Thematically, Picture This has the most in common with Catch-22 of Heller's previous novels. Like its predecessor, it expresses moral outrage at the carnage and barbarities of war and highlights the symbiotic relationship between war and capitalism by examining how the greedy self-interest of individuals and nations begins and prolongs military conflict. In addition, Picture This shares with Heller's first novel a powerful awareness of the absurdity of life, particularly the injustice of a supposed justice system.

Therefore the trials of Socrates and Asclepias in Picture This are strikingly similar to the questioning of the chaplain in Catch-22 (1961), for both works reveal clearly the innocence of the accused and the paranoia of the interrogators.

Stylistically, Picture This may be likened to several of Heller's other works. Heller uses the device of alternating sections he discovered in coauthoring No Laughing Matter (1986) with Speed Vogel; however, this time...