Catch22: Chapter 40-42

These final chapters of Catch-22 resolve some of the major issues caused by World War II in Yossarian's life. After Yossarian is arrested in Rome, he is brought in front of his commanding officers, who finally offer him the option of going home even though the reoccuring logical loophole Catch-22 does not allow to without consessions. However, he would have to act as a puppet for the Colonels, which would entail him betraying the men he served with. Ironically, this catch is not enough to keep Yossarian from considering the opportunity and actually decides to take the deal. However, Nately's whore decides to stab him again (which amost mortally wounds him again). This actually turns out to be the experience that makes him realize his mistake in taking the deal.

In the hospital, Yossarian is semi-conscious and encounters his previously deceased friends who make him realize that betraying them is morally wrong even if it means that he gets to return home. When he wakes up in the hospital he finds out that his only remaining living friend is dead, he now has nothing left. This actually acts as the final factor in helping him determine his decision. When he confronts the colonels, he standing up to them and assertively tells them that he will not take the deal. At the very end of the book, Yossrian decides to run to Sweden. Heller runs into the distance which symbolizes his freedom from all of the burdens of war, an appropriate ending to Catch-22. Throughout the whole book, the effect of war is the most important idea. The protagonist, Yossarian, has a very cynical view of war and by induction, human nature in general because of the horrible experiences that he has encountered. Death is an unavoidable reality in war and Yossarian is greatly affected by the death of his close comrads. Author Joseph Heller, effectively achieves his purpose of portraying the realities of war.

Catch22: Chapter37-39

This chapters showcase a change in Yossarian's characters. Before, he was always displeased at the wartime policies of this superior officers. He was utterly disgusted by his Colonel's policies of raising the number of missions necessary to leave the battlefield (effectiveness keeping all of his men in the warzone until the war is over). However, Yossarian always followed orders and flew the missions. In chapter 37, he decides to stop flying missions and for once his officers are actually understanding because Yossarian's friend Nately was killed. As time goes on Yossarian does still earn the enmity of his officers because he refuses to fly even non-combat missions.

An interesting break from the policies of war occurs in Chapter 38, when Yossrian encounters' Nately's female friend in Rome. She attempts to murder him, which is a classic example of "killing the messenger." This experience, which, severely injures Yossarian (stab wounds) physically, compounds to his cynical view of war and thus human nature. It is very ironic that Yossrian, fater fighting many battles, is unscratched, yet is so severely wounded in a non-combat related incident. It seems that the war has completely drained his ability to normally interact socially with others outside the battlefield.

The Stargate Connection

War is a common theme in many modern television programs. Science fiction shows especially those that involve extra-terrestrial beings give us a completely new perspective on the concept of war because they enlarge the battlefield to no just anthropocentric matters but also intersteller conflicts. New standards and morality questions undoubedly arise. Specifically, the series Stargate sg1 and Stargate Atlantis offer many good insights into both diplomacy and armed conflict between different races living on different planets. As a brief overview, the stargate universe is based heavily on Earth's mythology. A member of the parasitic race (a major antagonist) called the Goa'uld, Ra arrives in Ancient Egypt and abducts many primitive humans for slave labor on other worlds. The Goa'uld are in possession of an Ancient(another race) device called the stargate, which enables the instanteous travel both matter and energy through an established wormhole between two locations in the Milkyway Galaxy. There is a rebellion on earth and the Ra is banished from the planet. As ar result there are many humans living on other worlds in the galaxy who are in various stages of technological development in the present day. In the series Stargate sg1, colonel Jack Oneill portrayed by Richard Deal Anderson has a tendency to try to impose the ways of earth on the people from other worlds. He even goes as far to try to break thousand year old rituals held by the Jaffa (genetically engineered humans). Acting as his foil, Daniel Jackson, a civilian archeologist, usually respects the traditions of other races and their sovereignty. This showcases a sharp contrast in methodologies of approaching both diplomatic relations and war in space. In the series Stargate Atlantis, diplomacy and the war between humans and the Wraith (a hostile alien race that needs to feed on the human life force to survive) is even more pressing than in sg1 because the plot takes place in a completely different galaxy. Aspects of human wartime and peaceful diplomacy are used such as the Geneva Convention. Major John sheppard, the chief military officer of Atlantis (the base of operations in the Pegasus galaxy), tends to rejects earth laws in the war against the wraith. Once he sites that if the Wraith were present at the the Geneva Convention, they would start feeding on all the delegates.