Excellent work: Catch-22 essays

I wanted to share these two A1 essays on 'Catch-22' with you from our Part 4 study of dystopic fiction- they are simply fantastic. Well done Juan Carlos and Paula.

What is the significance of chapter 30 in the book ‘Catch-22’?

It has been almost a half-century since Joseph Heller’s powerful satire on the futility of war was first published, yet the book has not become any less relevant since. Heller’s remarkable use of language and wit throughout the novel in order to show the pointlessness of the situations the characters face have made the book into a classic. Chapter 30, entitled ‘Dunbar’, is a particularly poignant one, as it leaves most of the humour that characterises the book aside, and masterfully depicts the despair and tragedy that people experience on the island.

The chapter’s very first words are the first indicators of the way events will be treated during the chapter: ‘Yossarian no longer gave a damn where his bombs dropped.’ (Heller, 1961) The main character has now become fed up with working for a cause he does not believe in, and now has become resigned to do what is asked of him without caring about how he does it, which represents a certain change of attitude. This is also an important theme, as later in the novel he will refuse to fly missions altogether, which will lead, ironically, to the Colonels being afraid of him and not knowing what to do. However, behind this situation there is also a sad implication, one where war has affected everyone so deeply that they no longer value their lives or those of others; to Yossarian and the rest of the men, dropping bombs is a normal routine and has become a part of their daily lives.

Yossarian’s desperation at being in the war is made evident during a moment early in the chapter when he, scared by how low McWatt is flying, puts his hands around the pilot’s throat and threatens him: “Go up,’ Yossarian ordered unmistakably through his teeth in a low, menacing voice. ‘Or I’ll kill you.’ (Heller, 1961) It is important to understand Yossarian’s motivations for doing this; he has nothing against McWatt, but has found himself so scared for his life in an environment where life-threatening situations and death are so common that he can only react in an impulsive manner to try to save his life, which is one of the major and fundamental themes of the book. Yossarian’s conversation with McWatt after they have landed makes the pilot realise just how affected with the situation Yossarian has become: ‘I didn’t realize you got it so bad. Boy! Why don’t you talk to somebody about it?’ (Heller, 1961) The contrast between Yossarian and McWatt’s attitudes is also important, as it explains how different people can react quite differently to the same situation. While McWatt may seem to be the one who is acting more rationally (to a certain extent), it is disturbing that he has no real issues with going on missions and flying army planes from where bombs are dropped. It also foreshadows his death later on.

As with several other chapters, chapter 30 includes a flashback of Snowden’s death through Yossarian’s eyes, meant to emphasise the trauma and guilt that Yossarian feels at not having been able to save Snowden’s life. This description, however, includes more detail than before, making it more graphic and disturbing: ‘The yawning, raw muscle in the outside of his thigh, the unsevered, blood-soaked muscle fibers inside pulsating weirdly like blind things with lives of their own.’ (Heller, 1961) While in many other stories repeating the death scene of a character many times would seem unnecessary, the technique works in this novel as it manages to recreate Yossarian’s emotions and give a powerful statement on how futile the whole situation is.

An interesting character in this chapter is Nurse Duckett, who spends much time with Yossarian at the beach and flirts with Hungry Joe. Many of the men desire her. As Heller states, ‘Her own body was such a familiar and unremarkable thing to her that she was puzzled by the convulsive ecstasy men could take from it.’ (Heller, 1961) This idea suggests that the men are less interested in her because of her physique than because of what she represents to them – the opportunity of closeness with someone from the opposite gender, to satisfy their sexual wants. This is certainly true of Yossarian, who spends much of the book attempting to have a woman for himself, and failing, as was previously the case with Luciana, a prostitute whom he intended to marry.

The climax of chapter 30 consists of McWatt flying too low, as usual, and killing Kid Sampson by accident, provoking a huge chaos at the beach: ‘Some arbitrary gust of wind or minor miscalculation of McWatt’s senses dropped the speeding plane down just low enough for a propeller to slice [Kid Sampson] half away.’ (Heller, 1961) McWatt later goes on to commit suicide: ‘[He] dipped his wings once in salute, decided, oh, well, what the hell, and flew into a mountain.’ (Heller, 1961) The matter-of-fact way in which Heller tells this makes it very disturbing, showing a very dramatic moment as if it were something trivial. This situation shows once more how terrible life as a soldier is; McWatt thinks that it’s not worth it to go down and be in big trouble and so decides to take the only possible way out.

An issue which is also addressed, albeit briefly (and further explored in the next chapter), is of how little importance individuals are to their superiors: When the soldiers are watching McWatt’s plane right after he has accidentally slices Kid Sampson in half, Sergeant Knight announces that Doc Daneeka is on board, prompting him to answer ‘I’m right here.’ Knight, however, gives no attention to this. Therefore, it is later thought that Daneeka is dead, even when he is very clearly alive. This provides some comic relief, but it disguises a sadder context; the fact that people in the war are not truly viewed as people, but merely as order-followers.

The last sentence of the chapter is: ‘Colonel Cathcart was so upset by the deaths of Kid Sampson and McWatt that he raised the number of missions to sixty-five.’ (Heller, 1961) This shows how the experience seems unending; the men are trapped in a pointless war, following the orders of pathetic authoritarian figures, and they can do nothing about it but keep flying the missions with no real hope to get out of there. It also displays the authorities as extremely weak, abusing of their power for no real other reason than the fact that they can.

Although most of the chapters in ‘Catch-22’ have very humorous and satirical parts, chapter 30 is a deviation of sorts by the author, portraying the situation the soldiers are in as devastating and seemingly unending. It also gives more insight into one fundamental theme – that of the struggle to survive no matter what. Yossarian feels trapped on the island, and wants to leave one way or another. Instead of providing the reader with humorous passages, Heller chose to make chapter 30 into a sort of elegiac reflection on the futility of war and the emptiness of the men’s lives.

Bibliography:
Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961

Juan Carlos Molina



IS ‘CATCH-22’ A RIDICULOUS BOOK?

The novel ‘Catch-22’, by Joseph Heller, tells the story of a military squadron in Pianosa, Italy, during the last period of World War II. Centred in the character of Yossarian, ‘Catch-22’ portrays the life of the soldiers and their contrasting reactions to various situations. However, instead of addressing the subject seriously, the author proves that not even this topic is untouchable (Sexton,2007); he combines a unique narrative style and countless elements to make this book ridiculous to the point of hilarity. Moreover, the difficult and ghastly nature of the subject disintegrates into an entertaining must-read where Heller exploits humour like a master.

One thing that makes ‘Catch-22’ ridiculous from the core is its repetitive, unorganized and overall bizarre structure that ignores chronological order. The story and its characters return again and again to dynamics and elements that never really made sense in the first place. Such is the case of pointless conversations:

“‘Why did you walk around with crab apples in your cheeks?’ ‘Because they’ve got a better shape than horse chestnuts’” (Heller,1994)

As we can see, Orr’s reply to Yossarian’s question has nothing to do with it, and is not a proper answer, rather a deviation. Their absurd discussion never really gets to something, and gradually loses its meaning as it is repeated. This ‘going in circles’ structure, as the theme of the conversations, is totally absurd. Furthermore, it is a silly denial of reality where even time, space and common sense, suffer an inescapable negation.

The author submerges the story in black humour. Techniques such as farce and hyperbole constantly appear throughout the novel. An example of a purely comical amusement is Nately’s hore:

“She uttered a piercing, heartbroken shriek and tried to stab him with a potato peeler.” (Heller,1994)

When Yossarian goes to her with news of Nately’s death, she attempts to kill him, and from that moment onward she does not stop. Ridiculous elements like this one, express nothing more than the writer’s intention to divert the reader and confuse him even more about the level of absurdity that can be reached. These really exaggerated and most improbable situations do not only make ‘Catch-22’ very funny, but also shift the reader’s perception to accept the ridiculous as normal.

Another humorous element in this novel is Milo Minderbinder’s pro-Communist ideology. Milo personifies the commercial interests during wartime, and the supposed marvels of a “Communist” syndicate:

"’But I make a profit of three and a quarter cents an egg by selling them for four and a quarter cents an egg to the people in Malta I buy them from for seven cents an egg. Of course, I don't make the profit. The syndicate makes the profit. And everybody has a share.’"(Heller,1994).

Apart from not making any sense mathematically speaking, Milo’s justification is unable to convince the reader about the effectiveness of the ridiculous trading method. Moreover, his reasoning is in fact a lie, since he spends the syndicate’s resources for his own interest; this portrays the capitalist way of taking advantage of others. To make things worse, the fact that Milo trades with the enemy proves the absurdity of war, as one moment they kill themselves and the next moment they make business.

From Milo’s symbolism, we can determine the author did not make the book ridiculous with the sole purpose of entertaining the reader. Joseph Heller’s true intentions go beyond that. According to Timothy Sexton, ‘Catch-22’ should “…temporarily distract from the principle serious of a situation by lightening the load, only to come back full force with an even deeper appreciation of that serious.” (Sexton,2007) Therefore, most of what seems absurd is in fact criticism to the political, economical and/or social issues of the time.

The strongest protest of Heller is made through the satire of the bureaucracy and the military system. With ‘Catch-22’ he implies they are the true enemy, not the Nazis. The permanent fight between men to get a higher rank, and looking good at the eyes of the system and their country, discloses they are not doing what’s truly important, which is watching over the soldier’s wellbeing:

“An additional colonel on his staff meant he could now begin agitating for two additional majors, four additional captains, sixteen additional lieutenants and untold quantities of additional enlisted men…and other substantial equipment and supplies that would contribute to the prestige of his position and increase his striking power in the war…against General Dreedle.” (Heller,1994)

It is unbelievable that General Peckem makes this affirmation. With all his attention fixed on winning against General Dreedle, he dehumanizes the rest only to accomplish his objective. In addition, Heller employs this character to expose the ironic lack of patriotism inside the military and the way they dehumanize their members.

Similarly, the situation of Captain Black’s ‘Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade’ complements the disapproval of the military system and its absurd bureaucracy. The author mocks about the need to prove one’s loyalty through a quantitative method:

“The more loyalty oaths a person signed, the more loyal he was;…(Captain Black) had Corporal Kolodny sign hundreds with his name each day so that he could always prove he was more loyal than anyone else.” (Heller,1994)

It is completely ridiculous. If someone is loyal, he is so and that’s it; by putting it on paper he is not more loyal than before. There are several criticisms here. Firstly, he condemns their absurd procedures and their inefficiency. Secondly, he makes visible that these people have no integrity or morals, for they just care about looking better than the rest. Thirdly, Heller tears down the idea of a military system with blindly loyal members, for their trust in the military is so doubtful, and the authorities are so unconfident of them, the system sees itself forced to implement a method to verify everyone’s dependability and allegiance.

The essence of the book’s ridiculousness lies precisely in Catch-22:

“There was only one Catch, and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind.” (Heller,1994)

This golden rule sums up the issue faced by Yossarian. If he demands not to fly anymore because of insanity, it means he is sane and therefore should fly. This catch is the book’s soul; no matter which way you take, in the end, you will get the same negative result. This means, for Yossarian and everyone else, that there is no escape from the situation, from war, or from the system. What makes this catch even more ironic is the idea that it rejects the basic instinct of survival and embraces pure madness. It is Catch-22 that fervently proves the absurdity of war.

And what could be more absurd about war than dying for a cause you don’t care about? ‘Catch-22’ cannot be considered ridiculous in that sense. Although the author may have included lightheaded comments about the death of the some of the characters, he handles this matter very seriously. The crude descriptions and ghastly situations revolving around the deceases of almost all of Yossarian’s friends, induce an effective shift in the reader:

“Man was matter, that was Snowden’s secret. Drop him out a window and he’ll fall. Set him on fire and he’ll burn. Bury him and he’ll rot, like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage.” (Heller,1994)

Accustomed to a cheerful environment and an unconcerned tone, the reader is struck hard by Heller’s profound reflections about death. He presents us Yossarian’s thoughts as those of a man still obsessed with the inescapable death of Snowden and his incapability to save him, even though there was nothing to be done. At the same time, the author implies that Yossarian has lost all hope on human beings; for he dehumanizes them and shows himself angry at the ultimate idea that men are destined to be “garbage”.

Joseph Heller makes his final denounce with an unforeseen twist in the plot. Yossarian’s escape to Sweden is ridiculous, but only for a reason. The author shows the irony of his choice:

“’I’m not running away from responsibilities. I’m running to them. There’s nothing negative about running away to save my life.’” (Heller,1994)

It is unbelievable that by deserting and running away, Yossarian becomes a tragic hero. In the end, he realizes that he has to fight for his survival and look for his own interests; this is the first rational decision made by the character. On a larger scale, this ridiculous element reaffirms the absurdity of war and fighting for other’s interests.

‘Catch-22’ truly is a ridiculous novel, but its absurdness is not as pointless as one would think; the effective use of comedy and bizarre elements has a specific purpose. The author does not only intend to entertain the reader by mocking war, bureaucracy and the military system, amongst other things; his unique style and use of humour techniques are an attack to the absurdity of these institutions in real life and more significantly, a direct condemnation of war.


Bibliography
Heller, Joseph (1994) “Catch-22” Vintage

Sexton, Timothy (2007) ”Black Humour and Negation in Catch-22”. Associated Content. Downloaded on November 10th 2008, at 10:02pm.

Paula Santoyo

Teaching Philosophy

I dug this out from my files having decided to rewrite it. I am pleased to say that I still agree with what I wrote wholeheartedly and could hardly change a word. I think that's a good sign.

I believe in the power of education to shape the young individual. It is a privilege to help young people access and understand the world around them. All students should be encouraged to develop and discover themselves through a positive and productive school experience, irrelevant of their background, race or gender.

It is important to create a positive learning experience for all students. Lessons should be engaging and include a range of activities, using ICT and group work to enhance the learning adventure. In my classes, a question is as good as a comment and students are encouraged to discuss and debate their opinions openly. Students must be encouraged to be inquisitive, take risks and and take the responsibility for their own learning through problem-based activities and self-assessment.

To ensure this can occur, I believe it is necessary to establish a positive and stable environment where all the students feel valued and are encouraged to contribute and express themselves. This is achieved by creating a calm and focused classroom with clear expectations and learning routines that the students can rely on. Lessons should be set to clear learning objectives with measurable outcomes to enable all students to be successful.

Success in education cannot be seen solely as success in passing exams. Students must be given the opportunity to experience a range of cultures, arts and sports in order to discover their own passions and dislikes too. Schools must work hard to provide a range of academic and extra-curricular activities that meet their pupils’ needs.

As a teacher you are responsible for the future of the young people in your care; it is your job to help them discover the skills, character and confidence they need to successfully access the adult world.

Film Club Competition: The Long Goodbye

In preparation for Cultural Week, I set the members of the Film Club the task of creating a short film based on the same set of rules, which were:

1) The film is called 'The Long Goodbye'
2) It is filmed in the style of a known genre
3) The film contains a pineapple
4) The film contains the line: "I have never seen such discontent"

We had three entries overall and I was impressed by the quality of the work. All three had a good sense of pace and were presented as a trailer for a longer film. I was also impressed by how each had been set to well-chosen music, and that the films were edited in rhythm with the music.



Trying to pick a winner was hard. I liked the fantasy adventure (above) and it was put together by two younger students. Their work was encouraging and they should be proud of the results. However, they had a lot of help and I wanted to reward independent work.

For me, the noir film was the most aesthetically pleasing of the three. The choice of black and white footage, use of shadows and even the credits seemed to give off a sense of mystery and tension. The reason I didn't pick them was because their work was finished late and didn't include the pineapple in the final cut. Rules is rules.

So, the winner is: Carlos and Horacio's hostage drama. This fulfilled all of the criteria, although several genres were mentioned and the line was too small to read. It was on time, had a pineapple bomb and more importantly it entertained everyone who saw it. I have not posted it here because it is just too damn rude. However, we are not in the business of censorship so if you want to watch it, follow this link. Be warned.

Dia de los Muertos

October 31st, or Day of the Dead, is a massive festival here. At first it might seem a little morbid to celebrate the dead as Mexicans do. If you've seen the Momias in Guanajuato you will know what I mean. But as I have come to learn, this festival is a celebration of people who have died and the idea of building little memorials- ofrendas- to family members seems a healthy way to deal with grief.

At school it's not quite the same. We have a competition each year to build an ofrenda in form groups, usually to a famous dead person. Lessons are abandoned while the whole school covers tables and chairs with brown paper and in turn covers them with flowers and candles. Some of the more ambitious ones have wooden structures that have been assembled surreptitiously during tutor periods, or clever gimmicks like laser lights, fireworks or chocolate fountains.

Last year my form made a rather fuddled yet cute offering to Roald Dahl that was covered in sweets and Quentin Blake illustrations (see earlier in this blog). Despite our efforts, we lost out to a rather more ostentatious Ian Fleming number. This year I was determined.

As ever, I coerced my form into democratically choosing an author for their ofrenda. They were enjoying reading 'Animal Farm' so George Orwell got the vote. We agreed on a high concept, the idea that if George Orwell came back from the dead he would want to fight totalitarianism again. This was to be represented by the card game from the end of the book, with a bit of Big Brother thrown in for effect.

Work began. We painted a massive skydrop depicting the London of '1984', and hammered together the wooden frame to hang it on. There were posters and placards to be made, as we had decided on staging a protest between the Thought Police and the 'Orwellians' campaigning for freedom and individuality. We even made a helicopter. How could we fail?

But we did. Despite all our efforts on the night, despite the chanting Orwellians and thuggish Thought Police brandishing sugar canes, somehow the judges were not won over. They were unsure we had met the stringent criteria- our copal incense wouldn't light- and moreover they probably didn't have a clue why a boy with a fake moustache was playing cards with two pigs.

I think they liked the chocolate fountain more.

Richard III

Building on the success of last year's production of the 'The Tempest' which was selected to represent Mexico for Shakespeare 24, this year we took things up a notch with 'Richard III'. The idea was to have higher production values- to inject some glamour into the Shakespeare Schools Festival.

I hope we did. We were helped by the Bellas Artes Vestuario who provided some excellent costumes for free and also a rather loud starter pistol which put a jump or two into the death scenes.

More importantly, it was the actors who really pulled it off. 'Richard III' has many characters and is based on a number of historical events. I thought it was a tribute to the cast- including many boys who wouldn't usually act- that they were able to bring off our interpretation of a Latin American military coup which such convincing gravity on the night.

As the cast shouted at the curtain call: "Long live Shakespeare!"

Noche Mexicana

I am always bowled over by the enthusiasm of our students, especially when they get to throw wet sponges at their teachers. Like last year, I was asked- somewhat over-enthusiastically- to play the victim again during the school's celebrations of Mexican Independence on Noche Mexicana. Not being one to shy away from such things, I accepted (I am fearless bearded one in the far right of the picture).

It was an eventful night. Students competed in their form groups by making stands for each of the states of Mexico- ours was a modest representation of Michoacan complete with paper chains and butterflies. We also cooked up a storm with some corn cupcakes and Gespacho Michoacana.

The highlight of the evening was the traditional chilli eating competition, which I had organised in order not to enter myself. I just couldn't face the pain. It is probably the kind of competition that just would not be allowed in other schools or countries... but not here.

It was an awesome event. At one point, it seemed like the whole school had crowded around the two picnic benches where the willing candidates sat munching their way through green serano chillis. The students chanted wildly for their favourites as the challengers gradually dropped off and left their seats, until it became a head to head showdown between two Form 5 boys.

The habaneros were brought out and a winner was soon decided- he had eaten 17 seranos and four habaneros as well. It was a mighty effort.

KS3 Curriculum Redesign

This was a task that I undertook with my boss, Frank Sawyer, to address what we saw as a shortfall in linguistic skills in the lower years of the school. Students were repeating the same grammatical and spoken mistakes each year and we needed to do something about it.

Our plan was to take the best of the British curriculum (the National Strategy for English at KS3) and combine it with explicit English language objectives. This was an interesting process, as it meant we had to assess the different sources for our existing curriculum and decide if they were relevant.

First, we took the NC framework and reduced to it to an achievable number of learning objectives in reading, writing and speaking & listening. The framework had always seemed a bulky and overly exhaustive document but this made it relevant and specific for our students. By actually engaging with the material rather than making unsuccessful efforts to meet all of its demands, we had taken ownership of its goals, adapted them to our purpose and made them our own.

Next, we divided up the different language objectives into the years we would expect to teach them and added them to the original list. This gave us the basis of what we would be teaching as we knew which objectives we had to hit in each year. We did not follow the framework exactly, deciding instead to focus on basic writing and more advanced speaking & listening in the first two years (Forms 1&2 / Years 7&8) and saved more complex writing tasks such as newspaper reports that would require use of the passive for Form 3 (Year 9), when we would plan to teach the relevant grammatical forms. We did not include media for every year, instead creating a media project for Form 2 only.

We then compared the current units of work to the objectives we had created. As before, we wanted to give our students the chance to experience whole texts of prose, poetry and drama. We also wanted to take on board the IB style 'points of enquiry' and sought to create units based on themes such as 'Dirty Dogs', 'Spies', 'Travel and Holidays', 'Fairytales' 'Making the Band' and 'Film Analysis', the latter designed to teach more complex essay writing skills at the end of the course in preparation for IGCSE coursework. We planned each unit and the relevant assessment outcomes so that the students' acquisition of the reading, writing and speaking & listening skills that had been taught were explicitly tested during each grading period. To assess the acquisition of the language objectives, 25% of the assessment criteria are concerned with the clarity and fluency with which language is used.

The majority of work was completed in the summer term of 2008. Once Frank left the school to return to England, John Kelly took over as Lead Teacher and I completed the majority of work on the curriculum myself. One further change that took was place was the inclusion of objectives based on a 'Big Write' course that John had attended which he was using to improve writing in the school. We included explicit objectives that dictated the different types of vocabulary, connectives, openers and punctuation that would be taught during each of the three years. We also planned specific 'Big Write' assessments that would be used to demonstrate students' progress in writing over the three years.

Once these were added, the curriculum was ready for the start of the new school year in August. It is John's plan to carry out a three year study on its effects, and current results suggest an improvement compared to previous years.