Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 00:29:21 GMT

Chapter 1: THE TEXAN

The novel begins with Yossarian in the hospital. He suffers from a pain in the liver. The doctors do not know what to make of Yossarian’s illness. Yossarian is enjoying his stay. His meals are brought to him in bed, and he is served more food than at camp.

Yossarian writes letters to his friends and relatives, telling them that he has been sent on a "very dangerous mission," and then never writes to them again. While in hospital, Yossarian is given the dreary task of censoring letters written by enlisted-men patients. He finds this a monotonous job and begins to tamper with the material in these letters to keep himself amused. On one of the letters he signs the name of his group’s chaplain, Tappman. On others he signs the name "Washington Irving." A C.I.D man is sent into the hospital to find out who is responsible for the tampering of letters.

Dunbar, too, is in the ward. A Texan is brought in who is "good- natured, generous and likable" and neither Dunbar nor Yossarian like him. There is also a "soldier in white," a patient who is encased from head to toe in plaster and gauze. One day the soldier dies, and Dunbar and Yossarian charge the Texan with his murder.

The chaplain comes to visit Yossarian. He is genuinely concerned about Yossarian’s health. Yossarian confesses that he is not really sick.

Yossarian and Dunbar claim that they are well, and leave the hospital to escape the Texan. However, the C.I.D. man has fallen sick and remains in hospital.

Chapter 2: CLEVINGER

Yossarian lives in a tent along with his roommate Orr. Orr is described as "a grinning pygmy with pilot’s wings." He is very enterprising and has equipped the tent with a fireplace, running water and a cement floor. In the next tent lives Havermeyer. He shoots tiny field mice every night.

McWatt and Nately have a tent close by. McWatt is a "crazy" pilot who flies his plane as low as possible over Yossarian’s tent to frighten him. Nately is in love with a Roman prostitute. Another officer, Appleby believes in God, Motherhood, and the American way of life. Yossarian hates Appleby.

Yossarian is now out of hospital. Before he had entered the hospital, Yossarian had told Clevinger that some people were trying to kill him (Yossarian), but that he had no idea who they were. Yossarian believes that they will not succeed in killing him because he is a hero: "a Tarzan, Mandrake, Flash Gordon." Clevinger tells Yossarian that he is crazy.

Yossarian meets Doc Daneeka and asks to be taken off combat duty and sent home. Daneeka tells him that he must complete fifty missions in order to be sent home as Cathcart has raised the required number. Yossarian has only completed forty-four.

Chapter 3: HAVERMAYER

Yossarian imagines that there is a dead man in his tent. He complains to sergeant Towser about it, but the sergeant refuses to acknowledge the existence of the dead man. Yossarian tries to appeal directly to the squadron commander, Major Major; but the Major evades him by jumping out of the office window each time Yossarian comes to meet him.

Orr tells Yossarian that he walks about with crab apples in his cheeks because he wants to get big apple cheeks. Yossarian cannot understand why Orr wants big cheeks.

Daneeka tells Yossarian to accept life as it is: to "smile and make the best of it" as Havermeyer does. Havermeyer is a lead bombardier like Yossarian. He never takes evasive action while going into the target, and never misses. By comparison, Yossarian does not give a damn whether he hits the target. His only aim is to stay alive for as long as possible.

One night after Havermeyer has fired a shot at a field mouse, Hungry Joe comes running out toward him and fires shots into Havermeyer’s tent. In the dark, Hungry Joe falls into an open trench, and is discovered the next morning amid snakes, rats, and spiders. Havermeyer insists that Hungry Joe is crazy.

Chapter 4: DOC DANEEKA

Doc Daneeka is unhappy about being called upon to do service in the war. He prefers staying at home and making money as a doctor. He lives in constant dread of being transferred to the Pacific theater. He hates flying but must spend some flight time every month to receive his pay. He has his name forged on McWatt’s flight log for trips to Rome. This gets Daneeka into trouble later, when McWatt crushes his plane and Daneeka is believed to have been on board.

Educational sessions are held for the men, at which they are allowed to ask questions. But the Air Force top brass are alarmed when Yossarian asks a question about Snowden, who had been killed in a mission over Avignon; the educational sessions are subsequently stopped.

Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen, in the mailroom, identifies himself as T. S. Eliot on the phone to Colonel Cargill. Thus an entire new set of questions start circulating amid the higher officers. General Peckem is furious as he believes it is a prankster.

Chapter 5: CHIEF WHITE HALFOAT

Chief White Halfoat is Daneeka’s roommate. He is a "handsome, swarthy Indian from Oklahoma" who hates foreigners. Though he can barely read or write, he is appointed assistant intelligence officer to Captain Black. Chief Halfoat tells Yossarian and Daneeka about his family, who had an uncanny knack for finding oil. Oil prospectors would follow his family everywhere they went. This caused the family’s destruction.

Yossarian asks Dareeka whether he can ground someone in the affirmative. Yossarian asks the doctor if he would ground Orr since he is "crazy." Dareeka says he would if Orr asked him to. But, there is a catch, which the doctor calls "Catch-22": "Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy."

Chapter 6: HUNGRY JOE

Hungry Joe is an "emaciated wretch" who hungers not only for food, but also for women. He constantly tries to take photographs of nude girls. He tries to convince girls to pose for him by claiming that he is a photographer, working for Life magazine. However, his snaps never come out, either because he forgets to put film in the camera or turn on lights or remove the lens cover. Prostitutes were only too delighted to pose for him.

Hungry Joe was a war hero who had flown six combat tours of duty more than any other in the Air Force. Every night he is not sent on a mission, he has nightmares. As soon as he is put back in combat he is relieved. He then settles down into "a normal state of terror."

Yossarian thinks of Kraft who had been killed when Yossarian led his team of bombardiers a second time over Ferrara. Captain Flume, the public relations officer, who shares a trailer with Halfoat, lives in mortal dread of him. One night Halfoat threatens to slit open Flume’s throat. Though he is only joking, Flume takes the threat seriously, and is unable to sleep peacefully. Orr attacks Appleby with his paddle while the two are playing a game of Ping-Pong. It sets off a chain reaction in which Appleby punches HUNGRY JOEHalfoat, who in turn busts Colonel Moodus in the nose.

Chapter 7: McWATT

Yossarian is visited by Milo Minderbinder, the new mess officer. Milo has come to find out why Daneeka has asked for Yossarian to be given all the dried fruit and fruit juices he desires. Yossarian explains that he has a liver condition and has been advised to eat fruit. Yet Yossarian does not eat the fruit sent to him. Dunbar and Aarfy to eat most of it. Nately even takes a whole load of fruit to Rome and presents it to the prostitute, who in turn trades it on the black market for costume jewelry and cheap perfume.

Milo believes Yossarian is illegally exporting fruit and wants to be his partner. Yossarian turns him down. Milo wants to form a syndicate to do business in which every man will have a share..

Chapter 8: LIEUTENANT SCHEISSKOPF

When Clevinger and Yossarian were cadets in Santa Ana, Lieutenant Scheisskopf was their commanding officer. Lieutenant Scheisskopf suffers from chronic sinus trouble and has poor eyesight. Hence, he is never sent overseas in war time.

While the lieutenant is busy planning parades, his wife sleeps with every cadet in the squadron. Yossarian has affairs with both Mrs. Scheisskopf and the lieutenant’s mistress, Dori Duz.

Scheisskopf comes up with a master plan for his parades. He holds practices in the dead of night to keep this plan a secret. The men continually bump into each other in the dark at these practices. Scheisskopf wishes to win the parade which is held in every Sunday. His master plan, that the men should not swing their hands while marching, is a great success. He wins the parade and is elevated to the rank of First Lieutenant. He is hailed as a military genius.

Clevinger appears before an Action Board to answer the charges that Scheisskopf has placed against him. The Action Board hurls unanswerable questions at Clevinger, and gets angry when he cannot answer them. The bloated colonel is particularly harsh and uncompromising. He sentences Clevinger to fifty-seven punishment tours. Clevinger comes to the conclusion that the members of the Action Board hate him even more than the Nazis.

Chapter 9: Major Major

Major Major was born mediocre, achieved mediocrity, and had mediocrity thrust upon him. In his early years Major Major’s name was a source of great unhappiness to him. In a moment of mischief, his father had given him the name, Major Major. His mother dies of shock after hearing the name; his schoolmates shun him, and elders dislike him.

Major Major is elevated to the rank of Major because the computer reads his name as his rank. He is appointed squadron commander. Major signs "Washington Irving" on official documents because he is bored and dissatisfied. A C.I.D man meets Major Major and questions him about the identity of the man who signs Washington Irving’s name to documents and letters. The C.I.D suspects that it is Tappman who is responsible for tampering with the letters and forging false signatures.

The first C.I.D man, who had been sent to Yossarian’s hospital, meets Major Major. Both C.I.D men suspect the other of being "Washington Irving." Major Major now begins to sign John Milton’s name to documents. He begins to add comments on Milton’s character.

Major tells Towser that he does not want to see anyone in his office ever again. He asks Milo to serve him all his meals in his trailer. Major avoids meeting his men and becomes a recluse. One day, Yossarian succeeds in meeting him and tells him that he does not want fly more combat missions because he is afraid. Major tells Yossarian that he will allow him to pick his own missions. Yossarian refuses the offer. He wants to go home. There is nothing Major can do.

Chapter 10: WINTERGREEN

Clevinger’s plane disappears in a bombing over Elba. He is assumed dead.

As a cadet, Wintergreen would go AWOL and as punishment would dig and then fill up holes. Thus he manages to remain in cadet school, hoping that the war will be over before he would be sent to the front.

Appleby reports Yossarian for refusing to take his malaria tablets. Towser tells Appleby that Major never sees anybody in his office. Appleby is furious and writes a report on Yossarian’s behavior and leaves.

Mudd, whose belongings are in Yossarian’s tent, was known to very few of his fellow soldiers. Towser thinks it was a colossal waste to bring Mudd all the way to Pianosa, only for the Germans to shoot him down two hours after his arrival.

An atmosphere of tension and impending doom prevails a week after Mudd’s death, as the men prepare for the Great Siege of Bologna. Dr. Stubbs describes Yossarian as the only sane man left, because he does not want to go to Bologna.

Chapter 11: CAPTAIN BLACK

Captain Black, the squadron intelligence officer, is thrilled to hear about the siege of Bologna. He gets pleasure out of watching the anxious soldiers’ faces. Seeing everyone in the squadron afraid, the Captain is reminded of the days of his Loyalty Oath crusade.

Black holds a grudge against Major because Major had been appointed squadron commander instead of him. Infuriated, Black announces that Major is a communist. He forces all the men who enter his tent to sign Loyalty Oaths in order to prove their allegiance to their country. The men have to sign Loyalty Oaths to receive parachutes or map cases, or even to get food. Sometimes Black even forces them to sing "The Star-spangled Banner" in order to prove their patriotism. Black does not allow Major to sign loyalty. He asks Milo to starve Major by not bringing food to him, and tells Daneeka not to attend him. One day, Major de Coverley comes from Rome and puts an end to Black’s crusade.

Chapter 12: BOLOGNA

Cathcart has volunteered his men for the missions to Bologna. It begins to rain and the mission is postponed. The men do not want to go because they fear they will be killed. They begin to hate the bomb line. At one time, Yossarian asks Corporal Snark to put laundry soap in the sweet potatoes so that all the men get diarrhea and the mission will be postponed.

Wintergreen tries to sell stolen cigarette lighters to Yossarian. Wintergreen considers this his job. He believes that it is Yossarian’s job to go to Bologna, and die, if necessary.

Yossarian gets drunk at the officer’s club, and Dunbar has to help him get back to camp. Returning from the club they have a small accident when Halfoat’s jeep turns over. When they reach the camp, they hear Joe screaming because he has had a nightmare. The rain stops.

In the middle of the night, Yossarian moves the bomb line up over Bologna. The mission is canceled as Cathcart believes that the Allies have captured Bologna.

Chapter 13: Major DE COVERLEY

Each time a German-held city falls to the Allies, Major de Coverley would have himself flown there. Within a day or two he would have finished renting some apartments for officers and enlisted men. These apartments are suitably furnished and staffed with "jolly cooks and maids." The apartments doubled as dens of pleasure.

In one of these buildings, Yossarian meets the maid with the lime-colored panties. In Rome, while leading a triumphal procession, de Coverley is injured by a flower thrown at him.

De Coverley sanctions a separate plane for Milo to bring fresh eggs from Malta. The major also appoints Milo as mess officer. Milo brings back all kinds of exotic and extravagant food.

Yossarian is questioned why he had led a second bombing run over Ferrora, in which Kraft had been killed. He replies that he had missed the target the first time. Cathcart does not care that he has lost an airplane and some men. He is only worried that Yossarian’s actions will make the report on the matter look "lousy." Colonel Korn suggests that Yossarian be decorated with a medal for bravery so that people will not raise questions. Yossarian is given a medal and elevated to the rank of Captain.

Chapter 14: KID SAMPSON

It is the time of the mission to Bologna, and Yossarian is trying to get his pilot, Kid Sampson, to turn the plane around and head back to Pianosa. Yossarian cuts the wires of his intercom system as a pretext to turn back. Sampson and the rest of the crew are only too happy to return.

When they reach Pianosa the men are subdued in spirit. The base is nearly empty since most of the men are on a mission to Bologna.

A sense of desolation is evident as Yossarian walks alone to the empty beach. While on the beach Yossarian watches as the twelve flights of planes return from Bologna. The mission was successful as there was no enemy fire in Bologna.

Chapter 15: PILTCHARD and WREN

Captain Piltchard and Captain Wren, the joint squadron operations officers, think that nothing as wonderful as war has ever happened to them. Wren tells the men that though the mission to Bologna has appeared a success, not much damage was inflicted on the German Forces. The men have to go on a second run to Bologna. This time Yossarian is to fly lead bomber.

On the second run, McWatt's plane is heavily fired upon. This time the Germans are ready for the Americans. Yossarian is close to tears as he watches the shells zip by. Yossarian is able to drop his bombs with some success. But Aarfy, who lights a pipe inside his plane, gets on Yossarian’s nerves. Orr is hit and one of his engines stalls, but he manages to bring the plane safely back to Pianosa. Yossarian gets ready to leave for the emergency rest leave he has decided to take in Rome.

Chapter 16: LUCIANA

Yossarian meets Luciana, an Italian girl, at the Allied officer’s club in Rome. Yossarian buys her dinner. Luciana eats like a horse and then tells Yossarian that she will not sleep with him that night but the next morning.

Yossarian is alone. He goes to the cabaret hoping that the "bleary-eyed bleached blonde" girl who was with Aarfy will sleep with him. Yossarian is unsuccessful in this endeavor. Aarfy has already seen off the blonde. He sent her home because she appears to be a nice girl, and Aarfy claims that he never treats nice girls as prostitutes. Yossarian is again angered by Aarfy.

The next morning, Luciana comes to Yossarian’s room. They have sex. When Yossarian asks Luciana to marry him, she tells him that he is crazy. She says she cannot marry Yossarian because she is not a virgin. Joe comes into the room without knocking to see Yossarian. When he sees Luciana, Joe tries to take photographs of her. Luciana is wearing only a pink chemise; Yossarian yells at her to get dressed while he wards off Joe.

Yossarian and Luciana push past Joe and run out into the corridor. On the stairs, they meet Nately who has just wasted away all his pay on the prostitute he loves. On the street, Luciana gives Yossarian her address on a piece of paper. As soon as she is gone, Yossarian tears up the paper, and throws the pieces into the gutter. At once, he feels terrible remorse. He misses her greatly. He searches for her but cannot find her anywhere. Instead he goes to the maid in the lime-colored panties and has sex with her.

Yossarian goes back to Pianosa. He meets Joe, who tells him that Cathcart has raised the required number of missions from thirty- five to forty. Yossarian, who has thirty-two missions, decides to enter the hospital.

Chapter 17: THE SOLDIER IN WHITE

Yossarian is in the hospital. He is determined to remain there forever and not fly any more. For him, being in the hospital is a better prospect than being outside and watching others being killed. In the hospital people die too, but they die neater and more orderly.

Yossarian prefers the hospital, even though the management is "meddlesome" and the rules are restrictive. Yossarian is joined in the ward by the Texan, Dunbar, and the soldier in white. The soldier in white frightens the other patients by his ghostly appearance. His fellow patients are afraid that he will begin moaning through the night. The Texan, however, is quite fond of the soldier in white and wants the entire ward to get acquainted with him.

Nurse Cramer and Nurse Duckett look after the soldier in white. They brush his bandages and scrub his plaster casts. Yossarian thinks about all the dangers to his life. He is afraid that he might get some strange disease. Each day he faces is a mission against mortality. He is twenty-eight years old.

Yossarian leaves the hospital because he does not like the Texan, but he is back in ten days when Cathcart raises the required number of missions.

Chapter 18: THE SOLDIER WHO SAW EVERYTHING TWICE

When Yossarian is a private at Lowery Field, he complains of a pain in his right side in order to avoid a calisthenics class. He is placed under observation. An English intern tells Yossarian not to fake appendix pain but to fake liver pain. After ten days, a group of doctors come to Yossarian and tell him to leave because he is in perfect health.

At that moment, another patient in the ward shouts, claiming to see everything twice. Doctors and nurses rush to him. Each specialist wants to claim him as his own patient. But the doctors cannot understand what is wrong with the soldier who sees everything twice. Yossarian spends Thanksgiving inside the hospital. He decides to spend every remaining Thanksgiving in a hospital. The next year he breaks his oath, spending Thanksgiving with Scheisskopf’s wife in a hotel room. Yossarian tells Mrs. Scheisskopf that he has very little to be thankful for, and that God has done a bad job creating the universe. Although Mrs. Scheisskopf claims that she is an atheist she gets upset when Yossarian paints a picture of a "mean and stupid" God. It is the "most illogical Thanksgiving" that Yossarian has ever spent.

The narrative returns to the previous year. Yossarian, who wants to stay in hospital, imitates the soldier who saw everything twice. Yossarian, too, claims that he can see everything twice. The doctors rush toward him and check his eyesight. Each time the doctor holds up his fingers, Yossarian replies that he can see two fingers. This is strange because sometimes the doctor does not hold even one finger up. Yossarian is taken into the room where the soldier who saw everything twice is kept. Yossarian thinks the soldier is bluffing about his illness. Yossarian gets a rude shock when the soldier dies. He then tells the doctors that he sees everything once. Even when the doctor holds up ten fingers, Yossarian says he only sees one.

Another doctor tells Yossarian that the relatives of the soldier who died have come all the way from New York. They do not know that the soldier is already dead, and have come to see him one last time. The doctor tells Yossarian to play the part of the dying soldier, as he does not want to disappoint the dead soldier’s family. Yossarian agrees to play the part.

The family is Italian. The father and mother of the soldier do not recognize that it is not their son. Even when Yossarian tells them his real name, the family continues to mourn as if he is their son. Yossarian is so moved that he begins to cry.

Chapter 19: COLONEL CATHCART

Cathcart desperately wants to be a general and will try anything, including religion, to become one. The Colonel summons the chaplain to his office. He shows the chaplain an editorial spread of The Saturday Evening Post dealing with an American bomber group in England whose chaplain said prayers before each mission. Cathcart wants Tappmann to say prayers before each mission in Pianosa, so that the colonel’s picture might be published. At the same time, he does not want the chaplain to include any references to God in his prayers. He asks the chaplain to pray for a tighter bomb pattern.

The chaplain wishes that, for his pre-mission prayers, the atheists will be sent out and that the enlisted men will be brought in. Cathcart gets upset because he does not want the enlisted men to be in the same room as the officers when they pray. He decides to do without any prayer.

The colonel distrusts the chaplain, and the chaplain is afraid of the colonel. The chaplain tells Cathcart that he is concerned about Yossarian whom he feels is a desperate man. He tells the colonel that the men are upset over the number of missions being raised.

Chapter 20: CORPORAL WHITCOMB

The chaplain lives in a clearing in the woods along with his assistant, Corporal Whitcomb. Whitcomb is an atheist and is openly rude and contemptuous to the chaplain. Colonel Korn had decided that the chaplain would live in the woods, not only because the chaplain would be in closer communication with the men, but also because it kept the chaplain far away from the headquarters.

The chaplain relishes the privacy and isolation of the woods. He is an introvert who does not mix freely and misses his wife and children back home. Whitcomb detests the seclusion of the woods. He tells the chaplain that he has been met by a C.I.D man who is conducting an investigation. According to the corporal, the C.I.D man suspects that the chaplain is the one responsible for signing Washington Irving’s name to letters, and also for intercepting Major’s correspondence. Whitcomb tells the unhappy chaplain to be on his guard.

Chapter 21: GENERAL DREEDLE

Cathcart thinks of Yossarian as a menacing problem. The very sound of his name makes the colonel’s blood run cold. He despises it because it is not a clean, crisp, American name like Peckem or Cathcart. He prepares a chart of all the bad things he feels Yossarian has done. These include the second run over Ferrara, the moving of the bomb line during the Bologna mission, and the appearance of a nude Yossarian at the medal ceremony.

General Dreedle, the wing commander, is a fat man in his early fifties. His favorite sentence is "war is hell." However, he makes a good living out of the war and derives great pleasure from seeing that his son-in-law, Colonel Moodus, does not enjoy himself. Dreedle has, in his company, an irresistible, blonde nurse. On nights when Moodus is around, the general forces her, to wear a tight, silk uniform that shows of her figure, just to drive Moodus crazy. The presence of his father-in-law has meant that Moodus has not been with a woman since he has been in the war.

When Dreedle has come to give Yossarian his medal, he finds Yossarian naked in the line. He refuses to wear clothes because Snowden has bled all over his clothes when he was killed. Dreedle gives Yossarian the medal, though Cathcart wants to punish Yossarian for his behavior.

At the briefing session just before the mission to Avignon, Yossarian has begun a series of passionate sighs directed at Dreedle’s nurse; Dreedle is angry and seizes Major Danby who has inadvertently blurted out an "ooooh." Danby was supposed to brief the men about the mission. Dreedle orders Danby shot for insubordination, and is surprised when he is told by Moodus that he cannot order the shooting.

Colonel Korn takes up the task of briefing the men. He tries to impress Dreedle by his efforts. But the general is not impressed and leaves the room in a hurry.

Chapter 22: MILO THE MAYOR

On the mission to Avignon, Snowden, the radio-gunner, lay dying in the back of Yossarian’s plane.

The day the number of missions is raised to sixty, Dobbs asks for Yossarian’s assistance to kill Cathcart. Yossarian objects to Dobbs’s plan. Dobbs believes that the colonel will get the men killed if they allow him to keep raising the number of missions. Dobbs only wants Yossarian to give him the go-ahead to kill Cathcart, but Yossarian refuses.

Yossarian is flying in Orr’s plane when it comes down in Sicily instead of in Naples. There they are met by Milo who is busy conducting business for his syndicate. Milo buys eggs in Sicily for one cent and then creates a market for these eggs in Malta, before finally selling them to the mess hall in Pianosa at five cents. Milo announces grandly that "what’s good for the syndicate is good for the country." He asks Yossarian if he is interested in making money by cheating the federal government out of six thousand dollars. Yossarian is not interested.

Milo uses Yossarian and Orr to help in the transport of goods. They fly to Palermo, where Milo gets a tremendous reception from the citizens. Milo has been elected mayor of Palermo, and of many other cities in Sicily because he has brought the scotch industry to Sicily. In Malta, Milo is assistant governor-general because he has brought the egg trade there. Milo is also vice- shah of Oran, the caliph of Baghdad, the imam of Damascus, and the sheik of Araby. Graven images of his face are worshipped in some regions of Africa. While in Cairo, Milo buys up all the Egyptian cotton available. He also buys green red bananas in Cairo which he sells in Istanbul, and caraway seeds in Beirut which he sells in Bengazi. Milo’s plane arrives in Pianosa six days later with a load of eggs from Sicily.

Chapter 23: NATELY’S OLD MAN

The setting is Rome. At Nately’s request, Dunbar, Yossarian, and Joe accompany him and three prostitutes. In the house, there sits an old man who cackles lasciviously while the room fills up with eleven undressed girls. While Joe, Yossarian, and Aarfy busy themselves with the prostitutes, Nately strikes up a conversation with the old man. The man asserts that America will lose the war to Italy. Nately tries to counter him by saying that America is the most powerful nation on earth. The man agrees, but adds that America will one day be destroyed. At this moment, Nately tries to capture the interest of his whore who is bored and indifferent. Nately does not succeed and resumes his conversation with the old man. The old man believes that victory causes the victor to suffer from "insane delusions of grandeur." The old man tells Nately that he has changed with the changing times. When the Germans were in Italy, he was pro-German, and now that the Americans are in Rome, he is pro-American. Nately dubs the old man "a turncoat." The old man reveals that it is he who has wounded Major de Coverley in the eye with a red rose during the victory parade in Rome.

The old man believes that risking one’s life for one’s country is a silly thing to do, since a country is a piece of land surrounded by unnatural boundaries. The old man asserts that it is better to live than to die for one’s country. Nately cannot counter the old man’s argument and searches in vain for Dunbar and Yossarian to help.

Nately is a sensitive, rich boy who has had a pleasant childhood. He believes in the American tradition. His parents decided that Nately would join the Air Corps when war broke out, be an officer, and mix with gentlemen. Instead, Nately finds himself in a brothel in Rome. He spends the night alone in the room, and the next morning when he tries to make love, he is interrupted by the prostitute’s kid sister. He buys the two sisters breakfast, and then follows the elder one on her streetwalking rounds, before she is picked up by some soldiers.

Chapter 24: MILO

It is April, and Milo is busy conducting his business with a colonel in Sardinia. He promises to bring the colonel casaba melons from Damascus and lamb chops from Portugal if the colonel will lend him some planes. A fighter plane commander who refuses to fly Milo is transferred to the Solomon Islands.

Milo’s planes fly everywhere. His planes carry the name "M & M Enterprises"; he even has German bombers working for his syndicate. One day, Cathcart wants to confiscate the German bombers that Milo has brought in from Madagascar, but Milo will have none of it. Milo’s business has spread over all of Europe, except Russia.

Milo signs a contract with the American military authorities to bomb a German-held bridge and signed with German authorities to defend the same bridge from an American attack. Mudd is killed on this mission. Yossarian accuses Milo of killing Mudd, but Milo reiterates that he was merely fulfilling his business obligation. Milo receives a thousand dollars from the Germans for every American aircraft shot down at Orvieto.

The purchase of Egyptian cotton in Cairo has nearly caused the ruin of Milo’s enterprise. There is no market for to sell the cotton. Milo comes up with all kinds of innovations, including chocolate covered cotton, hoping to sell it to the American soldiers. Meanwhile, Milo has signed a contract with the Germans to bomb his own squadron. He fulfills the terms of his contract and bombs Pianosa one night, much to the chagrin of Cathcart and the other officers. Milo is condemned as a traitor, but when he opens his account books and discloses the profit he has made by bombing his own unit, he is forgiven.

Chapter 25: THE CHAPLAIN

The chaplain is plagued by doubts about the existence of God. The chaplain believes he has either had a divine vision or a hallucination: a naked man in the tree at Snowden’s funeral.

The chaplain is a lonely man who feels out of place in the Army. He is often tormented by morbid fantasies involving his wife and three children. He will dream that all four have been killed and their house destroyed. He wants to write urgent love letters to his wife telling her how much he loves her, but he can only manage to pen short, formal letters.

The chaplain tries his best to speak to Major about the raising of the number of missions, but the major is never in his office. On the way back to his dwelling in the woods, the chaplain meets an emaciated wretch who turns out to be Captain Flume. Flume has been hiding in the forest because he is afraid that Halfoat will slit his throat.

Cathcart calls the chaplain to his office in order to speak to him about the letters of condolence to be sent to the families of casualties. Cathcart has a standard format for each letter, yet he wants the letters to be full of personal details. Cathcart hopes his ideas for the letters will get him a mention in The Saturday Evening Post. He even volunteers his men for the next mission to Avignon so that there will be more casualties and more letters to send.

Chapter 26: AARFY

On the weekly run to Parma, McWatt’s plane faces heavy fire. Yossarian is injured in the thigh. Aarfy is insensitive to Yossarian’s cries for help. McWatt gives over the controls to Nately, and dresses Yossarian’s wound.

The wounded Yossarian lands up in hospital where he meets Dunbar. Dunbar is busy playing a game called "pulling rank" and he asks Yossarian to join him. Yossarian and Dunbar go on chasing junior officers away from their hospital beds, and take their places. Ultimately, Nurse Cramer comes along and orders Yossarian back to bed; Nurse Duckett takes him by the ear and puts him back in bed.

Chapter 27: NURSE DUCKETT

Nurse Duckett is a tall, attractive woman who is "able, prompt, strict and intelligent." One morning while Duckett is smoothing the sheets at the foot of Yossarian’s bed, Yossarian puts his hand under her dress, and Dunbar grabbed her bosom from behind. The commanding colonel scolds Yossarian for taking indecent liberties with his nurses. Dunbar claims responsibility for the attack on Duckett. The colonel thinks that Yossarian is crazy. He sends Major Sanderson, the psychiatrist, to see Yossarian.

Yossarian claims to have had a dream about a live fish. Major Sanderson tries Freudian analysis, and realizes that Yossarian contradicts himself. Yossarian claims that everything reminds him of sex. Major Sanderson tells him that his promiscuous pursuit of women is an attempt to assuage his "subconscious fears of sexual impotence." Because of the "pulling rank" game that Yossarian and Dunbar play earlier, Sanderson believes that Yossarian suffers from feelings of inadequacy and rejection. He believes that Yossarian has a split personality because he denies that he is Fortiori. He explains that Yossarian has deep-seated survival anxieties, has a morbid aversion to dying, and is a manic-depressive. He concludes that Yossarian is crazy. He decides to send him home. By mistake, Fortiori is sent home instead of Yossarian.

Yossarian returns to combat. He meets Daneeka who tells him that the Germans are retreating everywhere. The Allies have captured Paris and the German air force has been destroyed. Daneeka is afraid that the Germans will surrender and that the men at Pianosa will be sent to the Pacific. Yossarian tells Daneeka, that he has been diagnosed as insane, and therefore should be sent home. Daneeka retorts that only a crazy man would agree to fly another mission.

Chapter 28: DOBBS

Yossarian meets Dobbs and agrees to kill Cathcart. This time, Dobbs refuses to join Yossarian since he has completed sixty missions and is hoping to be sent home. He tells Yossarian to ask Orr to help him kill Cathcart.

Orr, meanwhile, has been shot down in the water again. The life jackets in his plane fail to inflate because Milo has removed the carbon-dioxide cylinders from the inflating chambers in order to make ice-cream sodas for the officer’s mess hall. Milo has left notes in the jackets that read: "What’s good for M&M Enterprises is good for the country." Orr is adept at surviving in difficult conditions, and brings his men back safely to Pianosa.

Yossarian is secretly hoping that on his next mission to northern Italy, he will be able to divert the plane to Sweden or Switzerland and escape. He gets irritated when he sees Orr repairing a stove in their tent. Yossarian even thinks, momentarily, of killing Orr because he finds his breathing repulsive and his stove-repair work disturbing. Orr begs Yossarian to fly with him on his next mission, but Yossarian refuses. On his next mission, Orr gets knocked down into the water again. This time he drifts off alone, while his crew members are on another raft. There is no further news about Orr. Yossarian has no doubt that Orr will survive, but Orr does not come back.

Chapter 29: PECKEM

Scheisskopf, Yossarian’s commanding officer in his cadet days, is in Rome. Scheisskopf now discontentedly reports for duty at General Peckem’s office.

General Peckem is very fastidious and lays great stress on matters of taste and style. He is a pompous officers who likes to bully his subordinates. He thinks of himself as aesthetic and intellectual.

Scheisskopf is upset because he is not allowed to conduct parades overseas. Peckem, however, allows him to announce every week that the parades have been postponed. This gives Scheisskopf some relief. If he cannot hold parades, he can at least postpone them.

Peckem is very fond of a neat, compact bomb pattern. He prefers that bombs explode close together so as to make a neat aerial photograph. He does not care whether the bombs hit the target so long as they fall in a pattern.

Meanwhile, in Pianosa, the men are being briefed about a mission to a tiny mountain village in Italy. The American planes have to bomb the village in order to create a road block so that the Germans cannot pass through. It means endangering the lives of the Italian villagers and destroying their homes. No leaflets have been dropped to warn the Italian villages. Dunbar protests the bombing. His protests are quickly stifled as Colonel Korn asks whether the men would prefer going to Bologna instead.

Chapter 30: DUNBAR

While on the mission to the Italian village, Yossarian does not bother where he drops his bombs, and Dunbar drops his bombs hundreds of yards past the village. Though McWatt is a good pilot, Yossarian does not enjoy flying with him, because McWatt will fly his plane too low for the thrill. On one occasion, Yossarian loses his nerve and threatens to kill McWatt if he does not take the plane higher.

McWatt never misses an opportunity to fly low over the beach of Pianosa. Yossarian and Duckett spend the evenings together on the beach. They have begun a physical relationship, much to the disapproval of Nurse Cramer, who does not like Yossarian.

One day, while McWatt is flying low above the beach, Sampson reaches up from his raft, and the next instant, the propeller of McWatt’s plane has sliced away the upper half of his body. People on the beach start screaming and running away. McWatt takes his plane higher and allows the two trainee pilots on board to bail out. As Yossarian realizes what McWatt is planning, he pleads with him to come down. But, McWatt dips his plane’s wings in salute and flies into a mountain.

Cathcart raises the number of missions to sixty-five.

Chapter 31: MRS. DANEEKA

Sergeant Towser strikes Daneeka’s name from the roster of squadron personnel. The records show that Daneeka was in McWatt’s plane to collect flight time . Since only the two trainee pilots parachute out of McWatt’s plane, it is believed that Daneeka has died in the crash. In reality, he is very much alive, but no one will believe this, not even his assistants, Gus and Wes, who tell him that he is dead, and should have no temperature at all.

Meanwhile, in America, Mrs. Daneeka receives a telegram stating that her husband has been killed in action. Initially, Mrs. Daneeka is heartbroken by the news and wonders how she will manage to look after herself and her children. She receives a letter which bears her husband’s signature telling her that he is alive. The war department again notifies Mrs. Daneeka that her husband is dead and that the letter she received is a forgery.

Mrs. Daneeka’s grief is soon mitigated by the huge amounts of money she receives from her husband’s life insurance. The husband’s of her closest friend begins to flirt with her.

Back in Pianosa, Daneeka is having a terrible time trying to convince people that he is alive. He no longer receives his pay or rations and depends for survival on the charity of Towser and Milo. Cathcart refuses to see him. Even Captain Flume recoils from him. Daneeka comes to the conclusion that for all practical purposes, he is dead. He writes an impassioned letter to his wife begging her to bring his plight to the attention of the war department. Mrs. Daneeka is tempted to reply, but the same day she receives a letter of condolence from Cathcart and decides to move with her children to Michigan, leaving no forwarding address.

Chapter 32: YO-YO’S ROOMIE’S

Yossarian is joined by four more soldiers who replace Sampson and McWatt. These new recruits are younger than Yossarian, eager and exuberant, They are kids of twenty-one who have come to take Orr’s place in Yossarian’s tent. Yossarian cannot stand these recruits and complains to Towser.

Halfoat believes that he is dying of pneumonia. Captain Flume has come back from the forest to live in the trailer. It is now winter time. The new recruits in Yossarian tent get rid of Mudd’s cot and belongings and burn up Orr’s birch logs. Yossarian is alarmed . He fears that they will get rid of him, too. He runs off to Rome with Joe.

Chapter 33: NATELY’S WHORE

Yossarian is in Rome. He searches for Luciana, but is unable to find her and satisfies his physical desires by visiting other whores. Meanwhile Nately’s prostitute is being held captive by some high-ranking officers. Nately, Yossarian, and their companions go to the officer’s apartment to rescue her. They throw the officer’s clothes out into the street and take Nately’s love away with them.

Nately is extremely possessive. He does not want her to be seen naked even by her friends, who have already seen her naked countless times. He also wants her to give up prostitution, but she will not comply with him.

Chapter 34: THANKSGIVING

Yossarian is wakened by the sound of machine-gun fire while he is sleeping in his tent. On Thanksgiving, he realizes that an American soldier is playing a prank. Yossarian hopes to shoot the prankster. Nately follows Yossarian and tries to stop him but Yossarian punches Nately in the nose.

Nately ends up in hospital with a broken nose. Duckett tells Yossarian that she has decided to marry a doctor. The chaplain tells a lie in order to enter the hospital. He is very pleased with himself for having told a lie. Meanwhile, the soldier in white makes a reappearance. Duckett informs Yossarian that the soldier is a certain Lieutenant Schmulkar who is burnt all over. She tells Yossarian that the authorities are going to "disappear" Dunbar.

Chapter 35: MILO THE MILITANT

Halfoat dies of pneumonia. Yossarian begs Nately not to volunteer to fly more than seventy missions. Nately, however, wishes to fly more missions, so that he will not be sent home. He wants to be near his beloved Italian girlfriend.

Milo meets Cathcart and asks to be sent on more missions. Cathcart is stunned by Milo’s demand. Milo states that he has flown only five missions in eleven months, and wants to have the opportunity to fly more missions in order to gain fame. Cathcart agrees. He tells Milo that he will take on the task of running "M & M Enterprise" while Milo flies more missions. When Milo reveals the extent of the syndicate’s operations, Cathcart decides that Milo’s services on behalf of the syndicate are indispensable. He refuses to give Milo permission to fly any more missions. Instead he accepts Milo’s suggestion that someone else should fly Milo’s mission in his name. Cathcart decides to raise the number of missions to eighty.

At dawn the next day the alert is sounded. The men are rushed to the airfield before they can have a proper breakfast. Intelligence has reported that a disabled Italian cruiser is to be scuttled at the entrance of the harbor at La Spezia so as to deprive the Allied armies of port facilities when they arrive. The intelligence report proves correct and the American airplanes blow apart the Italian Cruiser. However, the American planes have to face a barrage of anti-aircraft fire. In the enduing confusion, Dobbs makes a false move and skids his plane into Nately’s. Both planes crash, and Dobbs and Nately are killed.

Chapter 36: THE CELLAR

Twelve men have died in the mission to La Spezia. The two hundred men who have returned stand on the field at Pianosa maintaining a "heavy silence." Their faces are blank and dejected.

On the field, the chaplain breaks down and cries when he learns of Nately’s death. Suddenly, he is taken by a stout, pugnacious colonel to the building at headquarters. The fat colonel, a thin major, and a tall M.P. lead the chaplain down a flight of stairs to a basement. There, they begin interrogating him.

They treat him with disrespect. They asks the chaplain to write down his name. The major accuses the chaplain of forging someone else’s handwriting . The chaplain is stupefied by their accusations. The colonel shows the chaplain the letter which began "Dear Mary" and to which Yossarian has signed his name. Though the chaplain recognizes Yossarian’s handwriting, he reveals nothing that will incriminate Yossarian.

The officers then accuse the chaplain of being the prankster who has signed Washington Irving’s name. They also accuse him of stealing a plum tomato from Cathcart’s office. The chaplain pleads innocent to all charges. The officers reach the conclusion that the chaplain is guilty on all counts. They let him go for the time-being while they are planning how and when to punish him. They tell the chaplain that he will be under surveillance twenty- four hours a day.

The chaplain wishes to complain to Dreedle about the treatment meted out to him. Colonel Korn tells the chaplain that Dreedle had Dr. Stubbs transferred to the Pacific because he had protested against the raising of the number of missions.

Chapter 37: GENERAL SCHEISSKOPF

Peckem had just replaced Dreedle at Wing Headquarters. When he receives the news that Colonel Scheisskopf has been promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, Peckem is stunned since he had expected that promotion. Scheisskopf, who was formerly General Peckem’s junior officer, is now his superior. Peckem phones Wintergreen and tells him that it is all his fault. Scheisskopf is now the top boss and he orders everyone to march.

Chapter 38: KID SISTER

Following Nately’s death, Yossarian marches backward with his gun on his hip and refuses to fly any more missions. When Yossarian breaks the news of Nately’s death to Nately’s girlfriend in Rome, she attacks him and tries to stab him with a potato peeler. She kicks Yossarian in the groin and throws a glass ash tray and vase at him. She tries to stab him with a bread- knife. Yossarian escapes from the house where she works and rushes out into the street. But everywhere he goes she follows him. She is even waiting at the military airport in Pianosa and tries to kill Yossarian when he steps off the plane. Yossarian has her flown back to Rome, but she turns up again near his tent. Finally, Yossarian and Joe fly over enemy territory and drop her, with a parachute on to her back, behind enemy lines.

Appleby meets Yossarian and tells him about the dangers of refusing to fly any more missions. Yossarian asks Havermeyer to join him in his protest against Cathcart, but Havermeyer refuses because he wants to stay in the reserves and get five hundred dollars a year when the war is over.

During the day, the soldiers at Pianosa avoid meeting Yossarian, but at night men keep popping out of the darkness to ask Yossarian about how he is faring. Yossarian hears from Captain Black that the prostitutes in Rome, including Nately’s and her kid sister, have been thrown into the street by the American military police.

Chapter 39: THE ETERNAL CITY

Yossarian is flying with Milo to Rome. He is going AWOL. Milo upbraided Yossarian for his refusal to fly more missions. Milo is afraid that other soldiers might also refuse to fly more missions. Milo advises Yossarian to go to Russia instead of stirring up trouble in Pianosa.

When Yossarian arrives in Rome, he sees a city in ruins. The airdrome has been bombed, and the Coliseum is a dilapidated shell. In the apartment he meets the old woman who lives there. She tells Yossarian that all the young girls were chased away into the street by the military police. When the girls asked why they were being thrown out, the police replied "Catch-22." The lecherous old man is dead. Yossarian asks the old woman about Nately’s girlfriend and her kid sister. The old woman can only tell him that they have "gone."

Yossarian asks Milo to help him find Nately’s prostitute’s twelve-year-old kid sister. They go to the Italian police headquarters where the police commissioner gets Milo interested by talking to him about illegal dealings in tobacco. Milo loses interest in the search. Yossarian leaves Milo at the police headquarters and walks out into a "dark, tomblike street."

In the street he sees a poor boy in tattered clothes with a sad, sickly face. Yossarian is moved by his poverty. Yossarian’s mind is full of sadness at the thought of so much sickness and evil in the world. As he walks he hears the cries of prostitutes and battered women. It is a night filled with horrors, and Yossarian has a strange feeling that he has seen it all before. He wishes that he could lie down with some girl and make love to her; but all the girls he knows and desires are gone.

Yossarian thinks of Michaela, a maid in the officer’s apartment. When he reaches the apartment he is shocked to find her dead body lying on the pavement. Aarfy has raped and killed her. Yossarian finds Aarfy inside the building and asks him why he killed Michaela. He tells Aarfy that the police will arrest him for murder, but Aarfy is confident that he will not be arrested. The military police come and arrest Yossarian for being in Rome without a pass. Yossarian spends the night in a cell, and the next day is taken to Pianosa and into Cathcart’s office, where Colonel Korn tells him that he is to be sent home.

Chapter 40: CATCH-22

Korn tells Yossarian that he has worked out a deal in order to send Yossarian home. He is willing to send Yossarian home as a decorated war hero as long as Yossarian speaks well of Korn when he gets back to America. Yossarian accepts the deal. The two colonels and Yossarian begin to act very friendly toward each other, even calling each other by pet names. Yossarian leaves Cathcart’s office in a buoyant mood. Outside the office, he is saluted by a private in green fatigues who turns into Nately’s girlfriend and tries to kill Yossarian. He is saved by Cathcart and Korn who rush out of the office in time to frighten her away.

Chapter 41: SNOWDEN

Yossarian is in hospital. The prostitute’s attack has left him wounded and unconscious. The chaplain visits him and tells him that he risked his life saving Cathcart from a Nazi assassin. Yossarian asserts that it was only Nately’s girlfriend. Yossarian tells the chaplain about the deal he made to go home. The chaplain thinks it as an odious deal. Yossarian decides not to go ahead with the deal. He would prefer to desert or fly more missions. The chaplain tells Yossarian that Joe died in his sleep.

When Yossarian is alone a strange man with a mean face dressed in a patients bathrobe approaches him and jeers: "We’ve got your pal." Yossarian is unnerved by his presence. He tries to attack the strange man, but the man glides away and vanishes. At night, Yossarian thinks of the death of the young tail-gunner Snowden. He remembers his frantic efforts to dress his wounds and keep him warm. He remembers how Snowden died in his arms.

Chapter 42: YOSSARIAN

Yossarian tells Major Danby that he is breaking his deal with Cathcart and Korn. Danby is surprised and tells Yossarian that Cathcart will initiate court-martial proceedings against him if Yossarian does not accept. They will probably charge Yossarian with incompetence, insubordination, refusal to engage the enemy, and desertion. He tells Danby that he will probably run away.

The chaplain runs in excitedly, carrying news that Orr is safe in Sweden. Orr has rowed all the way; Yossarian realizes that Orr had planned his escape all along and that crashing into the sea was part of a clever plan. Yossarian regrets that he had refused to fly with Orr, when Orr had asked him. Danby tries to dissuade Yossarian from running away, but he has made up his mind to follow Orr’s lead. The chaplain is ecstatic and helps Yossarian get ready for the journey . Yossarian decides to go to Rome, pick up the prostitute’s sister, and leave for Sweden. Yossarian boards a plane and jumps out with a parachute. Nately’s prostitute is waiting by the plane door and tries to stab Yossarian as he jumps. The knife misses him by inches, and he survives.

evil_santa's Xanga

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Wednesday, February 11, 2004

Thursday, November 13, 2003

Tuesday, October 07, 2003

Sunday, October 05, 2003

Saturday, October 04, 2003

Thursday, October 02, 2003

Thursday, October 02, 2003