Irony in Catch-22 by Joseph HellerAccording to the Merriam - Webster dictionary "Irony is 1.) the use of words to express the opposite of what one really means 2.) inconsistency between the actual outcome of a sequence of events and the expected outcome" (380) In Catch-22 the type of irony Heller uses is the second definition "inconsistency between the actual outcome of a sequence of events and the expected results" (Merriam - Webster's Dictionary 380). For example in Catch-22 Heller writes "In reality, there were many officers' clubs that Yossarian had not helped build, but he was more proud of Pianosa's" (18). You would expect Heller to write that he was most proud of the club he built, but he says the opposite and that's the irony. Catch-22 is totally based on the use of words like these. Heller keeps the reader on their toes through the use of crazy combinations of words and phrases. People never hear stories the way Heller tells them. This is the irony of Catch-22, out of the ordinary and complete in the way events normally happen." Joseph Hellers Catch-22 is a novel that deliberately sets out to show that we live in an absurd universe. In the world that Heller creates the feeling that we feel like an outsider and yet, in the middle of the card, something can only happen if certain conditions prevent that condition from being realized, preventing it from happening." (Colmer 211) Works Cited Colmer, John. Colerige at Catch-22. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1978Heller, Joseph. Capture-22. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1955 Merill, Robert. Joseph Heller. Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1987Nagel, James. Critical essays on Joseph Heller. Massachusetts: G. K. Hall & Co., 1984 Potts, Stephen W. Catch-22 Antiheroic Antinovel. Massachusetts: Twayne Publishers, 1989The Merriam - Webster's Dictionary. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974