Friday 21 March 2014

A GLIMPSE AT BLACK COMEDY WITH CATCH 22

The genre of black comedy or dark comedy deals with a comic work which incorporates black humor, the humor that mocks the otherwise grave subject matter. Black humor matches up to the already mentioned and introduced concept of gallows humor. The genre incorporates a heavy, contentious, troubling and serious matter, while treating it in a humorous manner. On the contrary, this sub-genre of comedy and satire and can be termed as morbid humor, however cannot be matched with gallows and off-color humor. The concept is not new as the writers have been writing over this category since ages and has been widely accepted by the society.
Here I am going to revise the concept again with one of the most popular novel under this genre - Catch 22.
Catch 22 opens up with Captain John Yossarian and takes you in his exploits as a bombardier. The protagonist is a member of Us Air Force and takes you to the World War 2. He aims to endure the insanity of wartime culture as he thinks that everyone endeavors to kill him, a common notion of a survivor of the war. The hero wants to survive and complete hi assigned mission while the Colonel strives to increase the missions.

The novel has been penned in a hap-hazard way with a series of flashbacks in the journey. The basic theme of the novel is the war. The first half will emphasize on the present and the second will take you back with the scene of the Great Big Siege of Bologna and then again you will be brought back to the present. This back and forth will continue narrating the tale of this hero and simultaneously throws light on the actions of Air Force administration in improving their ranks and giving a good appearance to America in the war. A must-read book!
catch22_cover

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