A Comedy of Absurdity and Chaos-A Brief Study on Joseph Heller's Catch-22 and His Black Humor

Catch-22,which is written by Joseph Heller,can be recognized as the "Modern Classic" of American literature,and this fiction uses a distinctive non-chronological third-person omniscient narration,describing the stories from different figures' visual angles.The novel features tragic content with comic form,anti-hero and illogical narrative structure.Catch-22,which no one can get out of,is not a simple rule;in other words,it's really a snare and this no-win situation exists in every corner of people's daily time.

The Absurdity of Happy Days

Happy Days,one of Samuel Beckett's renowned works,is remarkable for its absurdity.The paper approaches the predominant feature from such aspects as fragmented characters,disconnected language,peculiar structure and grotesque stagecraft.

Absurdity: Analysis of Features of the Style of Harold Pinter's Plays

Absurdity is the most distinctive feature of the early works of Harold Pinter. The nature of absurdity is the purposelessness of life without the balance and harmony between men and environment. This paper analyzes the distinctive style of Pinter to mainly analyze the application and reflection of the absurd style of Pinter in his plays, and highlight its expressing forms through the analysis on the plot, characters and languages.

Absurdity in Play, Reality in Life——on The Zoo Story

To most contemporary readers and audiences alike,The Zoo Story is an often-forgotten play;however,it is belongs to the category of the classics,which is mind-blowing,interesting and enjoyable.Considered as a representative work of"Theatre of the Absurd",it explores seriously the significance in humanity’s spiritual,moral,and intellectual life.The failure to communicate is graphically illustrated in the story of Jerry and the Dog,which may happen to almost everyone in the modern society.

Truth of Absurdity in Endgame

Endgame,the most difficult and elusive play by Samuel Beckett,sketches the post-war social spirit and norm.Absurd as the plot is,this paper is aimed at disclosing the truth of the world,of life,and of human nature covered in the setting of stage,the cyclical actions and the philosophic conversation.

Interpretation of absurdity by intertextuality： Comments on Donald Barthelme＇s The glass mountain

The paper focuses on the analysis of the intertexts to show the reality hidden inside Barthelme＇s The glass mountain. Barthelme is a representative of postmodernism. He employs typical writing skills, such as collage, fragments and discontinuous narratives, in The glass mountain to illustrate absurdity in the text. As a centerpiece of postmodernism, this fiction can be correctly interpreted by the way of intertextuality, which is a key to reveal the text＇s absurdity. Through such comparison, readers can understand that the purpose of absurd writing is to demonstrate reality in the modern world.

Out of Absurdity On the Ending of Catch-22

As one of the first and most original creations of literary postmodernism, published in the year 1961, Catch-22＇s （1961） position in American literature remains secure. Yet its ending has been held as unconvincing ever since its publication. Taking the overall structure, tone, and the theme of the novel into consideration, this paper aims to prove the credibility of this controversial part. It consists of five sections apart from an introduction and a conclusion. Section One provides general information on the life and works of Joseph Heller. Section Two traces the impact of existentialism and the generation of black humor to clarify the literary position of Catch-22. Section Three brings out the disputative opinions on the ending part. Sections Four and Five, try to prove Yossarian＇s final desertion a natural and convincing ending from different perspectives： Section Four analyses how Yossarian gains an entropic vision of the cosmos; section Five studies his existential vision of physical life and searches for the immediate factors that propel Yossarian＇s desertion. Section five also explains the ending＇s change in tone and structure. The conclusion summarizes the paper and points out the social significance of the novel.

The Absurdity in The Stranger

This article starts with the introduction of medium-length famous novel The Stranger by the eminent novelist and postwar intellectual Albert Camus.The analysis is conducted from three different perspectives:the absurdity of the essence of life,the absurdity of ethics and morals,and the absurdity of the trial,in order to explore the inner world of the protagonist Meursault.The novelette reflects the mental confusion and loneliness,indifference of people in the context of post-World War II.Paris was in a state of intellectual flux.The language of the novel is cold and concise,the“white writing”of Albert Camus;Roland Barthes called this style of language zero-degree writing.Meursault is a misfit on the edge of the society who keeps out of everything.The protagonist Meursault realized the absurdity and hypocrisy of society and the world.But he still sticks to his sincerity,appearing to be indifferent on the outside but gives his utmost respect to others without judgment on the inside.He calmly accepted everything that fate gives him,not afraid of being ostracize by society as a stranger,even if the threat of death cannot make him compromise.Camus said:“For me,therefore,Meursault is not a piece of social wreckage,but a poor and naked man enamored of a sun that leaves no shadows.Far from being bereft of all feeling,he is animated by a passion that is deep because it is stubborn,a passion for the absolute and for truth”.

Reality Behind Absurdity： The Myth of American Dream

In the twenty-first century, American dream remains an important element of the nation＇s identity, and it has been proven to be amazingly elastic and durable for hundreds of years, transcending time, space, racial, and class lines. This paper explores the concept of American dream via interpreting postmodernist writer Donald Barthelme＇s The Glass Mountain. By briefly reviewing the evolution of American dream and drawing parallel between the reflection of American dream in the fairy tale, and in Donald Barthelme＇s The Glass Mountain, this paper argues that American dream becomes a myth when it is decoupled from common good, and reduced to merely material pursuit. It does not represent ＂a better, richer and fuller life＂ any longer. Instead, it is deformed by the harsh social reality and degenerated into material possession and the means to fulfill this dream cannot be justified sometimes. Exploring the reality behind absurdity via interpreting the postmodernist techniques employed by Barthelme, the paper reinforces its argument.

The Absurdity of Pynchon＇ s Characters in The Crying of Lot 49

Having been named executor of her late boyfriend＇s estate. Oedipa Maas. the protagonist, a housewife, started her journey and soon found herself enmeshed in a worldwide conspiracy, meeting some extremely interesting and absurd characters, quite beyond her imagination and self-knowledge. These characters came from different walks of life and social classes, but all have some defects and deficiencies in one way or another, both physically or mentally. Meanwhile, they seemed to be busy involving themselves in some ridiculous and meaningless tasks or missions of work or life, lingering and struggling, with uncertainty and hopelessness for the future. In this way. Pynchon＇s The Crying of Lot 49 presents us a chaotic and meaningless postmodern society which gradually turns into decadence and entropy. These absurd and pathetic characters were exactly, without doubt, both products and victims of this materialized, alienated and depressing postmodern society. The fiction is humorous, obscure, and very complicated, involving politics, history., religion, science and art etc.. This paper is to analyse the absurdity of some main characters in this fiction.

On the Absurdity of " Mobile Phone Triggered Lightning "

That making phone calls had nothing to do with lightning strike was proved from the aspects of radio wave characteristics,receiving and transmitting frequency,power as well as the electromagnetic induction of mobile phones. And through assuming mobile phone could trigger lightning,the probable death toll disproved the absurdity of mobile phone triggered lightning. And we concluded that making phone calls in thundery days would not increase the probability of lightning stroke,and calls could be made in thundery days as long as in the safe position.

Reality Behind Absurdity——A Text Analysis of Donald Barthelme's "The Glass Mountain"

Donald Barthelme is known for his playful,postmodernist style of short fiction.In his The Glass Mountain,he created an absurd world shocking to readers.This paper explores the reality behind the absurd story based on the analysis of its the post-modernism features to better the understanding of the fiction.

Absurdity and Rebel Spirit in The Guest

Albert Camus,a French writer,was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1957.Many of his works reflect absurd philosophy and rebel spirit which can also be drawn from Camus' later masterpiece The Exile and Kingdoms.This paper focuses on,The Guest,one of the short stories in the masterpiece and analyzes Camus philosophy of absurdity and rebel spirit from the perspective of literary criticism.The discussion may help reader better understand Camus spiritual world and philosophy in his later short stories.

The Absurdity Art in Yossarian Survives

Joseph Heller, an American black humor novelist, is good at making use of various writing techniques to reveal the absurdity of the world and the living dilemma of people. His short story Yossarian Survives is a pretty example, which portrays an absurd picture of modern American society. Through some experimental techniques, it shows us the absurd nature of the world through the absurdity of its plot and characters.

The Absurdity in Beckett's Endgame

Beckett, as one of the most significant absurd dramatist, believes that life was absurd, beyond human rationality, meaningless, with its conception of circularity and non-meaning. In this essay, the author will analyze the absurdity in Beckett's famous play Endgame through the detailed analysis of the absurd form and motifs. The absurd form is reflected as following: first, there is just situation without usual dramatic plot; second, there is no detailed description of the characters; third, the setting is bleak and little, and the absurd motifs include: the absurd relationship of the human; the deep feeling of nihilism; and the absurd living state of human.

Silk Road Stories, Cosmetic Cures, Peking Pigskin, and Architecture Absurdity

The Silk Road has functioned as a trade route and a gateway for all manner of ideas and religions since before recorded history.Today,it may have lost much of its luster,but trains and trucks continue to carry electronics and raw materials on a road that once carried Jesuits and silk.In the thousands of years of history held in the footsteps along the Silk Road,there are millions of stories.We bring you three of them(see page 30).The

The Damaging Effects of Abstracting the Deep Aquifers’Groundwater in Jordan-Quality Constraints

The deep aquifers in Jordan contain non-renewable and fossil groundwater and their extraction is quasi a mining process, which ends in the depletion of these resources. Although aquifers in the majority of groundwater basins in Jordan are vertically and horizontally interconnected stratification in different water quality horizons with generally increasing water salinity with the depth is observed. Many officials and planners advocate the extraction of deep salty and brackish water to be desalinated and used in household, industrial, and agricultural uses. In this article, the quality of the groundwater in the different deep aquifers and areas in Jordan is discussed. The results of this study show that the consequences of the deep groundwater exploitation are not restricted to depletion of the deep aquifers but also that the overlying fresh groundwater will, due to vertical and horizontal interconnectedness of the different aquifers, percolate down to replace the extracted deep groundwater. This will cause the down-percolating fresh groundwater to become salinized in the deep saline aquifers, which means that extracting the deep brackish and saline groundwater is not only an emptying process of the deep groundwater but also it is an emptying process of the fresh groundwater overlying them. The results allow to conclude that any extraction of the deep groundwater in areas lying to the north of Ras en Naqab Escarpment will have damaging impacts on the fresh groundwater in the overlying fresh groundwater aquifers. This article strongly advises not to extract the deep brackish and saline groundwater, but to conserve that groundwater as a base supporting the overlying fresh groundwater resources, and that will help in protecting the thermal mineralized water springs used in spas originating from these deep aquifers. The increasing water needs of the country can be covered by the desalination of seawater at Aqaba, which is the only viable option for Jordan at present and in the coming decades.

Reexamining Positivity of Thinking in Waiting for Godot Through Camus’s Absurdism

Absurdity originated from French existentialism,and Martin Esslin,in categorizing Waiting for Godot as a theater of the absurd,ignores the positive aspects of Camus’s absurdism and regards that as an existential tragedy of mankind.However,the author Samuel Beckett himself did not approve of such a definition,believing that Esslin’s definition of theater of the absurd was too judgmental and pessimistic.Through the imagery of boots,ropes,hats and baggage in Waiting for Godot,Beckett reveals the rootlessness,constraint and agony of the minds of people born into absurdity in the early 20th century.The luck of Lucky is Beckett’s use of irony:people who have lost the ability to think for themselves escape the absurdity and dystopia of life and descend to slaves.Gogo and Didi,who are waiting and expecting,and thinking in the midst of absurdity,represent“Godot”,the symbol of hope.Their endurance in waiting,akin to Camus’s Sisyphus,underscores a form of existential defiance that challenges the notion of absolute pessimism in absurdist literature.

Postmodern Features in Donald Barthelme's The Glass Mountain

This paper aims to analyze some postmodern features shown in The Glass Mountain by Donald Barthelme,which could be roughly categorized into two types:1) Parody and collage in terms of the writing techniques;2) Absurdity,ugliness,and uncertainty in terms of the content.

An Appreciation of Black Humor in Animal Farm

Animal Farm,which is written by the British writer George Orwell,is famous for its incisive satiric writing style and has been considered as an actual political allegory.This paper intends to re-read it from a different point of view—to appreciate its black-humorous characteristics from the following five aspects—language games,detached narrative,circular structure,open ending and comic incongruity in characterization.