Hinting At The End

Early in the book, Yossarian introduces the reader to a time when he encountered death. Snowden, a gunner who flew in Yossarians plane, is killed over Avignon and dies in Yossarian's arms. Although they haven't connected it to Yossarian's fear of death yet, I believe they are directly related. Since its first mention, Snowden's death has been mentioned several other times, with each mention going into more detail (almost reminding me of the movie I.Robot). This repeated telling of the story seems to hinting at the trauma the experience caused Yossarian. Also, I think the story may be the author foreshadowing a possible ending to the book. Even though he seems to only be concerned with his own life, the story of Snowden shows that he does actually care for his fellow soldiers. In the end, I think Yossarian is going to have to overcome his fear of death to help out keep others out of danger.