An Evil Empire

"Clevinger recoiled from their hatred as though from a blinding light. These three men who hated him spoke his language and wore his uniform, but he saw their loveless faces set immutable into cramped, mean lines of hostility and understood instantly that nowhere in the world, not in all he fascist tanks or planes or submarines, not in the bunkers behind the machine guns or mortars or behind the blowing flam throwers, not even among all the expert gunners of the crach Hermann Goering Antiaircraft Division or among the grisly connivers in all the beer halls in Munich and everywhere else, were there men who hated him more" (Page 81).

Although Clevinger is fighting on the same side as his superiors, it is evident that they are looking to punish him by accusing him of anything they can get a hold of. This passage is ironic because in it, Clevinger realizes that his superiors hate him more than the enemy. The enemy is simply doing their duty by trying to kill Clevinger, whereas his superiors are seeking to punish him out of dislike. Also in this passage, the reader is introduced to an early theme of the book: the power of bureaucracy. The bureaucracy of superiors has no reason to accuse Clevinger of any crime, yet they did in hopes that by interrogating him, he would admit to doing some wrong. In addition to this, another example of the misuse of power by the bureaucracy occurs when Yossarian finds out that they required number of flights to be sent home is only 40. Even though Yossarian has 48 flights, the bureaucracy simply adds on to Catch-22 and says that he cannot be relieved of duty because his commanding officer wants 50 flights. The willingness to send men on pointless, yet dangerous, missions shows how truly powerful and corrupt the bureaucracy is.

So That's What The Title Means...

""Sure there's a catch," Doc Daneeka replied. "Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy."
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle."


In the above passage, the reader is introduced to the clause of Catch-22 and it's importance within the novel. The paradox that is Catch-22 serves to put those who are fighting in the war in a bind. It does not allow them any way of being relieved of duty due to insanity, although so far many characters, including Yossarian, seem to be mentally unstable. Although the paradoxical Catch-22 seems to be infallible, I think it is unfair to put soldier's lives in risk based on words. Throughout chapters that follow, Catch-22 is expanded to apply to several other situations with the intention of trapping soldiers. At the point I am currently at in the reading, Yossarian has begin to question the quality of words and their ability to relate to actual circumstances. He begins to realize words are not always able to relate to the exact situation the soldiers are in.