Abstract：Joseph Heller is an American black humorist writer whose works are based on real life. He focused on revealing major themes of the society and disclosed the dissident forces which crushed and tortured people in the modern society. As a result, his works had certain symbolic significance. As his most famous masterpiece, Catch-22 caused a huge sensation in the literary world when it was published. It was regarded as a classic work of black humor and had a great influence on literature. 

 This paper firstly discusses the author's background, the background and content of the novel and the previous and current research situation. Then it introduces the origin and development of black humor, laying the groundwork for understanding black humor in Catch-22. Finally, it elaborates the black humor in the novel from three aspects: Catch-22 military regulation, linguistic features and characters in the novel. The author of this paper explores black humor reflected in the novel through analyzing language and characters and the aim of this paper is to provide enlightenment for better the understanding of the essence of black humor by appreciating the novel Catch-22.

Key Words:  Black Humor  Catch-22  Joseph Heller

Contents

Abstract

摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Introduction to Joseph Heller-1

1.2 Overview of Catch-22-1

1.3 Literature Review-2

1.4 Aim And Structure-4

Chapter Two Artistic Features and History of Black Humor-5

2.1 Origin and Development of Black Humor-5

2.2 Definition and Artistic Features of Black Humor-5

Chapter Three Black Humor Reflected in Catch-22-7

3.1 Black Humor with The Rule of Catch-22-7

3.2 Black Humor in Language-8

3.2.1 Paradox-8

3.2.2 Ambiguity-9

3.3Black Humor in Characters-9

3.3.1 Yossarian-9

3.3.2 Cathcart-10

Chapter Four Conclusion-12

References-13