Catch 22, by Joseph Heller, was one of those novels which was always on my “I’ll get around to reading it” list. It seemed like an enigma, as I knew that this very book came up with the phrase of a Catch-22, a paradox in rules, regulations, procedures, or situations in which one has knowledge of being or becoming a victim but has no control over it occurring. So I was curious as to where the term came from.

I didn’t get the answer I was expecting (and it was not in the novel at all (the origin of the term) but rather it was discovered in my extracurricular research that the term was made up, to give the book a catchy title) but what I did not expect pleased me.

It is now off the Jeremy-Gilby-dot-com Reading List

Series Arc

This is part of a two book series, the second book is called “Closing Time“, I’m not sure if I will read the second book or not, as this book is concluded sufficiently.

Story

From the Back Cover


“Catch-22″ is like no other novel. It has its own rationale, it own extraordinary character. It moves back and forth from hilarity to horror. It is outrageously funny and strangely affecting. It is totally original.
Set in the closing months of World War II in an American bomber squadron off Italy, “Catch-22″ is the story of a bombardier named Yossarian, who is frantic and furious because thousands of people he hasn’t even met keep trying to kill him. “Catch-22″ is a microcosm of the twentieth-century world as it might look to someone dangerously sane. It is a novel that lives and moves and grows with an astonishing power and vitality–a masterpiece of our time.

The story is of John Yossarian, a Captain, and a Bombardier in a B-25, of the 256th Squadron of the Army Air Corps. (Two to the fighting Eighth power.) The setting is on the Isle of Pianossa, near Italy, in the Mediterranean, where the 256th Squadron runs raids into Southern Europe and Milk Runs to Italy and North Africa.
The story itself is hard to discern as the reading of the novel is far from linear. In fact scenes are re-read multiple times, and the time line can change in the midst of paragraphs. Also there are moments that happen a different times, but sometimes get melded together as one event. (For example, there are three separate bar fights, but they read like there is only one.) What is important though is that the Story is not important, it is just a tool to flesh out the Yossarian character and they choices (or lack there of) that he makes. I was pulling my hair out trying to make the plots linear, until I discovered Heller used several timekeeping markers. One was the minimum Number of Missions that everyone had to fly before they were shipped home. It was always increasing. (At the start of the Story it was under 40, at the end of the story it was at 80. The Narrator was occasionally dropping what Colonel Cathcart raised the minimum number of missions to, which was how the reader could mark time, and could discern when one plotline happened and if it was before or after another. One does not grasp this until about a third into the book.
After about 2/3rds of the book, events tend to move along more linearly.

Plot

I will try to list out the plots in chronological order
• Basic Training – Before Yossarian is shipped out to Europe, he goes through Officer Basic Training in the states, where he is marched around in parades, and almost court martial-ed. Some point after this, Yossarian is promoted to Lieutenant as a Bombardier in the 256th.
• Ferrara The 256th was tasked with blowing up a bridge outside the city of Ferrara. All the planes missed the target, but due to an error, Yossarian ordered his plane to come around again and take a second run, which he succeeded in destroying it.
  He returned to base and to cover up such a blunder his superiors promoted him to Captain, and gave him a medal.
• Bologna – Bologna was a hard city to bomb as it was encamped with many Anti-Air craft guns. The men do not want to fly it, as it is a death trap. The mission takes a long time to unfold, due to some passive-aggressive techniques of the Squadron. (Like Yossarian changing the war map in the Intelligence Room, suggesting that Bologna was already captured, or the first of the three barfights.)
  By the time the mission is run, the mission is quite easy as the AA cover had evacuated to another target.
• Rome I – Major _______ de Covery is well known for being one of the first officers to enter a captured city, as he weasles his way there to secure hotel rentals for the 256th, so they can take leave. Rome was one of those places, and in this conquest he injured his eye from debris thrown by a placating fan.
  It is in Rome where we meet Nately’s Whore, and where Yossarian and company get into much trouble, and where Yossarian falls in love (and for not the last time.)
  Somewhere around this point the minimum number of missions is raised to 40.
• Hospital – (This is where we start the story) Around this time, Yossarian figures out that he does not want to fly more missions, mostly because he believes that all the Germans want to kill him (which is true) – He does not care if the intent is not personal, as he takes being killed personally. This is the main animus of the book.
  Yossarian is in the hospital because of a made up condition with his liver. He says he cannot excrete, but no matter what test the doctors try, they come up negative. So Yossarian stays in the hospital indefinitely, until he is kicked out for causing a ruckus.
  It is during this time that Yossarian is tasked with censoring the enlisted men’s mail, he uses a very unorthodox method of censoring (to keep from getting bored), and proceeds to sign off as “Washington Irving” or “Irving Washington” if he gets bored with that. (As a result a CID man comes to investigate)
  During this time the minimum number of missions is raised to 45.
• Avignon – After the minimum number of missions is raised to 50, The squadron flies a mission to Avignon. During which the tail gunner in Yossarian’s plane (Snowden) is badly shot up by flack. This event is visited multiple times either in hindsight or retold, as it greatly affected Yossarian’s worldview of participating in this war. And he vows to never wear the uniform again. And proceeds to report naked to duty.
• Ceremony – Yosarrian is awarded his medal for Ferrara, but stands in the ceremony naked. He is not reprimanded, because he is the one being honored, and how would that look? Just before the Ceremony was the funeral for Snowden. Yosarrian did not attend, but instead watched from a far away tree, wearing nothing.
  After this, the number of missions is raised to 55
• Washington Irving – As a result of the CID’s investigation into the Washington Irving debacle, other people on the base learn of the tactic and begin signing off their documents as Washington Irving. Creating an epidemic. A second CID man is sent to watch the first CID man and as a rsult the two investigations wind up negating themselves. People who are innocent (like the Chaplain) are accused of being Washington Irving, because their inferiors are signing off documents as such.
• Mayor Milo – Milo Minderbinder is the mess officer, but not really, he is really the mastermind of a super huge network of traders and profiteers. In the process he starts a syndicate of partners, which eventually includes not only all of the Allied Forces but some of the German Forces, and Local Towns. He is elected Mayor of many towns, much to the surprise of Yossarian. He is so powerful, he is able to requisition fleets of planes and trucks for his operations, which he Headquarters from the 256th Squadron, and they are labeled as property of M & M Enterprises.
  Milo is so powerful, he actually has interests on both sides of military engagements, and at more than one point, bombed the 256th base with their own airplanes, as trade for a deal for German Goods.
  His excuse, “Its good for the syndicate, and everyone gets a share.”
• Plot to Kill Cathcart One of Yossarian’s colleagues wants to kill Colonel Cathcart, but needs someone to tell him that it is a good idea to do so, and asks Yossarian for that affirmation. Knowing this, Yossarian cannot agree, because even though he did not do the killing, he would be the catalyst.
  The Third Barfight ensues. And Yossarian goes to the Hospital for the nth time.
• Bologna III A third mission is launched at the city of Bologna, and during which Yossarian flashes back to Avignon and Snowden’s death, and panics on the plane, threatening to kill the pilot, McWatt.
  One of Yossarian’s friends, Orr, has to ditch his plane and ends up missing.
  McWatt, later, in a stupid stunt, kills another gunner, Kid Sampson in a gruesome death.
  McWatt then kills himself and his crew. And everyone thinks that the Squadron Doctor, Doctor Daneeka is on board. The fact that he isn’t needs to be covered up, since Daneeka was supposed to be logging mission time, but hasn’t since he is scared of flying and the pilots have been faking his participation in their crews, including McWatt’s ill-fated mission.
  Therefore, Doctor Daneeka is declared dead, he is replaced by the Air Corps, and his “widow” is given a boatload of money, and remaries, and in all his efforts to save his life, he loses it. He essentially disappears from the rest of the story.
  In anger of the incident, Colonel Cathcart raises the minimum number of missions, by 10, to 70, (five for the death of Kid Sampson and 5 for the death of the doctor who didn’t really die.)
• La Spezia In an effort to save Milo for his Syndicate Operations, he convinces Colonel Cathcart to allow others in the Squadron to fly his missions for him. Cathcart agrees, and Yossarian’s friend Nately is chosen to cover for Milo for a mission that ends up being deadly. Nately and Dobbs die in the process.
  Yossarian takes this badly, and goes to Rome again to tell Nately’s Whore, a woman that he wants to marry, of his demise. She reacts badly, and in her grief, attempts to kill the messenger. For the rest of the book, Yossarian is constantly watching his back in case Nately’s Whore finds him.
  In the process, the number of missions is raised to 80.
• General Scheisskopf – In an administrative blunder, the Lt from Yossarian’s cadet training is promoted to General over the 256th. He essentially turns the squadron into a parade ground.
• Climax – By this time, Yossarian is completely disobeying orders, and refusing to fly any missions, even though his mission rate has doubled. He becomes both a paraiah and a hero amoung the squadron, as everyone openly hates Yossarian for making their lives harder, but quietly admire him for bucking the system that does not ever perform in their favor.
  After being arrested in Rome for desertion, he is returned to the squadron, where Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn arrange a deal. Since Yossarian’s presence is a detriment to the squadron, and court martialling him would be a black eye as he is one of the most decorated men in the squadron. Allowing him to have what he wants would ruin morale completely, and only encourage his peers to do the same. So they come up with a compromise to both send Yossarian home, but make him a champion cheerleader of both the Colonel’s efforts in the 256th, including the insane raising of the minimum number of missions.
  At first, Yossarian agrees, but after he is attacked, again, my Nately’s whore, and hospitalized, he realizes he is just giving the excuse for the Colonels to keep doing what they are doing to the innocent men of the squadron.
  When news, from the Chaplain, comes that Orr is alive and well, in all placed Sweden, Yossarian gets an epiphany. Escape had been an option all along. The more people were acting crazy, and winding up in the most improbable situations, the more it made sense. Escape. Orr’s story showed him the way, and Yossarian immediately rejected the concept of a Catch-22, and escaped again to Rome, en route to neutral Sweden.

Characters

There were many characters in this book, and the way it was writen, there were no real minor characters, I will try to report on only the most explored
• Yossarian – The Hero
  When I first read Yossarian’s character, I thought he was a pre-model of Ferris Bueller, a passive-aggressive soldier who does not want to do his job. Then as we learn his motivation, we learn he has a heart, and a sense of morality. He is a flawed character, and hardly perfect, and I think that is why readers like him so much. He accepts his flaws.
  Ironically, Yossarian is probably the only sane character in the novel. Though his sanity is questioned on every page.
  While he is the Protagonist, there is no Antagonist character, but rather the antagonist is the Catch-22. The first is when he tries to get out of flying missions for reasons of insanity. The catch was thus:
  Only an insane man would want to fly missions.
  Therefore, only a sane man would not want to fly missions.
  Therefore, anyone wanting to be declared insane, to stop from flying missions, could not, because they were clearly sane.

  Ultimately, to beat his antagonist, he has to realize Catch-22 does not exist.

• Chaplan Tappman
  The second character we meet in the book, but only in mention. Yossarian likes him, in fact Yossarian says he loves him in the first line of the book. The Chaplan is probably the most innocent character in the book, but gets into the most trouble. Fittingly, the Chaplain delivers the news which transforms Yossarian’s character to his climax in his character arc.
• Milo Minderbinder – The Capitalist
  As I describe above, Milo does the impossible with his syndicate. And his presence makes this novel a true work of fiction. We, the reader, do not know the ultimate fate of Milo, but he does appear in the Sequel as a Military Contractor.
• Doc Daneeka
  He is the one who firsts introduces the reader to Catch-22.
  He brings the most life to the book, but in the end, his life ends in an ironic death, where he is forced to disappear.
• Colonel Cathcart – The Middle Manager
  He is not really a middle manager, but behaves much like the Middle Managers I know. He is the stimulus behind the increasing number of minimal missions. When some of his men actually achieve the goal, (like Hungry Joe, who has flown the most missions in the squadron) he sits on the paperwork, until he raises the missions again.
  His main goal to to be noticed, so he volunteers the Squadron for every dangerous mission, and pursues every cheap gimmick to improve efficiency, or get noticed.
  My read of him was very frustrating.
• Major Major Major Major
  Major Major was a bit of comic relief for me. He was born Major Major Major by his father, as a joke. And was a pariah for his whole life. When he joined the army, due to a computer glitch, he was a Lieutenant but his rank was Major. Eventually, Colonel Cathcart had to actually use him as a Major, and was in charge of one of the Airwings (Yossarian’s). The men resented him for that.
  Major Major decided to lay down some new rules. Which were a Catch-22 in themselves: No one may see him when he is in his office. If people wanted to see him, they could wait when Major Major was not in, But would have to be escorted out when Major Major returned to his office.
  Major Major is one of the first people, after Yossarian, to adopt the method of signing for everything as Washington Irving, as it stops paperwork from coming to his office. He is also the witness to the counter-productive effects fo the two CID men in the squadron trying to find Washington Irving.
• Snowden
  Snowden is one of the least known characters in the book, but has some of the most importance. We don’t know who he was, only the impact of his death on the main chraracter.
• Clevinger – The Foil
  Clevinger follows Yossarian all the way from Cadet School. Both get into the same amount of trouble. While Yossarian wants to stop fighting, Clevinger wants to keep fighting, as he is patriot. Each believes the other is crazy.
• Nurse Cramer
  Yossarian’s girlfriend, until she decides she wants to marry a doctor, and needs to stop dating Yossarian in case that doctor ever comes around.

Readability

This was a slow read for me, as it was deeper than it looked. There were parts of the book where I got a sense of de ja vu, as I felt like I had read the passage before. The fact was, I did, because it was repeated. It was a surreal feeling because the subject of de ja vu was part of the book. To give the reader that feeling was brilliant.
Add to the non-linear plot, it made for a headache, but my scribbling on a blank page to plot out the time line helped.
The language was not difficult to read, but the concepts put forth took some mental effort.
But the effort was worth it.

Believability

This was a satirical farce, and a good one. Lots of unbelievable elements, but that was the point. It showed absurdity by being absurd. There were parts where I laughed out loud at the situation, knowing it was so unbelievable, but it was such an enjoyment to have read.

Overall

This was a book that I’m glad to have read, I would not recommend it to many people; as most people I know who have read it, either did not finish or disliked it. In fact, in the forward, the Author suggested that the book got equal praise and criticism, which was a point of controversy when it was published.
Yet, it is on school reading lists to this day.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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