The Role of the Catch-22’s Narrative Techniques in Reveling the Theme

Abstract

Catch-22 is Joseph Heller’s most famous novel. Being full of flashbacks, repetitions, and conflicting words, the longnovel is complex both in language and structure. However, with analysis in light of Wayne C. Booth’s theories aboutthe narrator and distance, Gerald Prince’s theory about the presuppotition of statement, and Gerard Genette’s theoryabout anachronies, it can be concluded that the narrative techniques applied in the novel, especially, the specialnarrator and numerous anachronies, play an important role in revealing the main theme, and the superficially chaoticlanguage and structure are proved to be the meticulous arrangement of the author for the disclosure of the maintheme of the novel.