On the other hand, Catch-22, representative of the chaos surrounding World War II, does not depict the same downfall seen in All Quiet on the Western Front, presenting instead an absurd world which is run by an ineffective bureaucracy and full of paradoxical rules and situations. The ridiculous characters Heller creates best convey this sense of meaningless existence. Many of the high-ranking officials within the novel, especially Colonel Cathcart, are particularly absurd. Not only does Cathcart periodically raise the number of required missions as if the war is a competition to see which commanding officer can achieve the best numbers, starting from twenty-five and eventually reaching eighty, but he also requests that the chaplain hold nightly
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When Paul dives into a pit during a firefight along the front lines, he vows to kill anyone who jumps into the pit, and when an enemy French soldier ducks into the same pit, Paul stabs him. Upon realizing what he has done, Paul is shocked by his actions, and the anguish is clear in his voice: “Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. […] how could you be my enemy? If we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my brother” (Remarque 223). Regret fills his voice, and Paul regards the dead Frenchman as his own comrade, a fellow brother-in-arms. Additionally, the general terms in which Paul describes the dead soldier’s body implies that he has come to a more enlightened worldview, as he describes how “The mouth is full and soft beneath his moustache; the nose is slightly arched, the skin brownish […]. For a moment the face seems almost health; - then it collapses suddenly into the strange face of the dead” (Remarque 222). By referring to certain parts of the soldier’s body as “the nose” or “the skin” rather than “his nose” or “his skin,” Paul implies that the Frenchman could have been anyone, including Paul himself; he even states, “I see you are a man like me” (Remarque 223). The traumatic death of the French soldier thus makes Paul realize that his own body is subject to the same eventual demise and that there is an inherent similarity and connection between all soldiers, no matter their allegiances. In this scene, according to Joseph Tighe in his phenomenological analysis of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul reaches “the conclusion that war itself, even ‘victorious’ war, is, fundamentally, a threat to one’s self” (Tighe 59). Paul essentially comes upon the realization that humanity itself is at threat in times of war, as even if one side wins the war,
When Paul dives into a pit during a firefight along the front lines, he vows to kill anyone who jumps into the pit, and when an enemy French soldier ducks into the same pit, Paul stabs him. Upon realizing what he has done, Paul is shocked by his actions, and the anguish is clear in his voice: “Forgive me, comrade. We always see it too late. […] how could you be my enemy? If we threw away these rifles and this uniform you could be my brother” (Remarque 223). Regret fills his voice, and Paul regards the dead Frenchman as his own comrade, a fellow brother-in-arms. Additionally, the general terms in which Paul describes the dead soldier’s body implies that he has come to a more enlightened worldview, as he describes how “The mouth is full and soft beneath his moustache; the nose is slightly arched, the skin brownish […]. For a moment the face seems almost health; - then it collapses suddenly into the strange face of the dead” (Remarque 222). By referring to certain parts of the soldier’s body as “the nose” or “the skin” rather than “his nose” or “his skin,” Paul implies that the Frenchman could have been anyone, including Paul himself; he even states, “I see you are a man like me” (Remarque 223). The traumatic death of the French soldier thus makes Paul realize that his own body is subject to the same eventual demise and that there is an inherent similarity and connection between all soldiers, no matter their allegiances. In this scene, according to Joseph Tighe in his phenomenological analysis of All Quiet on the Western Front, Paul reaches “the conclusion that war itself, even ‘victorious’ war, is, fundamentally, a threat to one’s self” (Tighe 59). Paul essentially comes upon the realization that humanity itself is at threat in times of war, as even if one side wins the war,