Integrity Of Theme And Structure

Joseph Heller occupies an important place in the history of American Literature. His first novel Catch-22 is regarded as proclaiming the dawn of a new age, that of the Absurd. Moreover, with the publication of this book, American literary history is said to have entered the age of postmodernism. As is well known, the success of Catch-22 lies in that not only does it portray a chaotic and absurd world in theme, but also it assumes a chaotic and absurd structure in form. The absurd and "no order" structure of this book is, for one thing, due to the binary opposition of the narrative order of events and the real chronological order of events; and, for another, due to numerous spiral patterns that finally form an absurd verbal labyrinth. This thesis attempts to approach the structure from two fairly new angles--- binary opposition and the spiral patterns in the book--- to demonstrate that the structure is carefully constructed to create the effect of "no order" so as to support the pervasive theme of absurdity.First, through the analysis of the binary opposition in this novel, we find, for two-thirds of the novel, about 300 pages, the narrative order of the events almost runs counter to the real chronological order of the events. The result of the binary opposition between the narrative order and the real chronological order is a strange discontinuity and constant switching between descriptions of the characters and recollections of the events. The book thus assumes a fragmentary and episodic structure. So in this way, Heller has succeeded in creating the effect of "no order". The structural "no order" coincides with the thematic "no order", or rather, the theme of absurdity of the book. But if we look into the inner structure of the book, we can find the binary opposition is ingeniously manifested in the confrontation of the order in which Yossarian's history is told and the order in which Milo Minderbinder's history is told. The order in which Yossarian's story is presented fits in with the general mode of the order: the narrative order of events. When the history of Yossarian is unfolded with a narrative that shifts back and forth from the present to the past now and then from the past to the present treating all events as equally present, a counter-motion controls the history of Milo Minderbinder. Milo...