bombardier of B-25 of the United State Air Force. There he created a record of flying sixty times to complete combat missions. In 1945, Captain Joseph Heller retired from the military service and in the same year, he married Shirley Held in September. Later he studied English and got the diploma at the University of South Carolina and New York University. In 1949, he got his master’s degree from Columbia. After that, he spent one year as Fulbright scholar in St. Catherine's College, Oxford. He taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and the University of New York City successively.

Joseph Heller began to write at 1940s. When his masterpiece Catch-22 was published, he began to be the talk of people’s lips. After that, he also published many excellent works. In 1974, he delivered his second good work Something Happened that depicted a company employee’s bewilderment and revealed the negative effect brought by commerce and thriving economy. In 1979, he published Good as Gold that exposed the dissimilation of the Jewish and the distress and disorientation confronted by modern people. In 1986, his historical novel God Knows was published and then followed No Laughing Matter in 1986, Picture This in 1988 and Closing Time in 1994.

剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：32227字