Catch 22 By: Joseph Heller Essay

Catch 22 has many scenes of violence in it that helps to contribute to the meaning of the complete work. The first scene of violence that helps portray the complete meaning of the novel is Kid Sampson being cut in half by McWatt while flying his plane too low to the ground. The second scene of violence was when Yossarian broke Nately’s nose on Thanksgiving while some men were playing around with the machine gun. And finally the last example of violence in Catch 22 the help contributes to the meaning of the novel is Milo Minderbinder making a contract with the Germans to have him fire on his own unit to help the syndicate. These scenes give a good idea on how the violence of Catch 22 contributes to the meaning of the complete work of the novel and shows the importance of the violence to the novel. The first scene of violence that helps portray the meaning the novel Catch 22 is McWatt accidently killing Kid Sampson on the beach. McWatt was flying way too low to the ground like he does all of the time and flew over the beach. Then he went right at Kid Sampson and then sliced him to pieces with the blade of his ship. Kid Sampson was at the beach with everyone else and he was standing on a raft when he got hit by the plane. McWatt was on a training flight with two new pilots showing them how to fly when it happened. They parachuted out of the plane and he rode it into the side of a mountain. Everyone thought Doc Daneeka died in the plane accident becasue McWatt put Doc Daneeka name down for flight hours but he was really on the ground with everyone else. Yossarian warns him about flying so low but he still decides to fly low to the ground. Colonel Cathcart is so devastated about what happened he made the missions go up even more than it was before. This is how McWatt accidently ki lling Kid Sampson is important to the novel. The second scene of violence in Catch 22 is Yossarian breaking Nately’s nose on Thanksgiving when Nately tried to stop Yossarian from shooting the guys firing the machine gun at the base. Then Nately told his whore and she hated Yossarian for that. When Nately got killed in the disastrous crash on the La Spezia mission with Dobbs, Yossarian decides to go to Rome and tell her what happened to Nately. When he was there, she tired to kill and was throwing  stuff at him. Then she keeps following him around wherever he went. She was in the plane when it landed and she was at the base. Then she jumped out of a bush after he got out of the Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn office. They were discussing sending home Yossarian and about giving him a medal. But she stabbed him and he had to go to the hospital. This is why Yossarian breaking Nately’s nose on Thanksgiving was important to the story. The last major scene of violence in Catch 22 that was important to the novel had to do with Milo and the M &M Enterprises is in the business for finding the best deals and trading to make a profit for the syndicate. His only failure was buying Egyptian cotton was going to ruin his business because he can’t sell it. He made a deal with the Germans who by the way were the enemies of America in the war. The deal stated that he had to bomb his own outfit and many of his own men were hurt during this. Milo even decided it was best for him to tip off the Germans during a surprise attack by the Americans. But instead of getting punishes for shooting his own unit the public celebrates all of his profits he made. His explanation for playing for both sides was if it benefits the syndicate it benefits the men and it is worth taking a risk for. Then he decides he wants to fly more missions because he has only seven but Colonel Cathcart makes him agree to have the men fly his missions for him. This is the cause for more un needed deaths in the novel. This is how Milos bombing his own unite helps show how violent scenes are important to the novel. Throughout the novel Catch 22 there are many scenes of violence. These violent scenes help to contribute to t he meaning of the book. The first scene was when Yossarian broke Nately’s nose during the Thanksgiving celebration which causes Nately’s whore to hate him. The second scene of violence that contributed to the meaning of the book was when McWatt Killed Kid Sampson with his airplane. And finally the last scene was when Milo started shooting at his own unit after making a deal whit the Germans. This is how these scenes help to contribute to the whole meaning of Catch 22.