Catch-22: How it relates to Romanticism

Romanticism, the literary movement, expresses a more romantic way to look at the world. Authors begin to commune with nature during this time period and express, through their literature works, the nature of the world. Some pieces show the beauty of nature and people, but some, however, show the darker side. Their pieces have fanatical aspects to them because of these expressions making most pieces fiction and we see the start of the fantasy genre in these unreal works. Characters as well begin to be described more in the books and we see development of them as well as how they feel and what they dream. There is a sense of individualism because many authors focus on one character and follows them throughout the story. They describe what the characters see through descriptive descriptions. These fanatical works show a bit of delusion and craziness. The characters used are sometimes set apart from society with different beliefs or experiences. Many of these fiction pieces have an underlying theme which the author is trying to portray. All of these themes can be seen in the novel Catch-22, written by Joseph Heller.
In Catch-22, the setting takes place during WWII with the main character as a bomber named Yossarian. In this novel, he despises the war and constantly expresses how he wants to leave. We see him develop and begin to learn different morals and information through his partners in war. Like the pieces in Romanticism, Yossarian has an individual idea about the war while others around him try not to bother about it and continue to fight. This makes Yossarian seems apart from his colleagues, who make up the society around him at this time, because of his different opinion than theirs. The setting is described very descriptively because Heller wants to show his audience exactly what is going on in the war in order to express his idea. His idea, an underlying theme throughout the piece, recalls the thought against war. He describes the craziness and stupidity of the war by showing the audience what takes place in war. This creates the setting to be fanatical and crazy as well as deeply described. This craziness can also be seen through the catch-22 which forces all bombers to continue their missions. All of these elements can be tied together with Romanticism.