The Atrocity of War More than the end of war, we want the end of the beginning of all wars - yes, the end of this brutal, inhumane and utterly impractical method of resolve differences between governments (Franklin D. Roosevelt). In some people's minds, war is glorified. The romantic perspective on which society bases war is reversed in the book Catch-22. The Vietnam War made the book an anti-war classic due to the paradoxical nature of war. Heller perceives the war as a no-win situation. The book delves into the healthy and crazy ways of the nation. The question is: who gets to determine the crazy? It all comes back to the paradox offered by 'Catch-22'. The trauma illustrated by this book threatens the government's ideal of peace. There was a time when Heller's classic satire on the killing spree of war was nothing more than a rite of passage. Throughout the book, a portrait of the war that is reality is revealed. The sarcasm and structure of this novel are Heller's way of showing the reality of the desperation of war. The author exemplifies war as banal; his characters do not fight the enemy, but fight within themselves. The world has known war since the beginning of time, but time must change if the nation is to prosper in a positive direction. In Catch-22 most of the sane characters spend all their time and energy getting back home. Yossarian, the main character of the book, was the most determined to stay alive. “The enemy,” Yossarian retorted, “is anyone who will get you killed, no matter whose side he is on” (120). Everything around him felt like people were trying to kill him. His main fear was that everyone, including his troops, would shoot him. Yossarian informs, “They're trying to kill me” (11). Everywhere he turned he thought people were chasing him. Even in the dining room he had the feeling that the cooks wanted to poison him. With the trauma he has suffered no one can blame him for being paranoid. Anything he could do to get out of missions, he tried. The goal he had set for himself was to return home alive and he would do anything to achieve it. He never thought twice about what duty he had to perform for his government. The main goal of war is for innocent people to die. Not only did Yossarian struggle to return home, but he also struggled with the guilt he faced over his lack of courage. Nothing he faced could stop him from leaving the war. Not only did he have to fight the constant fear of death, but he also had to fight the