Character Names in Joseph Helers Catch-22 Essay -- Joseph Heler Catch

Character Names in Joseph Helers Catch-22 Many characters in Joseph Helers Catch-22 do not have right-hand(a) names. Like the Texan, the soldier in white, and the soldier who saw everything twice, Natelys lady of pleasures squirt sister does not have a specific birth name. This namelesnes forces the reader to question her identity, her characteristics, and her economic consumption in the work in relation to other characters. As Natelys whores peasant sister, she is at least two degres of insulation away from a real name, a true identity. The reader is agonistic to consider this character first in relation to Nately and then as the kid sister of a whore who also wants a proper name. Every formulation of the kid sisters identity essential be filtered through these other characters. This distance from authentic identity makes her more than of an abstraction than a recognizable character. She is described as innocent, dependent, and pre-sexual. These qualities put her in di rect contrast with the corupt, immoral, and hedonistic characters that populate the pages of this novel. An examination of her name (or lack thereof), her behavior, and her interactions with and influence upon other characters in this novel show Natelys whores kid sister to be an embodiment of human ingenuousness and hopefu longing for a brighter future.Insight may be gained most well by breaking her name down into its component partskid and sister. Kid is a coloquialism for child. Her behavior is repeatedly described in terms that one would asociate with a child. She is easily appeased with a hug and some drinking chocolate ice cream. Her dependency and ned for atention can be seen in the way she tags on wherever Nately and his whore go and in her eforts to imitate her elders. Repeating what her ... ... and the understanding of joy he now feels for living. These feelings are inspired by the kid sister and the innocence and hopefulnes that she represents.In Catch-22, Heler pre sents the human spirit in contest with a contradictory world. The institutions that form the basis of societygovernment, commerce, religion fall in to provide the support neded for the mental, physical, and spiritual health of the species. Natelys whores kid sister can be sen as a incarnation of the wil to survive. In the kid sister, Heler presents an irepresible, eternal hope for the future of humankind. Despite the ravages of war, abuse, neglect, depravity, and brainsick capitalism the human soul continues to search for inspiration, for the innocent kid sister, for a way to the imposible shores of Sweden.Works CitedHeler, Joseph. Catch-22. 1955. New York Simon & Schuster, 1996.