Captain John Yossarian Characteristics

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The protagonist of Catch-22 is Captain John Yossarian. He is apart of Air Force Squadron 256, but most of his comrades seem to think he is insane and see him as an outsider. Yossarian has many strong character traits; he is caring, sympathetic, and helpful towards his friends. Despite that, he is not the typical hero/protagonist. He doesn't risk his life to save others or bravely fight for his country. In fact, he avoids risking his life and fighting at any cost. “After he made up his mind to spend the rest of the war in the hospital, Yossarian wrote letters to everyone he knew saying that he was in the hospital but never mentioning why. One day he had a better idea. To everyone he knew he wrote that he was going on a very dangerous mission.” (Heller 5). This shows his flaw of cowardness, with how he absconded from the war he is supposed to be fighting in by faking an illness, in order to protect himself from harm. Yossarian is a dynamic character. At first, he was a coward and focused on self-preservation. However, when he is given the option to save himself and be sent home, he refuses because he would be endangering his comrades and helping the enemy. This is a …show more content…

When he's offered the ultimatum of being sent home or being chastised, he doesn't make any decision and instead escapes the Squadron and goes to Sweden. “'I'm going to run away,' Yossarian announced in an exuberant, clear voice, already tearing open the buttons of his pajama tops. 'You can't run away. Where can you run to? Where can you go?' 'To Sweden.'” (Heller 467). By escaping, Yossarian won't be perturbed by the fact that his life is at risk and doesn't have to struggle each and every day to stay sane because he won't have to deal with all the chaos around him anymore. Yossarian attempts to finally gain control of his own life again instead of being controlled and used by the corrupt military he was part of for so

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