Soldiers serving during World War II faced hard times while fighting for their country. They were separated from their families and the traditional lives that they knew, and were suddenly thrown into a life of hardships and absurdities. As a result, they became alienated from the rest of the world and began to look at their lives in a pessimistic view. Heller portrays this separation from the traditional views through characters like Yossarian, Major Major, …showed first 75 words of 928 total…

…showed last 75 words of 928 total…war to light. This novel can even be considered as an existential novel. Existentialism is the pessimistic view of life and all the absurdities with it. The characters in Catch 22 basically just see the downside of everything and they consider the life around them to be pointless. They can not find a reason in their life and are alienated from everyone else. With their alienation, Heller successfully brings the absurdities of the war to life.