Paradox and Irony
In the game of integrity, the
individual will try to do what is best for everyone. But sadly, paradox
and
irony always rear their ugly heads. They seem to make a decision seem
both wise
and foolish all at once. This is shown in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22.
Paradox
and irony are revealed with Yossarian, the hooker, and her sister.
One instance is the news of Nately’s
death. Like a true friend, Yossarian decided to tell Nately’s whore the
truth
because Nately was in love with her. That seems nice to a common person
but
this is where irony jumps in. When Yossarian tells Nately’s whore that
her love
has died, she goes ballistic. This is ironic because she didn’t want
anything
to do with him outside of sex. But now, she is heartbroken. The crazy
woman
tries to kill the poor messenger with a potato peeler. To make matter
worse on
the poor, the whore’s kid sister tries to kill him as well. Poor
Yossarian ends
up going to the hospital for his injuries and the whore chases him down
to kill
him. This whole event is full of irony because
telling your friend’s girlfriend
or wife that her lover is dead is the ethical thing to do. However, you
just
don’t know how people will react. Some women like Nately’s whore are
crazy to
begin with. So telling them that their love has died is not too much of
the
wisest idea in the world.
In the other instance,
Yossarian takes pity on the whore’s sister and tries to find her in
Rome.
That’s not bright at all. For starters, he doesn’t know where to look.
Next,
the place is badly war-torn from being bombed and corruption. Finally,
the
whore is still angry with him for telling the truth and still wants to
kill
him. The reason this both foolish and wise is clear. Yossarian true
problem is
while he’s trying to survive, he’s trying to play the good guy as well.
In the
game of survival, you have to break some rules and look out for number
in order
to win. Surviving and doing the ethical thing are both good but they
don’t
always go to together. Yossarian learned that the hard way when
Nately’s whore tried
to kill him.
