Something Happened Summary
Joseph Heller

Everything you need to understand or teach Something Happened by Joseph Heller.

Something Happened Summary & Study Guide

Something Happened Summary

The title of Heller's second novel reveals its major theme — that there is an unidentifiable something that happened to create anxiety and disillusionment in its Everyman protagonist.

Through Bob Slocum's middle-age crisis, Heller confronts us with the truth that as humans age, they lose innocence and confidence in their ability to shape their destinies. Success in the corporate world does not guarantee happiness. Dreams of family affection and harmony are quickly dispelled...

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Joseph Heller Biographies (5)

Joseph Heller

9,017 words, approx. 31 pages

Joseph Heller (1923-1999) was a popular and respected writer whose first and best-known novel, Catch-22 (1961), is considered a classic of the post-World War II era. Presenting human existence as absu... Read more

Joseph Heller

5,394 words, approx. 18 pages

When Joseph Heller learned that the New York Times Book Review's response to his first novel was negative, he and his family were terribly depressed. "Waiting for that review to come out," he later to... Read more

Joseph Heller

3,058 words, approx. 11 pages

Jospeh Heller was born 1 May 1923 in Brooklyn, New York. His father died in 1927. After graduating from Abraham Lincoln High School in 1941, Heller joined the Twelfth Air Force. He was stationed in Co... Read more

Joseph Heller

3,265 words, approx. 11 pages

Despite his relatively small output, Joseph Heller is considered a major contemporary author. His reputation rests principally on his first book, the experimental antiwar novel Catch-22, one of the mo... Read more

Joseph Heller

12,613 words, approx. 43 pages

Joseph Heller has established himself as a major satirist in the field of contemporary American fiction. A new phrase was added to the American lexicon from the title of his first novel Catch-22 (1961... Read more

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Something Happened SummaryJoseph Heller