Rhetorical Strategies (Blog Topic #1)

-Satire: "There was a urologist for his urine, a lymphologist for his lymph, an endocrinologist for his endocrines, a psychologist for his psyche, a dermatologist for his derma; there was a pathologist for his pathos, a cystologist for his cysts..."(10).

The author, when describing all the medical procedures that the colonel had to go through, presents this satire, to exaggerate what the doctors and nurses were performing in order to figure out what was wrong with the colonel.

-Symbolism: "The soldier in white was encased from head to toe in plaster and gauze"(4).

The soldier in white symbolizes the inhumanity with which the the army treats its soldiers. This "soldier in white" has no name or face; the army views its men not as individuals, but as anonymous, disposable playthings. Nobody in the novel knows whether or not the soldier in white is dead or alive. This may indicate that again, soldiers are disposable. The army does not care about who lives or dies.

-Imagery:"...Yosarian shouted back at him in the velvet darkness cloaking the path leading past the still vehicles of the motor pool to the open-air movie theater"(306). 
The use of imagery here is something to definitely be admired. Heller has this talent for painting an image in the reader's mind with ease, by using complex imagery to detail Yossarian's account just a bit more, so it feels like we are also with him.

-Flashback: "I'm cold." Snowden said softly. "I'm cold." "You're going to be all right kid." Yossarian reassured him with a grin. "You're going to be all right"(531).

This extended flashback actually begins at the very beginning of the novel, when Yossarian is in the hospital himself. Snowden's death was a bit confusing, since the entire scene was not rendered just yet, but it was one event in a series of flashbacks. At first, he is just the subject of casual conversation, until he shifts to becoming the novel's most dramatic episode.

Throughout the novel of Catch 22, Heller uses numerous examples of rhetorical strategies, such as imagery, satire, symbolism, and flashback, to illustrate his story, and make it much more believable, and in-depth. One of his most commonly used strategies is symbolism. It is seen nearly everywhere in the book, to bring the story to life. He uses it to portray certain themes, or points in the novel.Some characters stand for a certain symbol, such as Major Major, and Milo Minderbinder. Major Major stands for the human feeling of isolation and lonliness, while Milo stands for the human instinct of greed.