That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened

Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 contains a troubling moment where Yossarian sexually assaults Nurse Duckett in the hospital. The scene, however, contrasts with Heller’s clearer condemnations of assault elsewhere in the novel, particularly the rapes in the Eternal City and Aarfy’s escape from punishment. He...

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Main Author: Ian M. Rogers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: European Association for American Studies 2021-07-01
Series:European Journal of American Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://journals.openedition.org/ejas/16924
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spelling doaj-6e07bb23c9f1431a815ce09fc4d0eb102021-08-03T07:22:30ZengEuropean Association for American StudiesEuropean Journal of American Studies1991-93362021-07-0116210.4000/ejas.16924That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something HappenedIan M. RogersJoseph Heller’s Catch-22 contains a troubling moment where Yossarian sexually assaults Nurse Duckett in the hospital. The scene, however, contrasts with Heller’s clearer condemnations of assault elsewhere in the novel, particularly the rapes in the Eternal City and Aarfy’s escape from punishment. Heller builds on this thematic use of assault in Something Happened by having Virginia Markowitz, a rape victim, exhibit more complex symptoms of rape trauma. These more successful treatments of assault as an embodiment of power abuse suggest that the Nurse Duckett assault should be viewed as a conflicting outlier of the assaults Heller elsewhere condemns.http://journals.openedition.org/ejas/16924Joseph HellerCatch-22Something Happenedsexual assaultraperape trauma syndrome (RTS)
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Ian M. Rogers
spellingShingle Ian M. Rogers
That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened
European Journal of American Studies
Joseph Heller
Catch-22
Something Happened
sexual assault
rape
rape trauma syndrome (RTS)
author_facet Ian M. Rogers
author_sort Ian M. Rogers
title That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened
title_short That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened
title_full That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened
title_fullStr That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened
title_full_unstemmed That Sounds More Like Something Aarfy Would Do: Conflicting Portrayals of Sexual Assault in Catch-22 and Something Happened
title_sort that sounds more like something aarfy would do: conflicting portrayals of sexual assault in catch-22 and something happened
publisher European Association for American Studies
series European Journal of American Studies
issn 1991-9336
publishDate 2021-07-01
description Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 contains a troubling moment where Yossarian sexually assaults Nurse Duckett in the hospital. The scene, however, contrasts with Heller’s clearer condemnations of assault elsewhere in the novel, particularly the rapes in the Eternal City and Aarfy’s escape from punishment. Heller builds on this thematic use of assault in Something Happened by having Virginia Markowitz, a rape victim, exhibit more complex symptoms of rape trauma. These more successful treatments of assault as an embodiment of power abuse suggest that the Nurse Duckett assault should be viewed as a conflicting outlier of the assaults Heller elsewhere condemns.
topic Joseph Heller
Catch-22
Something Happened
sexual assault
rape
rape trauma syndrome (RTS)
url http://journals.openedition.org/ejas/16924
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