Catch22 And My Antonia Contrast Essay, Research Paper

Perhaps the most directly conflicting characters in Catch-22 and in My

Antonia are Colonel Cathcart and Antonia. Both of these characters are ambitious

and each sees a road that runs ahead toward something called ?success? or

?wealth?, but the roads that they see are constructed differently. Colonel

Cathcart?s road is paved with ?feathers in his cap? and it is not cratered

with ?black eyes.? Antonia?s road is paved with the results of hard work

and it sometimes has potholes they are due to her inability to see the bad in

others.

The underpavings of the roads of the two people are quite different as well.

Colonel Cathcart?s road is built on a foundation of the unreasonable, and

sometimes irrational, demands that he can place on those serving under him in

order to please General Dreedle. The constant in creases in the number of

required missions and his planning of useless missions which he believes will

demonstrate ?what a good job we are doing? are all that this limited,

insecure man can think of to form the foundation for his road.

Antonia, on the other hand, builds her road on a base of an invincible

pioneer spirit that is characterized by the generosity with which she trys to

give Jim her ring and her compassion for the little green insect that will not

survive the winter. Throughout the book, she demonstrates that while her road

may have some potholes caused by her naivete, as with her disasterous romance

with Larry Donovan, she has self-esteem and the ability to deal with whatever

life has to offer.

Thus, these two novels depict two people who are traveling on roads through

life that could not be more different. Colonel Cathcart?s road is all about

appearances with no regard for substance, while Antonia?s road is so

unconcerned with appearances that she allows the local photographer to display

her illegitimate baby?s picture in his shop window. Antonia?s road is

clearly the superior one; she becomes the strong mother of a large loving

family. We can only imagine where Colonel Cathcart?s road will lead.