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.