The novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is a detailed example of the nature of World War II in the midst of the war, and the men fighting it. A text to text connection can be made with another book, detailing the accounts of one certain Paul Baumer in Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front.
Both novels depict a painting of life in two different World Wars. One in World War I, and the other in World War II.They portray the lives of two young men in battle and the hardships they faced during the time period of their service.
The two novels both demonstrate the theme of the “lost generation”, or rather the young men who enter into the war. Both Paul and Yossarian are forced to grow into adulthood almost too immediately. They then experience the brutal nature of war, the unfortunate experience of losing friends they've made, and the carnage left after the war.
A text-to-world connection can be made in the sense that war affects everyone on a different level. The soldiers in Catch 22 are all of different ethnic backgrounds, ranks, etc. They all have a different story to tell. Ultimately, it is the human instinct of survival that arises, as Yossarian refuses to die in battle. The soldiers collectively represent society as a whole, with the soldiers acting as regular people with different values, and the higher-ranked colonels and lieutenants acting as the higher-ups of business corporations, etc.
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