BOUNDARY CROSSING AND THE INTERPLAY OF NORMALITY, ABSURDITY, AND MADNESS IN WAR LITERATURE (SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, CATCH-22, AND A MIDNIGHT CLEAR)

Abstract

In times of crisis, the very foundations and boundaries of humanity come under immense pressure, often leading to dramatic shifts and distortions. It is the violation of land and humane borders and boundaries that often thrusts individuals into war conflicts. Undoubtedly, the theater of war is not only deployed on the battlefield but is also a major theme in literary fiction. According to Viljoen (2013), boundary crossing involves overlooking the physical, moral, and psychological limits often triggered by war and its effects. This paper analyzes three seminal war novels – Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, and William Wharton’s A Midnight Clear – by looking at boundary crossing at times of war. It also focuses on the interwoven themes of normality, absurdity, and madness as the related themes. Each narrative reflects the blurred lines existing between the ordinary vs. extraordinary, order vs. chaos, and sanity vs. insanity. Each provides the opportunity to interrogate society and human experiences during war, highlighting the various techniques scholars have identified as boundary crossings in literature. The comparative analysis of the three novels is aimed at highlighting several recurring themes in them: the assessment of border and boundary crossing, its realizations in war literature, and its challenge to norms, as well as examining how the characters in these works contribute to the exemplification and problematization of normality, absurdity, and madness during the war.