Catch-22

We have read many novels that classify as satirical war novels. The Catch-22 is one of those
rare novels which, even though being 60 years old, has struck such a chord with readers that
its very title has passed into a common term. Still, The Catch-22 stands out by interpreting
what might be considered as anti-war thoughts and beliefs, not by highlighting the violence
and suffering but rather pointing out the absurdity of war itself.

The novel portrays the life of multiple Air Force officers, mainly that of Captain and
squadron's lead bombardier Yossarian, through whose point of perspective we experience the
meaning of the Catch-22 within the story. To put it simply, Yossarian is well aware of the risk
that war brings, that being the prospect of death, so he sets himself the goal to do everything
in his power to get to the end of the war alive. However, his superior officer Colonel Cathcart
wants to receive the rank of General, and in his eyes, this can be accomplished by making his
men fly more and more missions to impress his superiors. They get to the number 80, which is
considerably more than the original 25 that Yossarian and his fellow pilots were supposed to
fly. Seeing how the supposed "end" of the war distances away from him, Yossarian tries to
get out of service or at least in a hospital bed so that he would not need to fly any more
missions. He becomes pretty good at faking liver condition severe enough that he would be
sent to the medical tent to rest and heal, but not so much that he would need to go under a
knife. Elsewhere he destroys his radio headset to ensure that he has to return to his base
before reaching the enemy.

Alongside Yossarian's various attempts to escape military service, multiple subplots are
revealed to us. Most notably, mess hall officer Milo Minderbinder runs a syndicate in which
he makes enormous sums of money from transporting food across Europe by his fellow pilots
who think that they are also getting a share, but that is later revealed to be incorrect. Another
story features his friend Nately who falls in love with a beautiful prostitute whom he meets in
Rome, and even though she is rather indifferent towards him at first, he continues in trying to
sway her through their romantic encounters, which are sometimes disrupted by her little sister
she eventually falls in love with him too. Unfortunately, Nately is killed on his very next
mission, and his beloved blames Yossarian for Nately's demise, trying to stab him multiple
times after he tells her the tragic news. Although these are secondary stories that start as mere
anecdotes, they represent significant elements in the story and portray post-war American
society in its way.

The Catch-22 in the story itself is presented as a law that states that if any soldier feels that the
effects of the war made him insane, he can report this to his squadron doctor, who is duty-
bound to send anyone who is crazy home. However, if one does just that, he presents himself
as sane because any insane person would not proclaim that he is insane. This circular logic is
so apparent that we can use Catch-22 nowadays to represent some form of bureaucracy or
authority that makes us feel helpless because even though they seemingly present us with
choices, they trap us in Ouroboros of one choice nullifying the other. For example, we can see
a Catch-22 in job interviews where employers cannot accept a person because he lacks
experience, but by doing so, they deny him from gaining that experience from working for
them.

In the final part of the story, we can find Yossarian wandering the streets of Rome, devastated
by the loss of his friend Nately. Later he is arrested and offered a choice from his superior
officers either he will face court-martial or be sent home with an honorable discharge, which
would mean he would reach his goal of getting out of the war alive, but there is a catch. He
would need to support the 80 mission policy for every pilot, putting other pilots in the same
position of danger as Yossarian. So, in the end, he decides to give himself a third option
rejecting the Catch-22 and deserting the army, starting a new life in Sweden not controlled by
other people.

While certainly visible, the terror, violence, and other classical themes of the war play second
fiddle to the absurdity and circular logic we see throughout the novel. This single piece of
writing, both incredibly witty and disarming, remains to this day one of the most easily
recognizable and relevant works of American satire.