The bombing run over Bologna is one of the great scenes in the book.
This is war fought at a distance: Yossarian cannot see the people
on whom he is dropping bombs or those firing flak at his plane.
Who or what then is the enemy, and how does Heller make the scene
dramatic and vivid?
As I briefly
mentioned last class, one unusual attribute of the book is a technique
of delayed meaning. Something happens, is said by a character,
or is referred to by the narrator that does not immediately make sense
at the time we read it. However, later — whether a few
sentences, paragraphs, pages, or chapters — we get some new
piece of information that solves our confusion. Another aspect
of this technique is the book’s deviation from a standard linear,
chronological structure. When we progress from chapter to the next,
we are often not going forward in time. These two techniques
work together in this novel. Find an example and discuss how
it works — what we learn first, what is left unexplained, and
then how it is eventually explained.
More broadly,
why do you think Heller engages in this delayed meaning technique?
Readers usually expect a chronological structure, to the point that
it seems natural. From the time we are children, we want stories
to start at the beginning and progress forward to the end. We
may tolerate a flashback occasionally, but the flashbacks must be
clearly indicated, usually with a break in the text and maybe some
tag like “Five days earlier . . . ” Why does Heller
violate readers’ expectations this way?
Satire is comedy
with a purpose beyond entertainment. It stems from frustration,
anger, and even outrage at various forms of stupidity and vice.
It depends upon exaggeration, but the target of the satire must remain
recognizable. Indeed, the effect of great satire is to shock us with a sense of exaggeration, and then shock us even more by showing us that the satirical depiction is much less exaggerated than we initially thought. Take any satirical passage in this reading and
discuss specifically what Heller is satirizing.