Catch-22 Chapters 32-36

These chapters elaborate on three major reoccurring ideas from the story - death, religion, and corruption (exemplified by Milo). Chapter 32 begins very graphically when it is stated the Kid Sampson's (who was killed by a propeller) legs are still lying on the beach where his body was ripped apart. This image adds to the previous image of Snowden's death that haunts Yossarian. Although it seems that death is greatly troubling Yossarian, it seems to have become a very integral part of his person (due to the war). When new soldiers move in with Yossarian and suddenly remove Mudd's belongings, which symbolized death, he suddenly feels uncomfortable. It seems that he no longer sees the tent as his dwelling. He quickly absconds to Rome.

The chaplain appears once again in Chapter 36 and seems to have gained much more confidence that before. Ultimately however, he is still powerless to influence any of the happenings around the military base. The chaplain exhibits strong emotions for the first time as he becomes infuriated by the accusations of his crimes. He then goes to confront a military official, Colonel Korn, about the number of missions that a soldier much fly in order to be grounded, which seems to rise interminably. This uncharacteristic bout of confident, however, is futile as the colonel informs him that a new general is taking over the operations, and blatantly states that there is nothing anyone can do to change there policy for the number of missions.

Milo also returns in Chapter 35. He seems to be so conniving and powerful that he is able to use logic to turn other people in his favor. Through deception, he is able to get Colonel Cathcart to ground him for all future missions. Heller presents teh great disparity of power between the corrupt (having all the power) and the honest (having almost no power) to show the tremendouly negative effects that the war have caused even upon some of the most fundamental assumptions about human life.

Catch-22 Chapters 23-28

Author Joseph Heller creates a very interesting character, Milo, as a foil to the other American soldiers fighting World War II. Milo controls so much of the black market that he is actually working on both sides (American and German), which at times undermines the American bombing operations. He seems to be driven entirely by money and greed, without regard for his country. Milo even contracts German anti-aircraft guns to shoot down American planes, one of which was flown by a soldier who lived in Yossarian's tent. That soldier, Mudd, was killed and his belonging have kept the "stink of death" close to Yossarian. I wonder what he will do later in the story? Will he get caught and be charged for treason, or will he continue his less than honorable ways undetected throughout the war? More is revealed about the chaplain in chapter 25. Ironically, everyone seems to be very uncomfortable in his presence even though he is there to use his faith to comfort the soldiers. No one allows his into their lives and everyone shuns him. Even he begins to wonder about the existence of god. Through this encounter with the chaplain, Heller shows the readers that the war has truly taken its toll on even some of the most fundamental beliefs that many during times of peace taken for granted. War seems to overshadow even religion for a man who's occupation is dedicated to preaching the existence of a higher being. Situational irony is very prevalent in chapters 27-28. Yossarian feigns mental illness once again and this time the psychiatrist actually believes him and decides to send him home, something that he had wanted for a very long time. However, Yossarian switched his identity with a lower ranked man before the ordeal in hopes of getting sent home and as a result, that other man is sent home, while he stays on the front. Nothing seems to go in favor of the main character, which futher strengthens his cynicism.

Catch-22 Chapter 17-22

Heller introduces the element of religion into his perspective on World War II. Colonel Cathcart wants a chaplain, the religious figure, to give a prayer before each bombing mission to ensure the success of the mission. However, it seems that the colonel does not care too much for the lives of his men, as evidenced by his habit of continually raising the number of missions that one must fly until he is allowed to go home. Therefore, the chaplain objects and the practice is stopped because he says that god might seek to punish the colonel. When the chaplain does address the issue of the missions, the colonel ignores him. Later, when Corporal Whitcomb encounter the Chaplain, he is very hostile to the religious man, who then feels horrible that he cannot use his faith to improve the moral of the troops. The futility with which the chaplain tries to improve the lives of the men offers insight into the men's view of religious. It seems that religious has become an after-thought for the soldiers after they have seen so much death and destruction. If god really did exist, it would not have allowed the atrocities of war to occur in the first place. In chapter 22, Yossarian's "moment of truth" is revealed to the reader. Before the war began, Yossarian, like any other soldier, does not know what to expect. After seeing the horrible conditions that the war has brought, his opinions about it changed drastically. The one moment that completely turned him against the war was the mission in which one of his comrades was killed in action. That experience tormented him and haunted him for many days, which has developed his cynical and pessimistic personality.

Catch-22 Chapters 14-16

These three chapters showcase both a very prevalent technique that author Joseph Heller employs to negatively portray war and a lighter moment that takes place off the battlefield. After all of the hindrances both natural and artificial, Yossarian's bombing squadron is given the green light to bomb Bologna. Yossarian, still disgusted at the war and strongly believing that high casualties will result as it had before, orders his plane to desert the battle. Ironically, when he returns, he is surprised to discover that the bombing mission was a success that was met with almost no resistance. In this case, Yossarian's anti romantic view of war is not only pointless but also incurs upon himself a serious reprimand from his superiors. It almost costs in his life later on because he might not have missed a key target that called for a second bomb run, one that was met with great resistance and resulted in many fatalities (Yossarian luckily survived). Off the battlefield, Yossarian meets a young woman named Luciana, whom he quickly gets involved with. This is one of the lighter and more humorous moments in the story. This brief relationship both shows a side of Yossarian that the reader has not yet been exposed to and brings up another example of Catch-22. Yossarian is involved with a great war and likely has been for a long time (which allowed his current cynical perspective to develop). It seems that he uses this relationship to get away from the realities of war, but Heller causes the relationship to process strangely to show the reader the toll that war has taken on Yossarian's social abilities. The latest instance of Catch-22 can be seen in the relationship. Yossarian expresses a desire to marry Luciana (although they had only known each other for a few days) and proposes. However, Luciana rejects him on the basis that he is crazy to want to marry a woman who had already lost her virginity. Therefore, he does not actually desire to marry her. I find the concept of Catch-22 both very intriguing and a little baffling at times. I have heard it many times in other media such as TV shows but never new what it meant until I starting to read this book. I have already gained much insight into Catch-22 and the logic behind it and I hope that more instances of its application present itself later in the story. It looks like I will not be able to follow my original essential question for this book, but it will likely give me a broader view of war due to its very unique perspective. World War II was usually glorified, but this story completely removes all of the heroism and honor usually associated with fighting World War II.

Catch-22 Chapters 10 - 13

In these chapters, Heller focuses on the seeming inevitability of death during war. Although it seems obvious that with war comes death, I had not considered this perspective during my project yet. Because Heller focuses on the negatives of war throughout the his whole book so far, this topic is appropriate. In chapter 10, Yossarian reflects about a soldier named Mudd who was killed in action.Yossarian's tent still has his belongings and he believes that the tent is continually tarnished with the essence of death. This serve as a constant reminder to Yossarian that every time he steps onto a plane, he might never return.

Yossarian and the other soldiers under the command of Colonel Cathcart, have been volunteered by the commander for a very dangerous mission - the bombing of Bologna. Because of the importance of this mission, many sick men are not able to be grounded by the doctors and one of them expresses his cynical sentiment. The doctors sees the pointlessness of treating sick and injured men because after they are treated, they will be put back into active duty and will probably die anyways.

On the actual day of the mission, inclement weather delays the dangerous bombing runs and and the soldiers all hope that it doesn't stop raining, further strengthening the negative portrayal of war. Clearly none of the men want to be fighting the war. Yossarian, even goes as far as to poison the men's food to make them sick and unable to fly.

Many other texts that I have read about war, especially World War II, have glorified the concept of victory, often neglecting many of the atrocities that happened (not true of literature about World War I). However, Catch-22 so far has completely broken from that trend. Every member of the airmen camp have varying degrees of cynicism, ranging from slightly negative to people like Yossarian, who would even endanger the battle plans in order to be exempt from flying missions (he moved the line in the command post to behind enemy lines in order to trick the officers into believing that Bologna had already been captured).

Evolution of War(part1)

Based on prior knowledge on that provided by my Literature book in the sections about the Anglo-Saxons, Middle Ages, and Renaissance, I have been able to divide the purpose of war into a few major categories throughout Western history. The timelines are noticeably different when we talk about war in the eastern hemisphere. Anglo-Saxon times: War was usually waged for basic survival necessities. Throughout Europe, especially in the land that we now call England, wars raged almost continuously but were all minor in scale. Not much organization had been put into place in fighting war and they usually lasted short period of time although many following each other in succession. Strategies were generally disregarded. There were also not much in terms of organized military. Usually all the men and even some women from a village would fight all the people from anther village. Middle Ages: The reasons for war became more complex as basic necessities were becoming less of an issue. With the feudal system in place, people were generally able to live although great differences in wealth were present between the lords and peasants. Many different religions developed to maturity during this time and the conflict of ideas led to great wars fought between organized and trained armies. War were now not being fought by the ordinary men or woman in rare cases. Renaissance: As society developed further, war became an even more complex affair. Many different reasons now arose from the conflict of interests between different states from far away since improved communications greatly increased the perceived "size" of the world. The rejection of religion also became a leading reason for war. Technological developments also changed the face of war as weapons became deadlier, almost eliminating the effectiveness of the valiant knights of the middle ages. Knights in the renaissance became performers rather than warriors. I will continue this post regarding the evolution of war as I study further about the periods of history in my English literature book. After reading the introduction of each period, I will post the relavant details regarding war from that section.

Chapters 6-9

More insight into Heller's portrayal of war is revealed in these chapters. It is commonly said that something that is enjoyable and fun is over in the blink of an eye no matter how long the event actually lasted. In of the other hand, something that is dull, boring, and even pointless can seem like an eternity even if only one second of real time actually passed. Through Hungry Joe's eyes, war is something that falls in the category of the latter. Hungry Joe has flown many tours of duty and has flown the required number of bombing missions for each one. However, his superior, Colonel Cathcart always raises the number of missions necessary before one is allowed to go home so that Joe is never able to go home. It is similar to the cliche that one can never win a race or even finish that race if the finish line is continually moved. This portrays war as a interminable and pointless journey that takes its toll on the human mind and never seems to end. In face, the mental toll that the everlasting war has taken on Joe is apparent through his nightmares which subside when he has the faintest hope that he might be going home. That hope is always crushed instantly when the number of missions is increased. Although the characters introduced so far have all exhibited very different personality traits, one common thread that seems to run through them is a sense of disillusionment over the war, which has seemingly gone on forever. This sentiment is especially shared by Major Major Major, whose name results in much ridicule and much of his own distaste for life. The picture of war that Heller has painted so far in Catch-22 is not glorifying at all. Although not graphic, the realities of war are portrayed in a very negative light.

Chapters 4-5

After reading these chapters, I am really getting a sense of how Joseph Heller is trying to portray war as a means of solving problems. After five chapters, Heller still does not mention any of the reasons why the war is being fought both general and specific. He also deliberately neglects mentioning any of the wartime strategies themselves and focuses solely on Yossarian's view of war as a solider. It seems as it war has affected his sanity, but it is also unclear whether he is lucid or not after the mentioning of the contradictory rule "catch-22." Chapter 5 was the first instance in which "catch-22" was mentioned in the entire book. I am only beginning to grasp the meaning of this rule in respect to the story, but page 55 really made my ponder the significance of "catch-22." Yossarian desperately wants to stop flying bombing missions and every time he is doing so, he is always terrified for his life. Therefore, he always asks his superiors to ground him so he doesn't have to fly anymore. A pilot can be grounded if he is deemed insane by catch-22 as it would endanger the crew and mission. However, Yossarian is asking to be grounded. The act of asking is a sane act because almost no one wanted to flying bombing missions by common sense. Therefore, because Yossarian is adhering to reason, he is not insane and cannot be grounded from flying. I look forward to finding more about this rule and how it can be applying to other aspects of life in the coming chapters. Hopefully, I can find a better connection between the rule and my essential question soon.

The Art of War post 2(originally a comment)

This book, which is a tranlation of the original text, should be a relatively short read for me. I could not get my hands on a copy of Tzu's actual words nor would I be able to read it if I did. After completing the first few chapters of this book, I find that the translator's voice is very dry and dull. He/she uses very simple language that is accesible to an average reader, but does not contain much rhetorical impact, something that I am almost certain Sun Tzu had. The ancient Chinese were very conscious of the art of rhetoric and words were chosen very carefully to effectively invoke the most appropriate response from a reader. With this translation, I only seem to get "what" is being said and seem to lose all of "how it's being said. Therefore this translator only appeals to my logos and not my pathos.This story makes very prominent use of the cause and effect rhetorical mode to appeal to a reader's logos. In these first few chapters, Tzu focuses heavily on the effects of war on the state that is waging it. He presents many negative consequences that can befall a state while waging a long war, which imforms a reader NOT to do certain things. Tzu not only makes use of the simple cause and effect relationship, but also employs complex causual chains to illustrate his points.