Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five and Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 Essay

Kurt Vonneguts Slaughterhouse-Five and Joseph Hellers Catch-22 use similar motifs to convey their prevalent anti- state of war message. Although it is truly difficult for any author to communicate the line up record of war in a work of literature, both novels are triumphant in their attempts to convey the devastating experience. The authors analogous writing styles, field of studys, and motifs run parallel to wholeness another. Both Slaughterhouse-Five and Catch-22 incorporate irony, exemplify the idiocy and folly of military institutions, and convey a similar theme throughout their story lines.One common theme is seen in the characters of sharp-set Joe in Catch-22 and Edgar Derby in Slaughterhouse-Five. Both of these characters relate to the casualties that were not caused by direct battle wounds. These motifs relay the authors anti-war message. The picture of war piebald by Heller and Vonnegut is highlighted by their utilization of irony. Their careful strokes of irony on th e keistervas of their novels help to prove one of their numerous shared themes. (Meredith 218)Along with Hungry Joe and Edgar Derby exemplifying the casualties not caused by battle, they as well represent the tragedies suffered shortly before the conclusion of the war. After surviving all of the hard ventures of war, these two men move unaccompanied when the end of the war could be seen in the horizon. The irony in the both mens expirations is very clear. Hungry Joes death, after everyplace 70 combat missions as a pilot, came quietly in his sleep while having a dream. (Heller 445) As Slaughterhouse-Fives counterpart to Hungry Joe, the arbitrary death of Edgar Derby is similarly ironic. (Snodgrass 435) After surviving some devastating ordeals during the war, along with prison camp, he was arrested for plundering after stealing a teapot. He was tried and shot only months before the end of the war. (Vonnegut 214) Both men experienced death, but ironically not as a result of comb at only after surviving so many horrific events of war.Many comparisons butt end be made between the institutions and organizations of war in both novels. Both the side of meat men in the Nazi POW camps in Slaughterhouse-Five and the men of M & M Enterprises in Catch-22 have similar ironic experiences with the group that exists in their throwsocieties. In Catch-22, Snowden is in the process of dying and Yossarian frantically attempts to help him. He opens the first-aid kit to realize The twelve syrettes of morphine had been stolen from their case and replaced by a understandably lettered note that said Whats good for M & M Enterprises is good for the country. Milo Minderbinder. (Heller 446) This event is ironic because M & Ms repossession of morphine is directly causing Snowden to suffer a greater deal than he should.Although wand Pilgrim seemed to have an experience completely opposite of Snowdens, it was actually extraordinarily similar. Billy arrives at a very comfortable pr ison camp in which other Englishmen reside. When he first arrived he remembered that his shoes were ruined, that he needed boots. (Vonnegut 95) He is able to obtain a pair of silver boots from the play production of Cinderella which the prison men put on. Billy and his fellow POWs were also very well off since A clerical error early in the war, when food was still getting through to prisoners, had caused the Red Cross to ship them five hundred parcels every month instead of fifty. (Vonnegut 94) Thanks to the military institutions blunder, the men in the camp Are among the wealthiest people in Europe, in terms of food. (Vonnegut 94) Billy gains from the mistakes in which the military made, just as Snowden was a direct victim of them. Unlike the Englishmen benefiting from a mishap, Snowden suffered from a conscious conclusion that is food for the country. (Heller 446)Sex is an ever-present motif incorporated in both novels. Both Yossarian and Billy are overly preoccupied with the act of sex and the female person body. Its portrayed by the authors as the only relief from the violence and emotional impacts of war, instead of an escape from reality which is usually portrayed. To further demonstrate this theory, we can analyze Billys actions in the arena of his created world, the zoo on Tralfamadore. The target of his fantasy is Montana Wildhack, a motion picture star (Vonnegut 132), which is common for humans of all time-eras past to present. The planet of Tralfamadore is a representation of Billys ideal world, and surely enough a woman, renown for her fame in the painting world and her beauty, was one of his first additions. From this action, Vonnegut attemptsto communicate the message of sex being a paramount concern in the lives of all soldiers.Similar to Billy Pilgrim, Yossarian has an regression with sex, women, and their bodies. When analyzed, he can be considered that of a sexual maniac. His sexual desires were often seen throughout cadet school as he sle pt with his commanding officers wife, Mrs. Sheisskopf. While serving in the military, he was introduced to many divine women. Later in the novel he exclaimed that at one point he was lifelessly in love with all of them. (Heller 166) Yossarian had mistaken his feelings of lust for feelings of love as a result of traumatic experiences during the war.An alternative subconscious motive for sex can also be seen in Yossarian and Bill. Throughout the war, both men have witnessed an abundance of violence and death around them. Based on their experiences, we can acquire that they desire sex for the purpose of reproduction. While Yossarian was engaged in an affair with Mrs. Scheisskopf, every month she would tell him, Darling, were having a baby again. (Heller 80) Just as Vonnegut believed and communicated in Slaughterhouse-Five, A soldiers instinct and desire is to reproduce and even before he has taken lives, he wishes to pay in occur for the lives he knows he may be responsible for taki ng. (Meredith 102)In the novels Slaughterhouse-Five and Catch-22, each author uses the events in their stories to depict the tragedies of war. Each individual event describes a limited hardship experienced by each of the soldiers throughout their wartime experiences. Although the exact events within the novels were different, many similarities were noticeable the casualties of the environment of war, the discouraging deaths of those men just as the war was commencing, the irony of the actions of the military institutions and the harm they cause, and the desire of sex in the soldiers. The common motifs and themes in the novels explore the terrible aspects of war and reflect on a true anti-war message intended by the authors. The message professes that no matter what happens, weshould retain our humanity. (Vit 1)WORK CITED PAGEHeller, Joseph. Catch-22. New York, New York Bantam Doubleday dingle Publishing Group, Inc 1989.Meredith, jam H. Understanding the Literature of WWII. Greenw ood, Connecticut Greenwood Press, 1999.Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. Encyclopedia of Satirical Literature. Santa Barbara, California ABC-CLIO Incorporated, 1996 433-435.Vit, Marek. Kurt Vonneguts Corner. 2002. 2 May 2004.Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. New York, New York Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc 1968.