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| 14254414492 | Captain John Yossarian | -the protagonist and hero of the novel -he is not a typical hero because he does not risk his life to save others and rather is primary goal throughout the novel is to avoid risking his life whenever possible -although he flies and lives with the men, he is marked as an outsider by the fact that many of the men think he is insane -nobody recognizes his Assyrian name either, which just adds to the outcast nature of his character -a squadron bombardier who represents the individual -views the war as a destructive tool to both institutions and their supporters -while his arguments about self-survival seem unusual and even paranoid, they sometimes possess an amazing amount of common sense and lucidity -he protests when Colonel Cathcart continuously increases the number of missions that Yossarian must complete -at the end of the book, he decides to flee rather than face an unjust court-martialing hearing | 0 | |
| 14254414493 | Chaplain Albert Taylor Tappman | -the squadron's nice but ineffectual chaplain -he is kind and weak-willed, but he firmly believes in trying to save human life, particularly Yossarian's -enjoys his isolationism in the woods despite the black presence of his assistant and his questions about God, life, and creationism -outside of his little world, though, problems arise -he appeals hopelessly to Major Major and Colonel Cathcart to stop the ongoing increase of required missions -he is also wrongfully interrogated about absurd incidents such as the theft of a plum tomato and Colonel Cathcart's insincere condolence letters | 1 | |
| 14254414494 | Aarfy | -Yossarian's navigator even though he gets lots wherever he goes -name alludes to a dog "AARF" -infuriates Yossarian by pretending that he cannot hear Yossarian's orders during bombing runs -he has an annoying habit of getting in Yossarian's way during the time of a crisis -although he has never had a real relationship with a woman, he is self-proclaimed expert on romance -he has never paid a woman for sex -he rapes and kills Michaela in Rome by throwing her out of the window -he doesn't get arrested, but Yossarian does for being AWOL | 2 | |
| 14254414495 | Captain Black | -a cold-blooded officer -very insecure -he starts the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade to get back at Major Major for taking his promotion -made up a rumor that Major Major was a communist -does not let Major Major sign the Loyalty Oath so people think he is disloyal -eventually, his idol, Major -- de Coverley puts an end to such foolishness | 3 | |
| 14254414496 | Colonel Cathcart | -a ruthless, cold-blooded, ambitious officer, unintelligent officer who is in charge of Yossarian's squadron -his goal in life is to become a general and he tries to impress his superiors by bravely volunteering his men for dangerous combat duty whenever he gets the chance -he is determined to get attention for himself -he continuously raises the number of missions that the men must fly to obtain leave -in the end, he makes a dirty deal with Yossarian to try to cover up his illegal number of missions -as he tries to scheme his way ahead, he considers successful actions "feathers in his cap" and unsuccessful actions "black eyes" | 4 | |
| 14254414497 | Clevinger | -an idealistic member of Yossarian's squadron -firmly believes in concepts such as country, loyalty, and duty and argues with Yossarian about them -a Harvard graduate -argues with Yossarian about his tactics to try to avoid flying more missions -always questioning everyone about deep issues, Colonel Scheisskopf constantly recruits cadets to testify against him, although Clevinger cannot be charged with any crimes -one day, Clevinger mysteriously disappears and is presumed dead -by the end of the book, Yossarian assumes that Clevinger has come to his senses and has deserted -goes missing on a milk run to Parma | 5 | |
| 14254414498 | Major Danby | -the timid, goggle-eyed group operations officer -before the war he was a college professor and now he does his best for his country -at the end of the book, he encourages Yossarian to run away to avoid being court-martialed for rejecting Colonel Cathcart's and Colonel Korn's "odious" deal | 6 | |
| 14254414499 | Doc Daneeka | -the medical officer/the squadron's insensitive doctor -feels very sorry for himself because the war has interrupted his lucrative private practice in the USA -he refuses to listen to other people's problems -he's one of those people who always has to have it worse than someone else -first person to explain Catch-22 to Yossarian -he refuses to help any of the men with their illnesses or problems and evokes "Catch-22" as an excuse not to ground the men -a hypochondriac himself, he is wrongfully declared dead because he is supposedly in McWatt's plane when it crashes | 7 | |
| 14254414500 | Dobbs | -a co-pilot -seizes controls from Huple during the mission to Avignon, the same mission on which Snowden died -he wants Yossarian to help him murder Colonel Cathcart (hoping this will keep the number of missions from rising), but then decides he doesn't want to anymore after he completed his sixty missions -killed on a bombing run because an intelligence report was actually right for once | 8 | |
| 14254414501 | General Dreedle | -a grumpy, old, nasty general in charge of the wing in which Yossarian's squadron is placed -victim of a private war waged against him by the ambitious General PP Peckem -taunts General Peckem for his veneer of sophistication -he hates his son-in-law (General Moodus) and tortures him by keeping a beautiful nurse | 9 | |
| 14254414502 | Nurse Duckett | -a nurse in the Pianosa hospital -a good friend of Nurse Cramer -she despises Yossarian at first, but later she pursues a passionate fling with him -she enjoys flirting with the other men -she eventually leaves Yossarian for a doctor | 10 | |
| 14254414503 | Dunbar | -a friend of Yossarian and his wardmate -the only other person who seems to understand that there is a war going on -decided to live as long as possible by making time pass as slowly as possible, s0 he treasures boredom and discomfort -enjoys shooting skeet to kill time -he tells Yossarian about his strange dreams, which Yossarian passes on to the ward psychiatrist -after realizing that the solider in white is empty, he is "disappeared" by the doctors | 11 | |
| 14254414504 | A. Fortiori | -latin for "with greater reason" -in the hospital for a stone in his salivary gland -Major Sanderson mistakes Yossarian for being A. Fortiori, and sends him home instead of Yossarian after diagnosing he was crazy | 12 | |
| 14254414505 | Kid Sister | -the *****'s younger twelve-year-old sister -she constantly imitates her big sister and follows her around -after everyone is driven out of Rome, Yossarian returns to look for her -assumes Yossarian, who breaks the news to them, is responsible for Nately's death | 13 | |
| 14254414506 | Colonel Korn | -Colonel Cathcart's willy, cynical sidekick and sometimes competitor -makes most of the strategic decisions that Cathcart then claims are his own -at the end of the novel, when Cathcart and Korn offer Yossarian a deal to be sent home, it is revealed that Korn has been more or less controlling his boss since the beginning of the war -he also joins Colonel Cathcart in trying to coerce Yossarian into making the dirty deal to cover up the illegal number of missions | 14 | |
| 14254414507 | Kraft | -a man killing at the bombing of a bridge at Ferrara -Yossarian blames himself, as he ordered the planes back after they missed the first time | 15 | |
| 14254414508 | Luciana | -name means "light" -a beautiful girl Yossarian meets, sleeps with, and falls in love with during a brief period in Rome -Yossarian spends a great deal of the second half of the book looking for her without success -sees right through Yossarian -Yossarian foolishly tears up her address after she leaves him and he never sees her again | 16 | |
| 14254414509 | Major Major | -was supposed to be named Caleb, but was named Major Major by his cruel father -Henry Fonda lookalike -he gets persecuted for no reason/doing things right -name keeps going on and on (like the cyclical nature of this book) -he majors in English history, but this makes everyone upset so he switches to American literature but the damage has already been done -supremely mediocre squadron commander -he is promoted to major on the first day he is in the army because of an IBM computer error -painfully awkward -will only let people see him in his office when he is not there (this is the Catch-22 that he created) -his promotion to squadron commander by Colonel Cathcart distances him from the other soldiers, reducing him to loneliness -banished away to a trailer where he is forced to sign piles of useless papers -eventually, he pretends to be "Washington Irving" and pits the two C.I.D. men against each other for his own amusement | 17 | |
| 14254414510 | McWatt | -a cheerful, polite pilot who often flies Yossarian's planes -craziest man in Pianosa because he is perfectly sane and does not mind the war -likes to joke around with Yossarian and sometimes buzzes the squadron -he enjoys infuriating Yossarian by flying his airplane just a few inches over Yossarian's tent -once, during combat practice, Yossarian loses his temper with McWatt and threatens to choke him to death -McWatt becomes frightened and realizes that Yossarian is indeed going insane -he accidentally slices Kid Sampson in half -commits suicide by crashing into the side of the mountain | 18 | |
| 14254414511 | Milo Minderbinder | -a fantastically powerful mess officer -an unscrupulous but very shrewd businessman in the squadron and the owner of M&M Enterprises -controls an international black market syndicate and is revered in obscure corners all over the world -expands his business by arguing that everyone has a share of the syndicate and should support him -he ruthlessly chases after profit and bombs his own men as part of a contract with Germany -he insists that everyone in the squadron will benefit from being part of the syndicate and that "everyone has a share" -he takes his job as a mess officer very, very seriously, and as a result the troops in Yossarian's division eat better than any others -makes the terrible mistake of buying the entire crop of Egyptian cotton and loses all of his profits since there is no market for the cotton -after attempting to destroy the unwanted crop, Milo decides to bribe the government into buying it from him -tries to pass it off as cotton candy but Yossarian says that it was gross -later, he tries to transfer control of the syndicate back to the army so he can fly missions again, but Colonel Cathcart persuades him to continue running it by offering him more planes and medals (manipulation) | 19 | |
| 14254414512 | Mudd | -generally referred to as the "dead man in Yossarian's tent" -was a squadron member who was killed in action just two hours after his arrival in Pianosa before he could be processed as an official member of the squadron and even unpack his bags -as a result, he is listed as never having arrived, and no one has the authority to move his belongings from Yossarian's tent -remains unknown and unclaimed -Yossarian bemoans the wrongful, immediate death -"Yo-yo's Roomies" move Mudd's stuff out of the tent | 20 | |
| 14254414513 | Nately | -a good natured, 19 year old boy in Yossarian's squadron -one of Yossarian's co-pilots -comes from a wealthy home -falls in love with a ***** in Rome while staying at a specially rented apartment -he pursues her to no avail until one night when he and his friends rescue her -after a good night's sleep, she awakens and falls in love with him, too -unfortunately, Colonel Cathcart threatens to send Nately home without the ***** unless he continues to fly more missions -Nately is killed on a bombing run because of an intelligence report that was actually right for once just after he tells Yossarian that he will probably manage to survive after flying so many missions -generally tries to keep Yossarian out of trouble | 21 | |
| 14254414514 | Nately's ***** | -the beautiful ***** who Nately falls in love with while in Rome -she treats Nately with apathy and resents his attempts to regulate her life -when Yossarian hits Nately in the nose and tells her the news of Nately's death, she becomes extremely vindicative -after doggedly following him back to his camp, she tries to kill him with a butcher knife | 22 | |
| 14254414515 | Old Man in Rome | -a disgusting old man that Nately meets -he is guilty of having thrown the flower that claimed Major -- Coverley's eye -he is strongly anti-American and pro-Italian -he is an opportunist; he is pro-whoever has conquered Italy -his ugly, grotesque features painfully remind Nately of his own father, who is handsome and well-mannered | 23 | |
| 14254414516 | Orr | -Yossarian's often-maddening roommate -a gifted fix-it man who is always constructing little improvements to the tent that he shares with Yossarian -his strange habits include putting apples and horse chestnuts into his cheeks, installing new luxuries such as running water into his tent, and crash-landing every mission -he almost always crashes his plane or is shot down on combat missions, but he always manages to survive -Yossarian dismisses him as crazy, but one day Orr disappears after another typical crash-landing -at the end of the book, Yossarian realizes that he had tricked everyone into thinking that he was crazy so he could escape without being caught -"nose" in Hungarian -"Orr" you could do this -a literal rowing oar | 24 | |
| 14254414517 | General PP Peckem | -the ambitious, special operations general who plots incessantly to take over General Dreedle's position -however, ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen continuously throws out his correspondence because they are too verbose -after much effort, he succeeds in displacing General Dreedle, only to have General Scheisskopf become his superior -he believes he alludes to Fortinbras | 25 | |
| 14254414518 | Lieutenant (later Colonel and then Lieutenant General) Scheisskopf | -name is German for "shithead" -helps train Yossarian's squadron in America -shows an unsettling passion for elaborate military parades -tries to get Clevinger into trouble for unknown crimes -upon becoming a colonel, he works under General Peckem, who despises Scheisskopf for his ignorance and stupidity -he is accidentally promoted to Lieutenant General due to an oversight and misunderstanding of memos by General Peckem -upon this, he sends out commands ordering all of the men to march | 26 | |
| 14254414519 | Snowden | -the young gunner whose death over Avignon shattered Yossarian's courage and caused him to experience the shock of war -Snowden died in Yossarian's arms with his entrails splattered all over Yossarian's uniform, a trauma that is gradually revealed over the course of the novel -becomes a recurring memory of Yossarian's -Snowden's death reminds Yossarian of just how frail the human body can be, especially in wartime -his secret was that man is matter, and without spirit they are nothing | 27 | |
| 14254414520 | Solider in White | -a body completely covered with bandages in Yossarian and Dunbar's ward in the Pianosa hospital -the body terrifies the men -he is believed to be dead by many, including Yossarian, and is later proved dead by the doctors -Dunbar was "disappeared" for creating conspiracy theories about the solider in white near the end of the book -represents the way the army treats men as interchangeable objects -when, months after his death, he is replaced by another, identical soldier in white, everyone assumes it the same person | 28 | |
| 14254414521 | Corporal Whitcomb | -the chaplain's atheist assistant, and later a sergeant -hates the chaplain for holding back his career and makes the chaplain a suspect in the Washington Irving scandal -he hopes to take over the chaplain's job someday despite being an atheist | 29 | |
| 14254414522 | Wintergreen | -the mail clerk at the Twenty-Seventh Air Force Headquarters -he is able to intercept and forge documents and thus wields enormous power in the Air Force -he continually goes AWOL (Absent Without Leave) and continually gets punished with loss of rank -a low-ranking official -each time he went AWOL, he was caught and sentenced to dig and fill up holes six feet deep, wide, and long for a specified length of time -the job isn't steady, he says, because he loses it each time he finishes his sentence and he has to go AWOL again for him to get it back -one day he struck open a water pipe while digging in one of his holes and almost drowned to death before he was fished out nearly unconscious -word spread it was oil, and Chief White Halfoat was kicked off of the base and was transferred to Pianosa where he replaced Lieutenant Coombs -he believes that acting out this cycle of crime and punishment is his duty as an American soldier | 30 | |
| 14254414523 | The Texan | -an annoying soldier who keeps the men from staying in the medical ward to hide out from the war -he is an extreme nationalist -blind patriotism -he always talks to the Soldier in White -feels that "people of means" (white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Americans) should be given more votes than people without means (everybody else) | 31 | |
| 14254414524 | Major -- de Coverley | -the fierce, intense executive officer of the squadron -revered and feared by men -people are afraid to ask his first name, even though all he does is play horseshoes and rent apartments for the American forces in the cities they have taken -he was wounded in the eye by Nately's old man by a flower during a parade in Rome | 32 | |
| 14254414525 | Kid Sampson | -a pilot in the squadron -killed by McWatt on accident when he buzzes the beach on which many soldiers are lying or swimming -his death horrifies many of the onlookers -loss of innocence | 33 | |
| 14254414526 | Nurse Cramer | -works in the hospital on Pianosa with Nurse Duckett -Nurse Duckett's best friend -stopped speaking to Nurse Duckett because of her affair with Yossarian, but she still went everywhere with Nurse Duckett because she was her best friend -Nurse Duckett's break-up with Yossarian pleases her | 34 | |
| 14254414527 | Theme: Power of Bureaucracy/Big Institutions, Rankings | -the lives and deaths of the men in Yossarian's squadron are governed not by their own decisions concerning dangerous risks but by the decisions of an impersonal, frightening bureaucracy -the men must risk their lives even when they know that their missions are useless, as when they are forced to keep flying combat missions late in the novel after they learn that the Allies have essentially won the war -the bureaucrats are absolutely deaf to any attempts that the men make to reason with them logically; they defy logic at every turn -for example, Major Major will see people in his office only when he is not there -another example, Doc Daneeka won't ground Yossarian for insanity because Yossarian's desire to be grounded reveals that he must be sane -several scenes of interrogation add to the bureaucracy's frustrating refusal to listen to reason -in one such scene, Scheisskopf interrogates Clevinger but will not let Clevinger state his innocence because he is too busy correcting Clevinger's way of speaking -in another such scene, the chaplain is taken into a cellar and accused of a crime, but the men interrogating him do not know what the crime is - they hope to find out by interrogating him -in these and other instances, Yossarian's companions learn that what they do and say has very little effect on what happens to them -all they can do is learn to navigate their way through the bureaucracy, using its illogical rules to their own advantage whenever possible -the ranking in this book is taken very seriously, because if you are ranked higher than somebody else, you are their superior and they are forced to listen to you -this can be seen with how when General Peckem finally gained control, but as soon as Scheisskopf got a higher rank, he lost all power and authority -Major Major, another example, outranks Scheisskopf and the latter is very confused about to act towards him -however, some characters in the novel figured out that the officers only have ranks and powers with their uniforms on -to represent this, Dunbar, Dobbs, and Hungry Joe threw the officer's uniforms out of the window and this got rid of rank symbolically -demonstrates that humans don't have rank without them -Heller goes to great lengths to point out the incompetence, pettiness, and corruption within the bureaucratic ranks -its officers are often blindly selfish, heartless, indecisive, deeply insecure, and wildly ambitious -they have no compassion for human life or any sort of morality -they answer only to those with more money and more power -accountability is often in question -the bureaucrats have no problem cutting corrupt deals with troublesome individuals to get rid of them, or sometimes just discreetly eliminating them -According to Heller, such a bureaucracy is the product of a modern capitalistic society | 35 | |
| 14254414528 | Theme: Dehumanization | -military officials hold human lives in their hands and as a result of this the actual men enlisted in the military are stripped of many basic human rights, primarily freedom and choice -Catch-22 demonstrates the ways that human beings are devalued and how the supremacy of the individual is ignored due to the decisions of uncaring authority figures, thus dehumanizing mankind -there are many examples of this loss of individuality/dehumanization in this novel | 36 | |
| 14254414529 | Theme: Insanity vs. Sanity | -insanity is a very broad term with different clinical, legal, and colloquial connotations -it can be used to mean how an individual cannot learn from his or her mistakes -it can also mean that one cannot conform to society or is simply foolish -every definition of the word, however, pertains to some deficiency in one's relationship with oneself or the world -if a man cannot get along with people in the world because he does not operate by the same set of logical principles, moral precepts, or social graces that the society around him accepts, that society might consider him insane -in the world of Catch-22, however, not only are the rules of society different from those of a non-military society, they are different from tent to tent, from person to person -there seems to be no standard for logical thinking, no universal moral compass -therefore, the fact that the men often characterize each other as "crazy" is no surprise; everyone has a different set of rules, so to each man, everyone else is not following the rules -sanity serves man by making him competent to solve problems and survive in his environment by being able to interact positively in his circumstances -therefore, a man like Yossarian who fakes illness to stay in the hospital and takes wild evasive action on every mission to avoid danger is, by some standards, quite sane; he is a survivor -in this way, Doc Daneeka is correct when he declares Yossarian sane for not wanting to fly more missions -Technical definitions aside, however, the men use the word "crazy" to describe the world around them because war is unfamiliar, unnatural, and cruel -they are on some level reacting with incredulity to the fact that they must go about their daily lives dealing with death and danger -paranoia and extreme fits of anger usually mark a person who is unfit to get along in his surroundings, but calm nonchalance amidst destruction and death can be seen as disturbing or perverse behavior, too -the different ways the men find to reconcile this disparity informs their respective worldviews | 37 | |
| 14254414530 | Theme: Absurdism/Existentialism | -Catch-22 involves exaggeration of certain traits or situations to the point of ridicule -just consider the absurd as anything that a person in his right mind would not do or ever imagine -absurdity and discontinuity show a distinct lack of cohesion and coherence and highlight the madness of the modern world -sometimes the strangeness in things is not the situation exactly but the fact that the situation seems strangely familiar -instances of deja vu define surrealism and increase the absurdity of a situation because one thinks he knows what will happen in the scene -characters in Catch-22 begin to do things that they normally wouldn't do in order to survive -they realize that doing things right will get them nowhere | 38 | |
| 14254414531 | Theme: Catch-22 | -one version of Catch-22 keeps Yossarian flying combat mission after combat mission: Doc Daneeka cannot ground him for insanity unless he asks, but if he asks to be grounded, then he must be sane -in this sense, Catch-22 is a piece of circular reasoning that keeps Yossarian trapped in a paradox that determines whether he lives or dies, even though it is made only of words -Catch-22 has many other permutations, most notably in the final, general principle stated by the old Italian woman in the ruined brothel: "they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing" -this description of Catch-22 proves what Yossarian has known all along: Catch-22 does not really exist -it is just a name made up for an illogical argument that justifies what is really going on -behind Catch-22 stands an unswerving principle: might makes right -Catch-22 also manifests itself even when it is not explicitly named -both the doctor and the Chaplain have been caught up in their own versions of Catch-22, since war drastically undermines the premises of their professions and yet calls upon them to practice those professions in the name of war -even Heller's style is in a way a Catch-22; the dialogue leaps haphazardly from one comment to another, often arriving at a point exactly opposite of that which the person speaking is trying to express **Catch-22 Definition** A dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions. | 39 | |
| 14254414532 | Theme: Language Manipulation | -language in Catch-22 is impotent -words lose their integrity because much of what the bureaucracy says is often a blatant lie -the men live in a world where their superiors have no problem deceiving them, and likewise begin to be insecure towards one another -thus, their speech often lacks emotion and truth -the men often communicate poorly and misunderstand the messages conveyed -so there is deficiency in both using and understanding language -words are just words in the world of Catch-22, and are not to be trusted -characters in Catch-22 often manipulate language in order to get what they want example: Milo talks to Colonel Cathcart about flying more missions, except he twists his words so Colonel Cathcart agrees he should make the other men fly the missions to make it look like Milo is, but he really is just running his syndicate still | 40 | |
| 14254414533 | Theme: The Anti-Hero | -not your typical hero -Yossarian is an example of an anti-hero -he is not a typical hero because he does not risk his life to save others and rather is primary goal throughout the novel is to avoid risking his life **The Hero's (Anti-Hero's) Journey** peak, complications/tests, low point, battles, rising action (it is a cycle) |  | 41 |
| 14254414534 | Theme: Alive or Dead (Appearance vs. Reality) | -soldier in white -Doc Daneeka was claimed dead by a piece of paper instead of a person -Yossarian's goal: stay alive or die trying | 42 | |
| 14254414535 | Foils to Yossarian | **Clevinger** -example of how he is a foil: Clevinger believes that the shooting is at everyone, but Yossarian believes they are shooting just at him -he is a highly principled, highly educated man **Dunbar??** | 43 | |
| 14254414536 | Antagonists to Yossarian | -at one point, Yossarian explicitly says that the enemy is anyone who would get him killed -for the most part, he's referring to his own administration, and not the Germans -Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn have especially vindictive grudges against Yossarian for subversive actions that they take rather personally -Colonel Cathcart even says that he hopes Yossarian gets killed on a mission so that it will relieve that the administration of its problem -Cathcart keeps raising the number of required combat missions, which is a pretty darn antagonizing act **Yossarian himself, Captain Black, Korn, Peckem, and Cathcart** **mainly Cathcart (because he delays Yossarian's wants for his own selfish gains) and Korn, but the other ones can be included in there as well** **Milo represents capitalism spiraled out of control and has a huge message, so he's not really an antagonist but could possibly be considered one, since he bombs his own squadron at one point and does things for he own selfish gain** | 44 | |
| 14254414537 | Similarities to Yossarian | **Chaplain** -ever since the first line of the book, the Chaplain and Yossarian have been connected -they both end up wanting to defy authority at the end, with Yossarian running away and the Chaplain staying behind to try and rid corruption -he runs into the hospital and lies about a medical condition much like Yossarian did | 45 | |
| 14254414538 | Yossarian's similarity to other literary characters | -Raskolnikov | 46 | |
| 14254414539 | Wisconsin Shingles | -the Chaplain lied to be admitted into the hospital when he said that he had Wisconsin Shingles -this is similar to how Yossarian lied about medical conditions in order to be admitted into the hospital -the Chaplain "sinned, and it was good" much like Major Major did when he signed Washington Irving on the letters so they wouldn't keep being sent to him -this is a reference to Genesis with original sin -he realized that he has to lie in order to break out of the Catch-22 -doing things right will get him nowhere | 47 | |
| 14254414540 | Abbott and Costello | -alludes to Clevinger's Trial -how Abbott and Costello argued within the video was how the authorities argued with Clevinger over his ways of speaking instead of letting Clevinger try and state his innoncence |  | 48 |
| 14254414541 | Washington Irving, John Milton, AT Tappman | -Yossarian is forced to censor letters written by enlisted men in the same hospital -this soon becomes monotonous and he begins censoring maliciously for please -to these documents he has ravaged, he signs Washington Irving, or alternatively Irving Washington -later, Major Major begins signing documents as Washington Irving, having heard about the C.I.D. man trying to catch the man censoring documents and signing them Washington Irving in the hospital -when Washington Irving grows monotonous, Major Major switches to Irving Washington; later on, he adds his own twist to the device, signing John Milton and Milton John before eventually returning to Washington Irving -eventually, the prime suspect in the case turns out (incorrectly) to be Chaplain Tappman as Yossarian once, during his initial censorship campaign, forged the Chaplain's name following the words "I year for you tragically" on a letter from which he had already censored all text except for the letter's opening "Dear Mary" -the C.I.D. men appear to represent dichotomies existent in American and bureaucratic culture -the first is that innocuous or harmless crimes are sometimes investigated by the government instead of more serious ones -the second is that society and organizational control systems (ex: bureaucracy) care more about punishing someone for a perceived crime than making sure that person actually committed the crime | 49 | |
| 14254414542 | Bomb Patterns | -when the men go on bombing missions, they often later learn that the real purpose of the mission was either to make an explosion that would be beautiful when it showed up on aerial photographs or to clear out foliage so that better aerial photography would be possible -the photographs themselves, then, stand for the way in which the dehumanization of war - in this case, the detachment of the upper levels of military bureaucracy from the tragedy of war - allows for its horrors to be seen merely for their aesthetic effects -Peckem coined this term and everyone began using it -the bombing planes fly in interesting and close formations to create spectacular aerial pictures when they drop their bombs | 50 | |
| 14254414543 | Yossarian's adverse attitude towards war | -the experience with Snowden on the plane dramatically changes Yossarian's attitude towards life and about the war -he looks only to protect his own life at the end, and to a lesser extent, the lives of his close friends -Yossarian turns against the military and refuses to wear a uniform, his justification being he simply "doesn't want to," perhaps because he was traumatized and depressed by Snowden's death -he believes that if death could happen to Snowden, it could happen to him too | 51 | |
| 14254414544 | Cotton | -Milo's business is incredibly profitable, with the single exception of his decision to buy all Egyptian cotton in existence, which he cannot unload afterwards -he tried to sell it to other entrepreneurs, who sell the cotton back to him because Milo ordered all Egyptian cotton -he later tries to dispose of it by coating it with chocolate and serving it in the mess hall -later, Yossarian gives Milo the idea of selling the cotton to the government, since "the business of government is 'business'." -aided by Yossarian, Milo comes up with the idea of selling chocolate-covered cotton to the government after he discovers that there is a glut of cotton in the market and that he cannot sell his own cotton -Milo's product hides the lack of a substance beneath an enticing exterior, showing the way in which bureaucracy can be fooled by appearances and is unable to measure the actual substance or real merit -alludes to the fruit in Original Sin | 52 | |
| 14254414545 | Setting for the Story (place and war) | Setting (Time): Near the end of World War II Setting (Place); Pianosa, a small island off of the coast of Italy. Although Pianosa is a real place, Heller has taken some creative liberties with it, enlarging it to hold all the action of the novel. | 53 | |
| 14254414546 | Guilt | -in this novel, the authorities can make ANYONE seem guilty by twisting the story -the authorities can prepare as many official reports as they want and can use them to make someone seem guilty or like a hero -also, people in this book are sometimes accused and found guilty of crimes that they haven't even committed -this alludes to the McCarthy trials where no matter what you were accused of you were found guilty | 54 | |
| 14254414547 | Heller's Writing Style (changes over the course of the novel, similarities to other author's, etc) | -at first, he writes in a sort of satirical manner, but the the writing style gets more serious with less funny moments throughout it -similar to the writing style of Kurt Vonnegut (Slaughterhouse-5) -Heller writes using a lot of Catch-22's -sometimes it is impossible to determine the order of events -Heller refers to flashbacks -repetition of words, phrases, and events -quick transitions | 55 | |
| 14254414548 | Clevinger's trial, Chaplain's trial, plum tomato, loyalty oaths, and what they represnet | **Clevinger's Trial** -Clevinger was put on trial because he couldn't keep his mouth shut -Scheisskopf asked if he was doing anything wrong -Clevinger wanted to respond, because he did ask a question -Yossarian advised him not to -Clevinger did anyways so he got in trouble for it -relates to the McCarthy Trials -no matter what you are accused of, you will be guilty -if you piss off the wrong people you are doomed **Chaplain's Trial** -the Chaplain gets interrogated -reminiscent of Clevinger's Trial -the Chaplain is on the "list" nobody wants to be on -the Chaplain is "going through Hell" -the Chaplain's test **Plum Tomato** -Colonel Cathcart gives the Chaplain a plum tomato before he leaves his office -the Chaplain is accused of stealing it -these tomatoes show the various convolutions that can take place throughout a bureaucratic system, and the way that innocent intentions can be taken and twisted without documentation or other support -the offer from the colonel, once forgotten, gives the chaplain no protection from the subsequent threats for "stealing" **Loyalty Oaths** -Major Major took Captain Black's promotion even though Major Major had no interest in it -Captain Black is going after Major Major because of this -Captain Black made up a rumor that he was communist -Captain Black does not let Major Major sign the loyalty oath so people think he is disloyal -purpose of the Crusade is to frame Major Major -ends when Major -- de Coverley says "Gimme eat" -represents/alludes to the McCarthy Trials | 56 | |
| 14254414549 | "Ou sont les Neigedens d'antan?" | -referring to "Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?" but really is a phrase "Where are the snows of yesteryear?" from Francois Villon's 1462 poem "Des Dames du Temps Jadis"or "Ballade of the Ladies of Bygone Times" -Villon used the phrase repetitively throughout the four stanzas of his poem to emphasize that the passing of time and beauty that once lost can never be regained -Yossarian's question that caused all of the questions to stop being asked -he uses this phrase in a disturbing and ironic manner to demonstrate the futility of war and the fact that once life is ripped from the body it can never be replaced | 57 | |
| 14254414550 | Time Distortion | -Heller writes with a distortion of linear time -the novel does not follow a chronological order, instead it jumps around a lot -alludes to a game of concentration where little bits of the puzzle are being revealed every single paragraph and chapter -eventually it all comes together and makes sense | 58 | |
| 14254414551 | The Eternal City | -nickname referring to the city of Rome -this is the darkest chapter of the novel, a descent into hell that the author presents through an oppressive series of vivid descriptions -the scene with the old woman sets the tone of desolation and hopeless loss -the madness of war has become terrible personal here -Yossarian finds the horrors of man's inhumanity at every turn **my opinion on this** I believe that this chapter is called "The Eternal City" because all of the horrors that were happening in Rome are eternal, they are not just exclusive to the city of Rome. All of these horrors are happening everywhere all around the world, and this demonstrates the inhumane actions of man that are all around the world. They will never go away and are therefore "eternal" because man is inhumane by nature. |  | 59 |
| 14254414552 | Moving the Ribbon | -Yossarian moves the bomb line when it stops raining on the map so that the commanding officers will think that Bologna has already been captured -as Clevinger points out, the men confuse cause and effect, believing that the effect (the bomb line moving over Bologna) would initiate the cause (the Allies actually capturing Bologna) -also, this scene shows that logic is relative -because the men believe that the mission will be cancelled if the line is moved over Bologna, moving it over the line makes it true -beliefs are not universal or absolute, but rather relative to the thoughts of those who believe them | 60 | |
| 14254414553 | Yossarian's Weakness | -at the end of the novel when Yossarian accepts Colonel Korn's and Colonel Cathcart's deal in a moment of weakness to escape the war | 61 | |
| 14254414554 | "...act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That's a trick that never seems to fail." | -Colonel Cathcart remembers the disaster over Ferrara when he had volunteered his men to blow out a bridge over the river Po -still standing after nine unsuccessful missions, Yossarian's squadron was sent out a tenth time to demolish the bridge -again the bombers were unsuccessful until Yossarian bravely swung back for a second pass and managed to hit the target -unfortunately, of the six other planes in Yossarian's formation, Kraft's plane blows up and the entire crew is lost -Yossarian is blamed for the loss -Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn cover-up the shameful incident by awarding Yossarian a medal for bravery and promoting him to captain -pretty much to protect themselves, because it looks like an administrative error to the people who would find out, and they wouldn't want anything happening to their reputation -Yossarian's attitude puts him outside the system -ironically, the further outside the system Yossarian goes, the greater the conventional rewards he receives | 62 | |
| 14254414555 | Seeing Everything Twice | -Giuseppe is the solider who sees everything twice -a delirious solider who creates panic in the hospital by shouting "I see everything twice!" -Yossarian imitates him (by seeing two fingers regardless of whether a doctor holds up one, two, or none) and later impersonates him when he dies -the soldier's family does not notice that Yossarian is not their son -war can change people so much that even their own families are confused as to who is dead and to who is living -the details about the solider who sees everything twice are purposefully left out to create the satire and meaning in the final scenes where the details of the soldier are glossed over by his parents, even his name | 63 | |
| 14254414556 | Form Letters | -Corporal Whitcomb's idea, but the Chaplain does not like it -Colonel Cathcart thought of a template letter of condolence: "Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. and Mrs. ___: Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father, or brother was killed, wounded, or reported missing in action" -these are very impersonal letters and represent the loss of individualism within people involved in the war, because they don't even have an individualistic character anymore to have a person letter sent home to their families -Cathcart believes that he will be put in the Saturday Evening Post for this -Cathcart only cares about his status and his rank, not the men that are being killed in the war | 64 | |
| 14254414557 | Black eyes, feathers in my cap, and unnecessary punctuation | -Cathcart makes a list of "black eyes" and "feathers in my cap" and lists his most embarrassing moments and his most monumental achievements -he has many more black eyes than feathers in his cap -he enumerates all the times Yossarian has been an embarrassment to his outfit and thinks that these different instances caused by Yossarian means that there is more than one Yossarian -he considers Yossarian dangerous because his name has so many "s" sounds and reminds him of bad words such as "subversive, socialist, communist, fascist" -black eyes: Ferrara, Bologna (bomb line moved on map during), Skeet range, Naked man in formation (after Avignon), Food poisoning (during Bologna), Moaning (epidemic of during Avignon briefing), Chaplain (hanging around the officers' club every night) -feathers in his cap: raising the number of missions, Chaplain (hanging around the officers' club every night) he writes "Yossarian" next to Ferrara and the Naked man in the formation, and he puts a question mark by the other ones questioning whether or not Yossarian was the cause of them (In reality, Yossarian was the cause of most, if not all, of Colonel Cathcart's black eyes) | 65 | |
| 14254414558 | and everybody had a share | -Milo says this in regards to his syndicate to defend his actions, stating that what is good for the company is good for all -he says this so people support him, even though this is a trick and really only he reaps the benefits of his syndicate -but if people knew this, they would not be willing to support Milo in all of his business-like actions | 66 | |
| 14254414559 | Fish Dreams/Major Sanderson | Major Sanderson: -a staff psychiatrist, Sanderson declares Yossarian insane but sends the wrong man home to the US in Yossarian's place -Sanderson is far more paranoice and neurotic than any of the patients he examines -demonstrates how self-centered people are (he talks about his problems instead of Yossarian's) -seems like everyone in the medical field has something wrong with them Fish Dreams: -Sanderson and Yossarian discuss the details of Yossarian's fish dream, in which hand holds the fish, what kind of fish, and sex dreams -finally, Yossarian explains to Sanderson that these dreams originated with Dunbar, and he snarls and leaves | 67 | |
| 14254414560 | Bologna | -Yossarian tries to delay the mission to Bologna by moving the bomb line and giving the squadron diarehha -during the mission, Yossarian tells Kid Sampson to turn back because of a "malfunction" in the intercom -Yossarian has to go back out into Bologna because the first formation did not get the job done -Yossarian endures one of his scariest flights ever -Yossarian hits the target with steely resolve and then is almost shot down multiple times by barrages of flak -many men in the squadron die and Yossarian's plane lands safely | 68 | |
| 14254414561 | Avignon | -before the Avignon mission, Yossarian begins the moaning epidemic because the mission's danger meant that he might never again sleep with a beautiful women -Avignon was the mission that Snowden was killed on and also the mission that changed Yossarian's outlook and attitude about war | 69 | |
| 14254414562 | Yo-Yo's Roomies | -these four young recruits become Yossarian's new tentmates after Orr's disappearance -Yossarian is frustrated by their constant good cheer and camaraderie -sometimes you get frustrated with people younger than you but then you remember how you acted at that age -"once they actually experience something they will be more like me" -reminded Yossarian of Donald Duck's nephews -Yossarian's attitude towards his roommates turned merciful and protective at the thought of Captain Black -they got rid of the dead man in Yossarian's tent; this shows that the youth can do something Yossarian can't because he is older | 70 | |
| 14254414563 | Uniforms | -uniforms in catch-22 are one of the only reasons to signify power and rank in this book -when Dunbar, Dobbs, and Hungry Joe throw the uniforms out of the window, they get rid of rank symbolically because the men do not have their uniforms so they don't have rank without them | 71 | |
| 14254414564 | The Deal and the End | -Colonel Korn and Colonel Cathcart offer Yossarian a deal that says that they will ground him and send him home if he will agree to like them -he will be promoted to major and all he will have to do is support the two colonels -Yossarian realizes that the deal is a frankly atrocious betrayal of the men in his squadron, who still have to fly the eighty missions, but he persuades himself to take the deal anyways -"odious" | 72 | |
| 14254414565 | Raskolnikov's Dream | -depressive Russian literature -justified in murdering someone because they are taking advantage of people | 73 | |
| 14254414566 | Does Catch-22 Actually Exist? | -it does not exist but everyone thought it did, so that was worse -"Catch-22 did not exist, he was positive of that, but it made no difference. What did matter was that everyone thought it existed, and that was much worse, for there was no object or text to ridicule or refute, to accuse, criticize, attack, amend, hate, revile, spit at, rip to shreds, trample upon or burn up" (409). | 74 | |
| 14254414567 | Fears of Joseph Heller | -not being able to ask questions -loss of individualism -McCarthyism -big business; big ANYTHING | 75 | |
| 14254414568 | Number of Missions Required | The Twenty-Seventh Air Force Headquarters only required 40 missions before you could get sent home. Wintergreen springs a Catch-22 on Yossarian about this, which states that one must do whatever his commanding officer tells him - no matter what the Air Force says. | 76 | |
| 14254414569 | Milo's secret he doesn't share with Yossarin | where he keeps his money | 77 |
