Reading Response Prompts
 
These prompts are meant to get you thinking about what you have read and to help focus your thoughts for your reading responses. You can respond to any of them, or, if you have another idea you would rather explore, you are free to write about that instead. Even if you choose to pursue an idea of your own, however, or are not writing a response that day, you should still spend at least a few minutes thinking about each of the prompts in preparation for class. In any case, I suggest doing the reading first, then checking the prompts.  For more information, review the listserv assignment.

Joseph Heller, Catch-22: Chapters 23-33

Milo Minderbinder is one of the most extraordinary creations in American literature, and maybe one of the most prescient. In our prior reading, we saw how he manipulates the black market and achieves remarkable levels of power in various locales, from being the mayor of Palermo to the Caliph of Baghdad. In this reading we see how far Milo’s syndicate reaches, and how powerful it is. What is Heller satirizing through Milo’s character?

Nately — the name suggests natal, meaning related to birth — is an innocent, and like virtually all good satirists, Heller isn’t a big fan of innocence. Consider the scenes with Nately and either his whore or the old Italian man (or both). How does Heller use Nately to attack what are conventionally thought of as virtues?

Catch-22 employs quite a lot of sexual comedy. Is that part of the satire? If so, what is Heller satirizing? Or is this a way of mixing the satire with farce, which is light-hearted comedy involving buffoonery and ridiculous situations?

Pick any other passage in these chapters you wish and analyze the satire in it. What is Heller’s real target? How does he use the techniques we have discussed (namely exaggeration and ironic non sequitur) to point out the absurdity of the situation or mindsets he is attacking?

 
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