DOCSLIB.ORG

The Individual Vs. the System in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Ken

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Individual Vs. the System in Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and Ken The Individual vs. the System in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest Aneta Mahdalíková, DiS. Bachelor’s Thesis 2021 ***Scanned submiss ***Scanned ***Scanned Thesis Author’s Statement*** Jj jjjjjj ABSTRAKT Tato bakalářská práce analyzuje postavení jedince v systému poválečné americké společnosti ve dvou románech – Hlava 22 (1961) od Josepha Hellera a Vyhoďme ho z kola ven (1962) od Kena Keseyho. Teoretická část se zabývá historickým a kulturním pozadím obou románů. Praktická část nejprve představuje oba autory a analyzované romány. Následně jsou charakterizovány metafory a jiné pojmy, které autoři použili pro kritiku americké společnosti, strategie hlavních protagonistů proti komfortní společnosti, a v neposlední řadě odlišné zakončení analyzovaných románů v širším sociálním kontextu. Klíčová slova: Joseph Heller, Hlava 22, Ken Kesey, Vyhoďme ho z kola ven, konformismus, individualita, americká společnost ABSTRACT The thesis analyses the position of the individual in the post-war American society in two novels - Catch-22 (1961) by Joseph Heller and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962) by Ken Kesey. The theoretical part focuses on the historical and cultural background of the novels. The practical part first introduces the authors and the analysed novels. Subsequently, the metaphors and other language features and ideas that the authors used for criticism of American society are explained. Further, the strategies of the main protagonists against the conformist society are analysed and finally, the differing tones of the analysed novels are examined in terms of the wider social context. Keywords: Joseph Heller, Catch-22, Ken Kesey, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, conformity, individuality, American society ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Daniel Paul Sampey, MFA, for his support, advice, patience, and thoughts related to my thesis. Without his guidance, the realization of this thesis would be unthinkable. I would also like to thank to my family and friends for their understanding and support. I hereby declare that the print version of my bachelor’s thesis and the electronic version of my thesis deposited in the IS/STAG system are identical. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 9 I THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL/CULTURAL BACKGROUND................... 10 1 THE POST-WAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ........................................... 11 1.1 WORLD WAR II ...................................................................................................... 11 1.1.1 The Economic Impact of World War II ....................................................... 12 1.2 THE COLD WAR ...................................................................................................... 14 1.2.1 The Fight against Communism in the United States .................................... 15 1.3 PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF WAR ........................................................................ 16 1.4 INDIVIDUALISM, FREEDOM, AND CONFORMITY ...................................................... 18 1.4.1 The Changing American Attitude towards Conformity ............................... 19 1.5 THE AMERICAN MENTAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM .................................................. 24 1.5.1 Insanity ......................................................................................................... 26 2 THE FIFTIES AND THE SIXTIES IN AMERICAN FICTION .......................... 27 2.1 THE DEFINING AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE DECADES ............................................ 27 2.1.1 The Beat Generation .................................................................................... 28 II ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................... 30 3 JOSEPH HELLER ..................................................................................................... 31 3.1 CONEY ISLAND AND YOUNG ADULTHOOD ............................................................. 31 3.2 HELLER AND CONFORMITY ..................................................................................... 33 3.3 THE GENESIS OF CATCH-22 .................................................................................... 35 3.3.1 The Names of the Main Characters .............................................................. 37 4 KEN KESEY ............................................................................................................... 38 4.1 A BOY FROM THE NORTHWEST ............................................................................... 38 4.2 KESEY AND CONFORMITY....................................................................................... 39 4.3 THE GENESIS OF ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST .......................................... 40 4.3.1 The Names of the Main Characters .............................................................. 41 5 THE INDIVIDUAL VS. THE SYSTEM IN THE NOVELS .................................. 43 5.1 THE MILITARY AND THE NUTHOUSE - METAPHORS FOR THE SOCIETY ................... 43 5.2 THE STRATEGIES OF THE INDIVIDUAL AGAINST THE SYSTEM ................................. 44 5.2.1 Yossarian ...................................................................................................... 44 5.2.2 Orr ................................................................................................................ 49 5.2.3 McMurphy.................................................................................................... 50 5.2.4 Chief ............................................................................................................. 54 5.3 THE LOSS OF INNOCENCE ....................................................................................... 55 5.3.1 The Endings of the Novels ........................................................................... 57 5.3.2 The Differing Perceptions of the Society by Yossarian and McMurphy ..... 58 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 60 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................. 63 TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 9 INTRODUCTION The United States of America has been described as county of freedom, individuality, equality, and justice from the very moment when it was founded. Yet, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest state the exact opposite. Both of these novels criticized the conformist American society in which the freedom of an individual was curtailed by the system. Since the topic of conformity shaped the whole decade of the 1960s in the United States, the novels became the defining pieces of literature of these years and essentials for the counterculture rhetoric. Therefore, the aim of the thesis is to explore how exactly the authors criticized the society, how they described the position of the individual against the system, and finally, what strategies their protagonists had to use in order to sustain their individuality. To fully comprehend the examined works, this thesis firstly describes the character of the post-war American society. Besides American involvement in World War II, which had a great impact on economy and the further development of the country, the thesis describes the changing American values and culture as well. With the Communist threat growing, the sense of conformity in America strengthened. The system saw only itself and not the individual, which ironically, was also a feature of Communist nations. People had to conform and live by certain rules and the more and more powerful system oppressed the nonconformists. This led to the dark and rebellious sixties. Therefore, an insight into the Cold War is provided as well. Attention is devoted to the American military, as Catch-22 is set in a U.S. Army Air Forces base in the Mediterranean Sea. Post-traumatic stress disorder is described as well, since the characters of both novels can be seen to suffer from it. The thesis also introduces the American mental health care system, as most of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest takes place in a mental institution. The theoretical part of the thesis provides an overlook of the changing nonconformist mood reflected in the American literature of the 1950s and 1960s. Metaphors for the controlling nature of American society in the novels, the strategies of four main characters in terms of the system are described, and finally the two works are placed in a larger context of a US loss of innocence. The assignation of President John F. Kennedy is the major event in this context. Although both novels were published before this event happened, the two works have often been analyzed in this context, e. g. in terms of tone. TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 10 I. THEORETICAL AND HISTORICAL/CULTURAL BACKGROUND TBU in Zlín, Faculty of Humanities 11 1 THE POST-WAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA In order to closely understand both Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 and Ken Kesey’s One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest, it is fundamental to be aware of historical and cultural background of the period the novels were written in and published, that being the 1960s. Therefore, this chapter focuses on the American society, politics, and historical events from the World War II till the sixties with regard to conformity. However, attention
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Catch-22 Star George Clooney Shares the Catalyst for His Long-Awaited Return to Television in Emmy® Magazine
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CATCH-22 STAR GEORGE CLOONEY SHARES THE CATALYST FOR HIS LONG-AWAITED RETURN TO TELEVISION IN EMMY® MAGAZINE (NoHo Arts District, Calif. — May 10, 2019) — More than 58 years after the publication of Joseph Heller’s classic anti-war novel Catch-22, some of the biggest players in Hollywood are bringing the acclaimed story to a new audience. In the May 10 issue of the award-winning emmy magazine, series executive producer, director and star George Clooney, along with co-stars Kyle Chandler and Christopher Abbott, share the challenges of bringing one of the 20th century’s most renowned literary works to life. While many believed that turning the free-form narrative of Catch-22 into a linear, limited series couldn’t be done, Clooney, along with fellow executive producers Grant Heslov, Richard Brown and the late Steve Golin of Anonymous Content, and series writers, Luke Davies and David Michôd, were up for the challenge. They believed the timeliness of the source material would resonate with a 21st century audience. The six-hour limited series premieres on Hulu May 17. In “A Moral Mission,” the producers and writers share that they were struck by the many ways Catch-22 parallels the current political climate. “There’s an incredible dovetailing between the madness of Heller’s world that David and I tried to translate to the TV screen, and the madness of the world we wake up to every morning,” Davies says. Catch-22 marks the return to series television for Clooney, last seen two decades ago on the NBC drama ER.
    [Show full text]
  • Joseph Heller Collection11.Mwalb02035
    Joseph Heller collection11.MWalB02035 This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on October 01, 2021. eng Describing Archives: A Content Standard Brandeis University 415 South St. Waltham, MA URL: https://findingaids.brandeis.edu/ Joseph Heller collection11.MWalB02035 Table of Contents Summary Information .................................................................................................................................... 3 Scope and Contents ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Administrative Information ............................................................................................................................ 4 Controlled Access Headings .......................................................................................................................... 4 Other Descriptive Information ....................................................................................................................... 5 Collection Inventory ....................................................................................................................................... 5 "Catch-22" .................................................................................................................................................... 5 "McHale's Navy" ....................................................................................................................................... 41 "We Bombed in New Haven"
    [Show full text]
  • Directions: the Following Questions Are Here to Help Guide Your Understanding of Catch-22 As You Make Your Way Through the Novel for the First Time
    Directions: The following questions are here to help guide your understanding of Catch-22 as you make your way through the novel for the first time. While you are not expected to submit written responses to any of these questions, please refer to them as you read each chapter in order to help you focus on key sections and to assess your own understanding of the material before class. For the complete reading schedule for the novel, please see swcta.net/orapello. Chapter 1: The Texan 1. Why does Yossarian “fall in love” with the chaplain? Consider both the opening sentence as well as Yossarian’s specific actions/task at the time of the chaplain’s arrival. 2. How is antithesis used to introduce the idea of an inefficient medical establishment within the military? How are they described on the opening page? 3. What reaction do the soldiers in the ward have to the Texan? 4. What details suggest the balance of power in the relationship between Yossarian and the chaplain? Chapter 2: Clevinger 5. With regard to the dispute between he and Clevinger, is Yossarian paranoid, or are his fears justified? 6. Near the end of this chapter, how are the conventions of normal language twisted to express Yossarian’s difference from the archetypal soldier? Chapter 3: Havermeyer 7. What is ironic about the initial battles for turf between General Dreedle and General Peckem? 8. Explain the comparison between the pilots who have finished fifty missions and “useless young men in a depression.” 9. Explain how you know that General Peckem chose the wrong person to generate enthusiasm for the USO visits.
    [Show full text]
  • Catch‐22 Reading Guide
    Catch‐22 Reading Guide ‘Catch‐22 n. 1. a situation in which a person is frustrated by a paradoxical rule or set of circumstances that preclude any attempt to escape from them. 2 a situation in which any move that a person can make will lead to trouble (C20: from the title of a novel (1961) by J. Heller)’ (Collins) Synopsis Joseph Heller began work on Catch-22, the story of a US airman’s attempts to survive the madness of the Second World War, shortly after returning from the conflict himself. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants to the United States, Heller had joined the US Air Force in 1942 at the age of nineteen, going on to fly sixty bombing missions against enemy targets over southern Europe. After the war, while working as an advertising copywriter, he spent seven years writing a novel that reflected his experience, and what he saw as the insanity of military life. The book - which was originally titled Catch-18 - tells the story of Captain Joseph Yossarian, a member of a US bomber crew stationed on the Mediterranean island of Pianosa. Yossarian is convinced that the military is trying to get him killed, and that those around him are insane, and he spends the course of book trying to get out of flying any more seemingly suicidal missions. Yossarian is surrounded by a cast of bizarre characters, including Colonel Scheisskopf, who is obsessed with military parades at the expense of just about everything else, the newly promoted Major Major, Major, Major, who spends most of the war trying to hide from his men, and the profiteer Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder, a pure capitalist whose only ambition is to make money out of the war, and who ends up charging a commission on every military engagement.
    [Show full text]
  • Catch-22: Man in an Alien Society
    CATCH-22: MAN IN AN ALIEN SOCIETY by MICHAEL MCKAY BARBOUR B.A. , University of British Columbia, 1967 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of English We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April, 1969 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and Study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thes,is for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver 8, Canada ABSTRACT This paper examines social relationships and pressures of con• temporary society as shown in Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22. Through a brief study of conceptual limitations within Heller's characters it demonstrates that they exist within a totally self-enclosed system di• vorced from reality but supported by complex justifications. Within this social matrix is seen the heroic strivings of Yossarian to save a world he believes to have gone mad. As the study progresses, it shows that Yossarian and his friends do not in fact share the same conceptual basis as their apparent society. Their satiric efforts are seen to be useless to a society convinced of its own justifications for evil, and destructive to their own potential• ities for human-beingness.
    [Show full text]
  • Morality's Catch-22. Philosophia 35:2 (June 2007): 145- 159
    Harold, James. The Ethics of Non-Realist Fiction: Morality’s Catch-22. Philosophia 35:2 (June 2007): 145- 159. The Ethics of Non-Realist Fiction: Morality’s Catch-22 When philosophers discuss ethics and literature, the literature that they usually have in mind is the modern realistic novel. The “great tradition” of morally serious and psychologically realistic fiction (including works by Tolstoy, Austen, James, Dickens, etc.) has often seemed the most important and most interesting set of novels for philosophical discussion.1 These novels are distinguished by their serious moral concern with social issues and by their psychologically detailed and rich characterization. Philosophical discussion has therefore focused primarily on novels of this sort and their more recent progeny.2 In fact, it is difficult to find any sustained discussion of novels outside of this tradition (broadly conceived) in the entire philosophical literature. But of course the novel comes in many different forms, and though some of these other forms have little or no explicit moral content, others do. In this essay I propose to look at the relationship between ethics and literature by looking at non-realistic forms of fiction, and at one work in particular, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22. The topic is how non-realistic novels challenge our philosophical understanding of the relationship between literature and ethics. 1. Realistic and non-realistic novels It is not at all easy to say what the difference between realistic and non-realistic novels is, though examples of each sort are easy to come by. It is yet more difficult to define non-realist novels.
    [Show full text]
  • Technically, You Started It
    TECHNICALLY, YOU STARTED IT LANA WOOD JOHNSON TECHNICALLY, YOU STARTED IT Scholastic Press / New York Copyright © 2019 by Lana Wood Johnson All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/ or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third- party websites or their content. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Johnson, Lana Wood, author. Title: Technically, you started it / Lana Wood Johnson. Description: First edition. | New York: Scholastic Press, 2019. | Summary: In Haley’s high school there are two boys named Martin Nathaniel Munroe II (cousins), and one of them has started a text conversation with her, which becomes an all-consuming exchange between two people who see themselves as outsiders. The only trouble is that Haley really doesn’t know which Martin she is talking to, and actually meeting face-to-face may lead to an epic meltdown.
    [Show full text]
  • WILLIAM STYRON and JOSEPH HELLER William
    r\c». ñ TRAGIC AND COMIC MODES IN TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE: WILLIAM STYRON AND JOSEPH HELLER William Luttrell A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY June 1969 Approved by Doctoral Committee /»í J Adviser Dg$artment of English Graduate School Representative ABSTRACT William Styron and Joseph Heller are important contemporary American writers who can be associated with a certain "climate of opin­ ion" in the twentieth century. The intellectual basis for this climate of opinion is that the world we know today, metaphysically, historical­ ly, scientifically, and socially, is one that does not admit to a secure and stable interpretation. Within such a climate of opinion one hesi­ tates to enumerate metaphysical truths about the universe; one doubts historical eschatology, except perhaps in a diabolical sense; one speaks scientifically in terms of probability and the statistics of randomness rather than absolute order; and one analyzes social problems in terms of specific values in specific situations rather than from an unchanging and absolute frame of reference. Indeed, it is because of a diminishing hope of achieving an absolute or even satisfying control over the world that many have come to live with contingency as a way of life, and have little reason to believe that their partially articulated values rever­ berate much beyond themselves. Through their fictional characters William Styron and Joseph Heller are contemporary observers of this climate of opinion. Styron reveals in his novels a vision of man separated from his familiar values and unable to return to them.
    [Show full text]
  • CATCH-22 Study Questions
    CATCH-22 Study Questions Before Reading 1. You’ve probably heard the term catch-22 before. What do Chapter 9 – Major4 you think it means? 28. How is Major Major’s father a hypocrite? 29. “Major Major’s elders dislike him because he is such a Chapter 1 – The Texan flagrant nonconformist.” How so? 2. What’s the effect of the first two sentences? 30. What is Major Major’s only moments of true happiness? 3. What kind of narrator is used? 31. Who are the C.I.D. men? 4. Note any examples of irony you find in this chapter. 32. Is Yossarian still avoiding responsibility even though he 5. Who is Washington Irving? Why did Heller choose him has flown fifty-one missions? for his allusion? 6. What’s ironic about the use of the word “patriotically” in Chapter 10 - Wintergreen regards to the Texan? 33. Why is Yossarian encouraged by what the Grand Conspiracy of Lowery Field? Chapter 2 - Clevinger 34. How is wintergreen like Yossarian? 7. Why does Clevinger think Yossarian is crazy? 35. What does the dead man in Yossarian’s tent satirize? 8. Explain the logic to Yossarian’s argument. 9. What type of person seems to be a target of Heller’s Chapter 11 - Captain Black satire? 36. Characterize Captain Black. 37. Explain how Heller is satirizing patriotism in this chapter. Chapter 3 - Havermeyer 38. How does Major —— de Coverley put an end to the 10. How does Orr try to get to Yossarian? Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade? 11. Describe Colonel Cargill in one word.
    [Show full text]
  • Catch-22 and the Culture of the 1950S
    Catch-22 and the Culture of the 1950s John Raeburn University of Iowa We most often think of Catch-22 as a novel of the 1960s presciently arriving in 1961 just in time to provide a vocabulary for understanding the social and political upheavals which would characterize much of the rest of the decade.1 No American novel of the 1960s seemed to speak more directly to the particular preoccupations of those years, and none found a more attentive or faithful audience. No '60s book entered the wider culture more quickly or fully, either; an understanding of the meaning of its title has so thoroughly permeated the culture that I have yet to see answered correctly in the game Trivial Pursuit the question asking which came first, the term "Catch-22" or the novel (the correct answer is, of course, the novel). Alternatively, we think of it as a work of the 1940s, to be put along- side The Naked and the Dead and From Here to Eternity as a fictional exploration of military experience in the titanic conflict of World War Two. Its action, however satirically or even surrealistically treated, does occur in a real theater of that war and has as its emotional center the wounding of a soldier who is comforted by a comrade unaware of the mortal nature of those wounds, what Paul Fussell has called the "primal scene" of war fiction. We are not wrong, of course, in thinking of Catch-22 as a novel of the 1940s, as in a sense a historical novel, and we are certainly right to understand it as imaginatively anticipating the sensibility of the 1960s.
    [Show full text]
  • Preaching on Atheism
    Preaching on Atheism We want to you preach on atheism. We’d love to have lots of preachers in churches around Australia address the issues of atheism, and we hope this resource will help you do this. We originally wrote these sermons to encourage churches to respond to the Atheist Convention, Celebration of Reason, in Melbourne in April 2012. Although the convention has come and gone the issue is still around, and garners a new wave of attention each time a celebrity atheist publishes a new book or visits Australia. So the sermons ideas still useful. In these notes we are trying to promote preaching to Christian churches. We haven’t tried to put together a resource for apologetic talks to unbelieving audiences. That would be worth doing, but it isn’t what we’re trying here. These are some ideas of what you can proclaim to a Christian congregation from Scripture in the face of the new atheism. We have outlined a series of fours sermons each based on the exposition of a Biblical text and the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They are primarily a word to believers who may be unsettled, confused, intrigued or angry about atheism or who can yet see that it is a great oppourtunity for the gospel but wonder what they can say. We are not trying to trigger a war against atheists and run them out of town, or even berate them into silence. We want to live in society where belief and non-belief are allowed and where these issues can be discussed and debated openly.
    [Show full text]
  • Government Issue and the Face of War: the Representation Of
    GOVERNMENT ISSUE AND THE FACE OF WAR: THE REPRESENTATION OF SERVICEMEN IN AMERICAN LITERARY AND VISUAL CULTURE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR by Kristin Nicole Riley APPROVED BY SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE: ___________________________________________ Dr. R. Clay Reynolds, Chair ___________________________________________ Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth ___________________________________________ Dr. Nils Roemer ___________________________________________ Dr. Theresa M. Towner Copyright 2016 Kristin Nicole Riley All Rights Reserved To My Family GOVERNMENT ISSUE AND THE FACE OF WAR: THE REPRESENTATION OF SERVICEMEN IN AMERICAN LITERARY AND VISUAL CULTURE OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR by KRISTIN NICOLE RILEY, BA, MA DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The University of Texas at Dallas in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HUMANITIES THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS December 2016 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have made the completion of this dissertation possible. First, I would like to thank The University of Texas at Dallas for the Graduate Student Scholarship, which gave me the opportunity to pursue the study of literature, history, and culture in the School of Arts and Humanities. This project would not have been feasible without the steady guidance of Professor Clay Reynolds. Since my first semester in the doctoral program, Dr. Reynolds has been committed to helping me improve in my writing and has consistently challenged me to think critically about literature. Also significant has been the encouragement of Dr. Zsuzsanna Ozsváth, Dr. Nils Roemer, and Dr. Theresa M. Towner. Thank you for your enthusiasm for this material and your willingness to serve on my committee. I would also like to thank the many combat veterans who have been my students over the past several years.
    [Show full text]