Milo Minderbinder

By Genald Ocampo, Sam Nguyen, &

Lizel San Juan

Who is Milo Minderbinder?

Mess officer at the U.S. Army Air Corps base
Controls blackmarket syndicate called M&M Enterprises, which delivers
goods transported by army planes
Gave coordinates to Germans to bomb his own base (Pianosa)
Mayor of Palermo (ch. 22)
Assistant governor general of Malta
Vice-Shah of Oran
Caliph of Baghdad
Iman of Damascus
Sheik of Araby
Worshipped as a god in some parts of Africa

What is his character like?

Immoral
Liar
Scumbag
Greedy
Sly
Genius
Ambitious

Physical appearance
In page 64, Milo is described as a simple face with disunited
eyebrows, large eyes, rusty hair, black eyebrows, and an unfortunate
reddish-brown mustache. Milo has a kind thin nose with damp
nostrils heading off the right ways pointing away from where he
looks

What is M&M Enterprises?

An internationally recognized syndicate for buying and selling
goods (i.e. Egyptian cotton) to generate profits
Named to seem as though it is controlled by two people but is
actually just owned by Milo Minderbinder
He sells his goods to everyone, including the German enemy;
However, he does not do business with
the Russians because he dislikes that
they are Communists

Milos Thoughts on War

He is only involved in the war to make profits. People from all
parts of the world want financial shares in M&M Enterprises and
being in the war allows him to make deals with them since he is
able to visit those areas at the governments expense.
Other than that reason, he doesnt seem to care about the war or
that lives are being lost as long as he gets his money.
Milo, unlike Yossarian, finds the war lucrative and doesnt make
it something he wants to escape from (He wants it all to last).
Overall, hes pretty indifferent to the cause of the war and
utilizes his military position to benefit himself.

What does Milo Minderbinder represent?

The greed of American capitalism and expansionism

The modern day businessman (Think Wall Street)
A symbol for extreme ambition (Think Macbeth)
An example by Heller to show the evils of the American Dream

Foibles & Evil of His Time

In Chapter 7, Milo thinks that the C.I.D. (Criminal Investigation Division) will
try to expose him for selling items on the market & tries to explain his
syndicate to Yossarian by stealing McWatts bedsheet, ripping it, and
redistributes it. This shows Milos idea of economics and cheats his way into
getting power.
In Chapter 22, Yossarian, Orr, and Milo take a trip to receive supplies and they
find out that how much control Milo has in different parts of the world. He
keeps insisting everyone has a share in his syndicate but he is the only person
who benefits from it
Chapter 24, Milo makes amends w/ Germans to shoot down American aircraft
which results in shooting his own squadron and injuring his men including
Mudd

Foibles & Evil of His Time Continued

As M&M Enterprises is about to collapse due to the lack of demand for Milos Egyptian cotton, he
solves the problem himself by bombing his own base where there is cotton piling up in his warehouse,
as Milo is condemned for betraying his own country, he shows his men all the profit he made and
they forgive him. This shows how slick Milo is into outsmarting his men and forgetting the crimes he
committed
When Yossarian sits naked to watch Snowdens funeral, Milo confronts him and they both grieve over
Snowdens death but Milo then grieves for his dying M&M Enterprise and gives him egyptian cotton
covered in chocolate, as Yossarian spits it back at his face he tells Milo to sell it to the government.
Although Milo thinks the idea is evil, he remembers how selfish he already is and realizes that there
isnt a law against making a profit

We're gonna come out of this war rich!

-Milo
You're gonna come out rich. We're gonna come out dead.
-Yossarian
In the end of the story, several characters end up dying because they stuck to doing their job while we
find out that Milo is one of the surviving characters and the only reason he survived is because he
cheated his own way into avoiding flight missions and gained power through business