Rhetorical Devices

• Alliteration: “'Colonel Cathcart was a slick, successful, slipshod...'” (187), “Colonel Cathcart” (187), “Doc Deneeka” (128); Heller uses alliteration often in Catch-22 in Yossarian's descriptions of his fellow servicemen, conversation for added flow and humor, and even in the characters' names. This novel is mainly satirical to the point of being inane and nonsensical and the alliteration of characters' names only adds to the humor and inanity. In Yossarian's descriptions of his fellow men in arms he will often begin a string of alliterated adjectives which eventually lead to nonsensical or contradicting adjectives and add to Yossarian's hinted insanity and wacky character as well as showing his true opinions (usually negative) of others by the connotation the words take.
• Repetition: “'Yes, Yossarian. That's right. Yossarian. Yossarian? Is that his name? Yossarian? What the hell kind of name is Yossarian?'”(78) “Major Major Major Major” (82) The repetition of words throughout a character's speech is a common occurrence throughout Catch-22 and gives all speech a fast-paced feeling. The dialogue becomes less important and more like ramblings and character development rather than anything of depth. The repetition also adds to the feeling that many of the characters are categorically insane which very well may be due to their behaviors and constant claims that one or the other is crazy. The repetition in the name Major Major Major Major, later referred to as just Major Major rather than his full name, is purely for a humorous aspect and strips the character of much of the respect the reader may have had for his as he is not as nonsensical and inane as many of Heller's other characters.
• Symbolism/ Personification: The dead man in Yossarian's tent actually refers the the deceased Lieutenant Mudd's personal belongings (although the commanding officers deny him ever existing) which none of the men laid claim on prior to his death. Yossarian often speaks to his things as if he were actually there and even refers to him as “a pest”(22). However when Yossarian's new “roomies” easily dispose of Lt. Mudd's belongings which concerns Yossarian that he could be disposed of just as easily (which is intensified by his belief that everyone is out to kill him). The Man in White is a symbol of the government bureaucracy in the war. The man in white is a soldier in a full body cast and is thus unrecognizable. He is replaced every so often however the men never notice this and believe it is the same man (despite that he has “died” many times). This is to show the way soldiers are treated as generic units and constantly replaced with little second thought.