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.