Catch 22

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller is an interesting novel in the fact that throughout the entire novel the plot seems to go nowhere. It just seems to be a bunch of events strung together through the main character Yossarian. These events, however powerful, don’t seem to lead to much of a point, until the reader finishes. Then, out of nowhere, comes the meaning behind the book. Heller does a great job of ending the book. By having

Yossarian run away the meaning of the book is set in stone. Catch-22 is a novel which discusses the fact that the importance or value of one thing to one person, could be completely different to another, like in the cases of selling goods over human life with ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen, Milo Minderbinder with his wheeling and dealing and Doc

Daneeka and his description of what it takes to get home. Each character in the novel seems to have a certain way in which they judge their power, importance, worth and/or duty. Throughout the entire book, the only character that resembles someone with good opinions of himself is Yossarian. He appears to be the only character that realizes the insignificance the war effort is because almost all the people in the novel are fighting for the wrong reason. He says, “Am I supposed to get my ass shot off just because the colonel wants to be a general?”. Other characters, like ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen respond to questions with answer that seem to make no sense. In the case where Yossarian is requesting that Wintergreen get them off the flight to Bologna because they will probably die, Wintergreen comes back with the unbelievable answer “Then you’ll have to be killed. ...if your destined to be killed over bologna, then you’re going to be killed, so you might just as well go out and die like a man. I hate to say this, Yossarian, but you’re turning into a chronic complainer”. The importance of life is gone. Ex-P.F.C.

Wintergreen is more concerned about peddling his goods throughout the war then he is about the life of a friend. Another strange character in the story was Milo Minderbinder.

The person originally brought in to run the mess hall, who later had his own business, M

& M Enterprises, in which he traded things in order to gain stuff for himself. He collected stuff, like art and sculptures, that would be really valuable after the war. The only problem with this, is that it got to the point that he would trade things valuable to the