On Black Humor in Catch-22 英语专业.doc

1、On Black Humor in Catch-22AbstractThis paper focuses on the study of black humor in Catch-22, which is one of the typical representative books of black humor. At first, it introduces the author of Catch-22, Joseph Heller and this novel. And then, it proceeds to make a general explanation of black hu

2、mor. In the following sections, this paper mainly analyzes black humor in catch-22 through four aspects, including the portrayal of main characters, the arrangement of the structure, the themes of the novel and the features of language. All in all, catch -22 is one of the most important works of bla

3、ck humor and this paper would be helpful for the readers to have a better understanding of the novel catch-22.Key words: black humor, Catch-22, paradoxical, absurd1. IntroductionJoseph Heller (1923-1999) is an American novelists, playwright and short story writer. As one of the most prominent Americ

4、an contemporary novelists, his best-known novel, Catch-22, is recognized as a major work of the postwar period and remains his most famous and acclaimed work. Because his marvelous use of black humor and satire in his literary creation, Heller becomes one of the representatives of black humor- an in

5、dispensable literary trend which thrived in the United States in 1960s. He was born in Brooklyn in 1923. In 1942, Heller enlisted in the Army Air Corps. In 1944, his cadet training completed and he was dispatched to Corsica, cohere he served as a wing bombardier on sixty combat missions until he got

6、 honorably discharged. Hence, his military experiences are simultaneously reflected in Catch-22. After the withdrawal from the World War , he enjoyed a long career as a writer and a teacher. Heller wrote Catch-22 while working at a New York City marketing firm producing ad copy. Apart from Catch-22,

7、 his best-selling books include Something Happened, Good as Gold, Picture This, God knows and Closing Time.Hellers works are characterized by a satirical sense of the absurd, speaking out against the military-industrial complex and those organized institutions which seem to manipulate peoples lives

8、in the name of reason or morality. But most significant is Hellers masterful employment of black humor. He is realistic about his skills: “I can be funnyfor one-half page at a timeI can be humorous in several wayswith irony, with dialogue, with farcical situations, and occasionally with a lucky epig

9、ram or an aphorism.Catch-22, as Joseph Hellers masterpiece, tells the story of Captain Joseph Yossarian and his attempt to avoid serving in World Warby feigning insanity. However, Yossarian is thwarted by the doctors argument that if he were truly mad then he would endanger his life and seek to figh

10、t more missions. On the other hand, if he were sane, then he would be capable of following orders to fight more missions. Catch-22, Hellers typical work of black humor, is an anti-war fiction setting in WW.But its real theme is to expose the dehumanization of all contemporary institutions, the absur

11、d and corrupted bureaucracy and the alienation of individuals existing in a systemized chaotic condition, such as war.2. Generation explanation of black humorBlack humor, which comes from a name of a book written by Bruce Jay Friedman, is an important literary term of America in 1960s, and it refers

12、 primarily to a kind of bitter and often outrageous satire. Black humor can be defined as a combination of humor with resentment, gloom, anger and despair. It is a type of modern humor caused by anger. It combines absurdity with humor often describing horrible or sad events in language normally asso

13、ciated with pleasant or light-hearted occasions. Writers intend to provoke readers response to the blackness of modern life as laughter, or, laughing in face of a tragedy. They generally do not laugh at their characters; in fact, they take them seriously. “But if they do laugh at some of them at tim

14、es, it is because they feel amused at their attempt to try to create order in their disordered and absurd world.” What occurs often is a sense of grief and pain coming through the laughter, a feeling of frustration and being bottled up. Therefore, black humor can be considered as the death humor out

15、 of despair and laughter out of tears.Theoretically, black humor was chiefly influenced by French philosopher and Sartres existentialism and Freudian theory of psychology. Writers deny the possibility of positive individual action by choosing a more pessimistic method in order to reflect the objecti

16、vity of life, the loss of faith and the deviation of humanity. Different from traditional literature creation, which trusts that goodness always triumphs over evilness, black humor uses a humorous tone with desperation to reveal the misery of reality. In such novels, ordinary characters or situation

17、s are usually exaggerated far beyond the limits of normal satire. The powerlessness of being manipulated by unjust fate makes characters laugh at themselves. Feeling “humor” from “blackness” and challenging “blackness” with “humor”, these are the essence of black humor, and how those writers treat t

18、heir world of fear, neurosis and absurdity. In contemporary literary criticism, black humor is a term applies to a large group of American novels beginning in the 1950s. Although the writers of black humor did not intentionally form a school of literary movement, in their novels, there is a common c

19、ore which is directed against hypocrisy, racial prejudice, war, terrorism, and the dehumanization of individuals by the modern society. In conclusion, the research of black humor literature not only takes great effects on understanding Catch-22, but also has importance on literature studies and soci

20、al critics.3. Analysis of black humor in Catch-223.1 The portrayal of main charactersBeing the representative of the literature of black humor, the work contains tremendous styles of utterances and behaviors of various persons which circle the principle of “catch-22”. Yossarian, a typical anti-heroi

21、c character of black humor, is the protagonist in Catch-22. Critics say that Yossarian is an anti-hero because he does not risk his life to save others. In a world where life is casually lost, it is more practical to redefine heroism as simple self-protection. The proposal of self-protection brings

22、about an intense conflict for Yossarian. Even though he is determined to survive the barbaric war at all costs, he nonetheless cares for his battle companions and is traumatized by their deaths. His constant dread at Snowdens death stems both from his compassion for Snowden and from his frightened r

23、ealization his own body will collapse at the first blow. In the end, when he was offered a choice between his own security and the security of the entire squadron, Yossarian is unable to choose himself over others. This concern about others complicates the simple logic of self-preservation, and form

24、s its own Catch-22 that is invisible in whole story: life is devalued with a moral concern for others lives, but a moral concern for others lives endangers ones own life. Heller creates a trap of morality for Yossarian, it seems that Yossarian has no other choice but struck in desperation. Neverthel

25、ess, he ultimately escapes this conundrum by literally walking away from the wara determination that refuses both the opportunity of becoming an officer who avoid perils at the expense of his army and that of remaining a normal soldier who endangers himself for absurd reasons.Another character is in

26、dispensable to mention about is Milo Minderbinder, who is one of the most complex figures in the novel, and the syndicate he managers is one of its most elusive symbols. “He is a symbol of a system that lies at the bottom of all the absurdity: the capitalist free enterprise, portrayed as immoral and

27、 a menace to human survival.” In one way, he tempts the innocent with chocolate-covered cotton and promise of a fast wealth; in the other way, he is personification of death who should fail to offer the urgent medication when Snowden is dying. Milos hypocritical and mercenary nature is totally unvei

28、led. Milo is a crusader against the arbitrary regulations of the military bureaucracy in one sense, while he certainly represents an individuals triumph in the face of a dehumanizing organization, even he also lacks morals and consideration for others. For gaining his wealth and power, he has become

29、 like the authoritarian forces he used to defy, sacrificing real value for personal achievements.What is more, there are a lot of other distinctive characters, for instance, the “soldier in white” who was encases from head to toe in plaster and gauze and the dubious Texan who is the only one talking

30、 with the “soldier in white”. Major Majormajor, whose tragedy in life is that he resembles a movie star, Henry Fonda and only allows people to visit him when he is absent there. Orr, who talks with crab apples and chestnuts in his mouth, is beaten up by a whore in Rome to pretend that he is already

31、insane. And the chaplain fakes an ailment and checks into the hospital after he was accused of unspecified crimes.3.2 The arrangement of the structure The novel was narrated in third person but most of events are reflected through Yossarians point of view, the whole story reads like a nightmare remi

32、niscing about the past. The notion of time is affected by the absurdity governing characters lives. The story is told with jumbled chronology involving recollection, allusions to future, and statements whose meanings become clear only as the novel progresses. The narrative skips from scene to scene

33、with occasional mentions of “before” and “after” but with no central “now” to give these events meaning. However, a number of clues are offered to enable readers to put events in a special order: the expansion of Milos syndicate, the ranks of certain officers, and the number of missions soldiers are

34、 forced to fly, etc.On the absurd, chaotic stage of war, Hellers ultimate purpose is not to describe a bloody war, but to display the ugly dislocation of American society. The characters in Catch-22 have no absolute death or live existence. Time is absent; life loses its timely order. Everything was

35、 wrapped up in chaos and readers are thrown back to the beginning of the events. Hellers formlessness is an attractive technical innovation that is observed by Harris and many other critics, “Heller writes in a way that deliberately confounds the notion of coherent time and seeks to thwart any attem

36、pt to impose a chronological order on the events of the novel.” Free out of regular chronological order, the mastery of entire organization from a higher viewpoint achieves the uniqueness of Catch-22.3.3 The themes of the novelThe main theme of Catch-22 is the absolute power of bureaucracy, which is

37、 one of the most terrifying aspects of Catch-22. The lives and deaths of the men in Yossarians squadron are governed not by their own decisions concerning dangerous risks but by the decisions of an impersonal, frightening bureaucracy. And the bureaucrats are absolutely deaf to any attempts that the

38、men make to reason with them logically; they defy logic at every turn. Doc Daneeka, for example, wont ground Yossarian for insanity because Yossarians desire to be grounded reveals that he must be sane, and the Major, will see people in his office only when he is not there. In these and other instan

39、ces, Yossarian and his companions learn that what they do and say has very little effect on what happens to them. All they can do is learn to navigate their way through the bureaucracy, using its illogical rules to their own advantage whenever possible.And also, there are other themes reflected in C

40、atch-22, such as the loss of religious faith, the importance of language, the inevitability of death, and some themes in words, like confusion, greed, and guilt. For example, from the themes of confusion and greed, as well as the mens experiences with the idea of catch-22, it is quite plain to see t

41、hat men with power will keep power and those without power will suffer the consequences. As a familiar quote says, Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Yossarian learns the hard way that men with power have a tendency to abuse their authority.3.4 The features of languageHeller abandons traditional wr

42、iting method. He adopts a new way to write Catch-22. He makes the words, phrases, and even the whole sentence in disorder resulting in peoples realizing the crazy and morbidity of the whole society. This is the feature of black humor. There are plenty of repeating, dubious and paradoxical words, phr

43、ases, and dialogues. E.g. Doe Daneeka was Yossarians friend and would do just about nothing in his power to help him. “My only fault”, he observed with practiced good humor watching for the effect of his words, “is that I have no faults?” (Chapter 29)Generally speaking, the traditional novelists try

44、 to make their novels clear. Dubious is not allowed; while Heller just uses such sentences to let the people know the absurdity and irrationality of the world. We feel difficult to understand the logic order of this sentence, let alone the meaning. These sentences are to explain but make us more and

45、 more confused. E.g. McWatt wore fleecy bedroom slippers with his red pajamas and slept between freshly pressed colored bed sheets like the one Milo had retrieved half of for him from the grinning thief with the sweet tooth in exchange for none of the pitted dates Milo had borrowed from Yossarian. (

46、Chapter7)4. ConclusionCatch-22, as Joseph Hellers masterpiece, is one of typical representatives of black humor. This paper mainly has a general introduction of the novel and the author, Joseph Heller, and also explains the black humor briefly. Besides, the paper proceeds to discuss the black humor

47、reflected in Catch-22 through four aspects: the portrayal of main characters, the arrangement of the structure, the themes of the novel and the features of language. In a word, catch -22 is one of the most important works of black humor and this paper is just a brief analysis on Catch-22 and black h

48、umor, which would help us understand the novel better, but more and deeper researches are also necessary to be done.BibliographyHeller, Joseph. Catch-22 M. New York: Dell Pubkishing Co., Inc, 1961.Dickstein, Morris. Ed. “Black Humor and History: The Early Sixties”. Gates of Eden: American Culture in

49、 the Sixties M. Boston: Harvard University Press, 1997.Kiley, Frederick, and Walter McDonald. Ed. “An Impolite Interview with Joseph Heller”. A Catch-22 Casebook M. Thomas Y. Crowell Company, Inc, 1973.Nagel, James. Ed. Critical Essays on Joseph Heller C. Bostoon: G. K. Hall, 1984.陈永国. 20世纪文学泰斗海勒M. 四川:四川人民出版社, 2001.杨乐芳. 黑色幽默的精彩演绎-论第二十二条军规的艺术特色 J. 齐齐哈尔：齐齐哈尔师范高等专科学校学报，2009,（4）常文革，张芮. 黑色幽默的典范约瑟夫. 海勒的第二十二条军规J.长春师范学院学报，2005，(15).曹曼. 美国文学教程 M武汉：武汉大学