Short-Answer Responses to Catch-22

Captain John Yossarian, the protagonist of Catch-22, functions as an anti-hero. Unlike your typical classical hero, such as Odysseus, Yossarian is the complete opposite. Yossarian is simply a man of common birth with no godly privileges or qualities bestowed upon him. His humorous displays of carelessness and impulsive reactions in search of pleasure (definitely not involving pleasure from serving his country) heavily contrast the qualities of a hero.

During a heated dogfight, Dobbs pleads Yossarian to help a fellow bombardier, in whom Yossarian shows a great deal of indifference and inattention, retorting with: “I’m the bombardier, I’m all right.” (299) Clearly, Yossarian does not care about the situation at hand, evident by his quick and sarcastic reply. If he did care about the situation and the life of the other bombardier needing help, he would have instantly known who Dobbs was talking about and would have been able to provide expeditious assistance. This shows, after many years being in service, he could not care less about his important duties in battle.

In another scene, the reader discovers that he “flings himself down passionately on top of Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife every week” (70) to avenge Scheisskopf’s actions toward Clevinger. His inexcusable weekly encounters with his Lieutenant’s wife is an obvious display of how he prioritizes objectives—racy affairs first, defending your country and cause last. The lack of importance given to tasks at hand and indifference shown in the heat of battle epitomize Yossarian’s character function as an anti-hers; the only objective laid out in his mind is to focus on his own survival. (263 words)

One of the roots of the conflict of this novel is the law of Catch-22. This la...

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...they are fighting consist of the original wave of people deployed, or are just replacements, evident by battle performance either increasing or decaying.

Another significant symbol is bomb spreads, mentioned vaguely throughout the book on various occasions. After discussing proper bomb spacing, Colonel Korn informs the squad of Colonel Cathcart’s intentions, which are “to come out of this mission with a good clean aerial photograph.” (328) Although the quote sounds relatively friendly, the meaning behind it is quite sinister. Aerial photographs, in the story’s context, refer to how the military’s concern of acquiring pictures of the damage caused by meticulously planned bombing runs are more important than accurate reports of how the war is actually going. In a nutshell, that means winning the war is less of a priority than spreading pro-war propaganda. (277 words)