Yossarian - Major Motifs

Major Motifs

Major motifs include:

  • Sanity vs. insanity
  • The individual vs. society
  • Heroes and heroism
  • Absurdity
  • Paranoia
  • Language and meaning
  • The inefficacy of bureaucracy
  • The terror of war

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Famous quotes containing the words major and/or motifs:

    Uncle Ben’s brass bullet-mould
    And powder horn, and Major Bogan’s face
    Above the fire, in the half-light, plainly said
    There’s naught to kill but the animated dead;
    Allen Tate (1899–1979)

    Myths, as compared with folk tales, are usually in a special category of seriousness: they are believed to have “really happened,” or to have some exceptional significance in explaining certain features of life, such as ritual. Again, whereas folk tales simply interchange motifs and develop variants, myths show an odd tendency to stick together and build up bigger structures. We have creation myths, fall and flood myths, metamorphose and dying-god myths.
    Northrop Frye (1912–1991)