Naming the Unnameable: An Analysis of Catch-22

Abstract

<p>This thesis discusses Catch-22 as a modern descent into the underworld. The novel is placed in its historical context to show that Heller uses surrealist techniques to evoke a nightmare world where suffering and death are without meaning and without end. The ambiguous blend of comedy and horror in the novel's first two sections is seen as preparing the way for the grim revelations of the final section. It is argued that Catch-22 is structured around the motif of the labyrinth. At the centre of the labyrinth is death, the real subject of the novel.</p>