Catch 22 / Joseph Heller – Book Report
By Julia Berman
"It was love at first sight", says the first phrase in the novel "Catch 22" by Joseph
Heller. As for me, "love at first sight", isn't exactly the term I'd use to describe my
experience while reading this book. At first, I was puzzled. The first two or three
pages were almost unbearable for me - somehow, despite understanding all the words,
I couldn't realize what this book is all about. Then came the second stage of reading –
since my father wouldn't let me get away without reading what he called a
"masterpiece" – I kept on reading for about fifty pages more. And then, what can I
say, I fell in love. I couldn't drop the book out of my hands, and the period of time
that I considered using this book only as a bug-killer or a paper-weight seemed like
ages ago (and pretty embarrassing too).
The action takes place during World War Two in an American air base on the island
of Pianosa, as well as in Rome. The main character is Yossarian, who aside from
being sarcastic and paranoid, suffers from a severe fear of death. He is certain that
everybody wants to kill him:
"They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
"No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
"Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
"They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill
everyone."
"And what difference does that make?"
Yossarian is an Assyrian bombardier, a member of the 256th squadron ("that’s two to
the fighting eight power" Yossarian pointed out, "if you're thinking of writing a
symbolic poem"). He used to be a regular airman once, but due to the death of
Snowden, a fellow soldier in his own plane, he cracks up and can't face any more
bombing missions.
"He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission
each time he went up was to come down alive."
Unfortunately, colonel Cathcart who desperately wants to be a general keeps raising
the number of compulsory missions. Yossarian wants to be grounded, so he won't
have to perform any more missions. He tells the doctor, Doc Daneeka that he's crazy.
So that he'll ground him. But things are not so simple. Of course there is a catch –
Catch 22, which creates a constant conflict between Yossarian and Colonel Cathcart.
To be grounded, one must be found insane. However, asking to be grounded shows
the desire for self-preservation, a sure sign of sanity. For, if one were truly insane, one
would fly the missions voluntarily. Thus, no one is grounded. This is an attempt to
satirize the horrors of war and the power of the army as a bureaucratic institution, to
destroy the human spirit.
Aside from this conflict, which merely can be called a plot, the book contains dozens
of anecdotes, scenes and description assorted into a delirious puzzle. Some of the
other important sub-plots in Catch-22 are as follows:
Nately is a young, handsome, charming young man. His mother was "a descendant of
the New England Thorntons was a Daughter of the American Revolution. His father
was a Son of A Bitch." He is very young, and has an ideology typical to his age (so
does Yossarian thinks) – he is willing to sacrifice his life for his country. He's also in
love with a whore he met in Rome. She never really responds to his love, but once she
decides she loves him, Nately is killed in battle. Yossarian broke the news to her, and
the novel concludes with Nately's girl trying to kill Yossarian in violent rage.
Another plot is Milo's story. Milo Minderbinder is a mess officer; leader of the
syndicate (black market/underground business dealings). He aim, if you believe his
words, is to give the men the best meals in the world. Milo will do anything for profit
- He even goes as far as to bomb his own airfield for money. He leases his plain to the
Germans, and the planes bomb his own airfield. He will exploit any situation in a
business manner:
"Look, I didn't start this war, Yossarian... I'm just trying to put it on a businesslike
basis. Is anything wrong with that? You know, a thousand dollars ain't such a bad
price for a medium bomber and a crew. If I can persuade the Germans to pay me a
thousand dollars for every plane they shoot down, why shouldn't I take it?"
Milo buys a large quantity of Egyptian cotton, and he tries to get rid of it by covering
it with chocolate and serving it:
"This stuff is better than cotton candy, really it is. It's made out of real cotton.
Yossarian, you've got to help me make the men eat it. Egyptian cotton is the finest
cotton in the world."
"But it's indigestible," Yossarian emphasized. "It will make them sick, don't you
understand? Why don't you try living on it yourself if you don't believe me."
"I did try," admitted Milo gloomily. "And it made me sick."
This is very funny when Milo deals with cotton, but when Yossarian desperately
looks for syringe of morphine to relieve Snowden's pain (he is wounded and dying),
and all he can find in the first-aid-kit is a note saying "What's good for M & M
enterprises is good for the country. Milo Minderbinder", Milo's image turns ugly.
Other characters in the 256th squadron are:
Orr – he shares tent with Yossarian. He crashes every mission, which is why he's
considered a pretty bad pilot, but quite a handyman when it comes to fixing valves or
anything else. He is also considered crazy – he walks around with crab apples in he's
cheeks and chestnuts; a whore hits him with her shoe. Eventually he crashes and
escapes and then Yossarian and the reader understand that all his crushes were only a
preparation for his final escape from the war, and the whore hit him with her shoe
only because he asked her to.
"Bring me apples, Danby, and chestnuts too…bring me buck teeth too, and a
valve to fix and a look of stupid innocence that nobody would ever suspect of
any cleverness"
Maybe the most horrible character in the novel is Colonel Cathcart. He continually
raises the quota of flying missions for no other reason than personal prestige.
Cathcart's absurd yearning for glory is once again shown in the Saturday Evening Post
incident. He tries to copy another squadron's prayer meetings, not for morale, but for
the thought that he will be featured in the Saturday Evening Post. Even his reason for
not going forward is absurd; he refuses to accept the idea that enlisted men pray to the
same God as the officers. Cathcart is one of the novel's funniest characters, but his
essential inhumanity and selfishness create an equally despicable and ugly character,
and he is major Yossarian's antagonist.
The conflict between Yossarian and Colonel Cathcart is important and funny, but to
me the main conflict of the book is between different ideologies. One, represented by
Clevenger and Nately, is a will to serve your country and even sacrifice yourself in
the process. This is an idealistic and accepted point of view in any society, especially
in Israel. The opposite point of view is that of Yossarian and the old man in Rome
point of view – the one saying that "Man is what matters" and that living for
something is much better then dying for it:
"There is nothing so absurd about risking your life for your country," [Nately] declared."
"Isn't there?" asked the old man. "What is a country? A country is a piece of land surrounded
on all sides by boundaries, usually unnatural. Englishmen are dying for England. Americans
are dying for America. Germans are dying for Germany. Russians are dying for Russia. There
are now fifty or sixty countries fighting in this war. Sure so many countries can't all be worth
dying for."
"Anything worth living for," Nately said, "is worth dying for."
"And anything worth dying for," answered the sacrilegious old man, "is certainly worth living
for…Why don't you use some sense and try to be more like me? You might live to be a
hundred and seven too."
"Because it's better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees. I guess you're heard that
saying before."
"Yes I certainly have," mused the treacherous old man, smiling again. "But I'm afraid you
have it backward. It is better to live on one's knees than die on one's knees. That is the way
the saying goes.
"Are you sure?" Nately asked with sober confusion. "It seems to make more sense my way."
"No, it makes more sense my way..."
This philosophy might seem too selfish (to the non-pacifist reader), and particularly to
the Israeli reader, but it is important to understand its origin. The book is about the
Second World War, but it was being written during the Korean War, which was not
unequivocally right cause for Americans in general and for Heller personally.
The book ends with the victory of the pacifist point of view, but Heller allows the
reader to make his own choice. That is why this book became the bible of the evaders
of the Vietnam War – it's condemning a sacrifice of one's life for, what Heller calls, a
doubtful cause.
What do I think about this massage? Well, I can't quite answer this question yet, but
this wonderful book, Catch 22, certainly gives you something to think about.
Julia Berman