"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on, and that includes Colonel Cathcart. And don't you forget that, because the longer you remember it, the longer you might live."
If stories have smell, Catch-22 smelled gamey. Set during World War II. Yossarian, the protagonist is the bombardier of US Army Air Force. He hovers above the enemy and bombs them to kingdom come. He did so well in his job, Colonel Cathcart promoted him to captain and awarded him a Flying medal award, where Yossarian attended the awarding ceremony butt naked. His motivation for this awful job is to hit the number of flies required by their Colonel so that he can finally return home. But Colonel Cathcart is an ambitious man. He wanted to become General. To impress the authorities, he kept on raising the numbers before any of his men completes. And so they go on completing the missions, making their hopes of returning home next to impossible. The logic that binds these men is Catch-22, a military rule, a self-contradictory circular logic to prevent anyone from avoiding combat missions.
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's 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.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.”
Yossarian, along with his fellow soldiers got tired of the war.They pretended to be sick to avoid being sent out. They even painted their hands and throat purple just to make them look more malignant. While Milo Minderbinder (what a funny name), the mess officer, took advantage of the war by making profit through his syndicate. He was trusted by many with his famous line:
"Everybody has a share from the syndicate", "We are the syndicate", "What's good for M&M Enterprises is good for the country"
He is a one-man corporation. Driven with greed, without evil intent, his actions cost the lives of his comrades. But I laughed at the part where he forced people to eat his inedible chocolate covered cotton.
The series of horror was first manifested with the attack on the undefended Italian mountain village, followed by the series of disappearances, the tragic rape and murder of Michaela, and the revelation of gory details of Snowden's death. Just when I started to expect a "heavy" ending, Yossarian found a way to escape going to combat mission.
I think the novel is unique. A funny war story embedded with sarcasm, irony, and absurdity. How else can these soldiers cope up with everyday deaths, to face the fear of getting killed, the horrors of watching your comrades disappear;but with humor and insanity.
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