Joseph Heller's most famous novel, Catch-22, was published on November 10, 1961. The novel was so successful that the title even got a place in the dictionary as a catchphrase . Catch-22 is a satirical war comedy that shows Heller's times when he was at war. Although Heller truly enjoyed the war, he uses the experiences he had to write the novel Catch 22 to become popular and successful among the anti-war community. Many people wonder what changed Heller's opinion on the war. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get Original Essay Joseph Heller was an American author born on May 1, 1923 in Coney Island, New York. His parents are Isaac and Lena Heller, and he has two siblings named Lee and Sylvia Heller. At the age of 19, Heller joined the war and became a bombardier during World War II. After the war he went to Columbia University to earn a degree in English. There are no statements from Heller as to why he changed his opinion on the war. Regardless of his opinions, Joseph Heller became popular in the pacifist community. Heller had many instances where he made jokes throughout the story, making people laugh and believe it was an anti-war novel, which it was. This isn't the only reason though. In an article by Charlie Reilly, he interviewed Heller and asked him some questions, but before that he stated: “Heller has composed a brilliant attack not only on the horror and madness of a war just ended, but also on the hypocrisy and the ferocity of the one underway. The McCarthy Witch Hunt." The McCarthy witch hunt was one example where the senator had the idea of ​​looking for people who practiced communism and sending them to prison or sending them back to Russia. Heller wanted to point out how this took away people's First Amendment rights. Not only did it focus on the McCarthy witch hunts, but it also focused primarily on the war and how terrible it was. He told stories of brutal episodes of the war, and he also told stories of the war that made the American military seem childish. His goal was to not only show his thoughts on the war, but also to show his lived experiences from the war. In the interview, Heller said, "I never wanted to write an autobiography, but part of my plan was to write a novel that had autobiographical elements." This quote from Heller tells us that a good part of his novel is based on true events experienced during the war. Knowing this, we can see how war and the military seem to act negatively towards other military members, or how they can drive people crazy. Although he initially liked the idea and the war itself, Heller saw how everything could change in an instant on the battlefield and decided to base his novel on that. One peculiar thing that somehow made Heller's book so successful was that it did not follow a specific plot. All Heller told were stories of cases he knew had happened during his war experience. One critic explains the situation in this quote, saying: “The chapters follow no obvious plan; time in the novel is confused because there is no narrative line." Muste said that readers would become confused, which could also mean that readers would be fascinated by the novel and would continue to want to read it until they understood the entire novel. This is how the novel was so successful, because many readers appreciated the cliffhangers left in each chapter. Another reason why this novel has become so popular is because.