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Michael Foucault points out that “Power is everywhere，not because it embraces everything, but because it comes from everywhere.” “Power,” insofar as it is permanent, repetitious, inert, and self-reproducing, is simply the omnipresent effect that comes from the complicated relationship of different visible and invisible forces. One needs to be nominalistic, no doubt: “power is not an institution, not a structure; neither is it certain strength we are endowed with; it is the name that one attributes to a complex strategical situation in a particular society” (Foucault, 1991: 93). In Foucault’s power theory, Panopticism and Discourse theory play an important role. In “Catch-22”, it is not difficult to find that the Air Force squadron is just like a panopticon, and “The ‘catch-22’ is just a snare that one cannot escape no matter how he tries” (Wang Zhuo＆Li Quanwen, 2010: 353). Like the tower in the centre of panopticon, it exists all the time. In other words, “catch-22” is “any paradoxical, circular reasoning that catches its victim in its illogic and serves those who have made the law” (Miller＆Phillips, 2011: 7). Thus, catch-22 also reflects discourse theory. It as an invisible instruction controls all soldiers.源/自:751:`论~文'网www.751com.cn
Body of my paper is mainly pided into three chapters. Chapter One examines the relation between Panopticon and power, builds up the connection between Panopticon and “Catch - 22”, and comes to the conclusion that the soldiers in the Air Force squadron is completely away from freedom. They are all imprisoned by the squadron, by the “catch-22”, or, even by themselves.
Chapter Two explores Foucault’s Power/Discourse theory, and describes the relationship between power and discourse, and the interaction between discourse and Catch - 22. In the micro totalitarian regime, nobody has the real power, and all people are just the puppet manipulated by the “catch - 22”. “Catch-22”, the epitome of the discourse, is the medium between authority and soldiers, by which, authority control the soldiers.
Chapter Three maps the relation between institution and power. They conspire with and support each other. Catch – 22 delineates this relation in Air Force, which is the vision in the real life. To be frank, everyone is in the panopticon, for the intangible force, whenever and wherever, is surrounding us. We never have the complete freedom. No matter what we do, we are restricted by rules, principles, experience or laws.
2．Literature Review
Joseph Heller is a famous American satirical novelist. He served as an Air Force bombardier in the Second World War. His first novel, Catch-22, remains his most famous work. “Heller uses the English pun ‘catch’ to mean that the ‘Catch-22’ is just a snare that one cannot escape no matter how he tries” (Wang Zhuo＆Li Quanwen , 2010: 353).
In China, critics talk about the novel mainly in three aspects: artistic technique, characters, and themes, in which, themes have been discussed most, such as black humor and grotesque. Liu Yujuan argues that Catch – 22, with regard to shaping of characters, arrangement of structure and style of language, is completely different from other genre’s works. Firstly, the way of humor he adopted is different from traditional humor. Secondly, in the shaping of characters, the novel uses the concept of anti-hero to doubt and question all the traditional value. These characters often mock what they respect, destruct what they build, deny what they confirm and reject what they accept. Thirdly, the anti-novel structure, made up of disordered form, is consistent with grotesque content (Liu Yujuan, 2004: 102). Zhang Hao’s “On the Linguistic Representations of Back Humor in Catch-22” discusses how the repetition, the linguistic contrast and representations of black humor in the novel Catch-22 serve its absurd theme with concrete, typical examples (Zhang Hao, 2007: 115). Tangwen, in “The Operation Mechanism of CASH in Catch-22— An Analysis Based on Foucault’s Power Theory”, points that the military rule in the novel exists as an authoritative power and exerts great influence, for even though invisible and ambiguous it is equipped with enormous adaptability. Michael Foucault made thorough and general research on power theory in the sociological field. With his analysis, it is noticeable that “Catch-22”, the intricate design of which resembles Panopticon, turns more powerful with its invisible/implement. The hero Yossarian, after being well informed of its mechanics, gains the access to escape from “Catch-22” (Tang Wen, 2011: 64).Wang Shihong examines the power relation in the novel and argues, “Power is the relationship, the network, the field, and the power is the incarnation of the depressing environment” (Wang Shihong, 2007: 116).