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Ever been in a no-win situation? The kind where, no matter what you do, the situation can’t work out in your favour? If so, then you’re probably aware of the term Catch-22. The phrase comes from a book of the same name by Joseph Heller.
In the novel, “Catch-22” is defined as a military protocol that states that:
1. Pilots must fly the required number of missions to be eligible to go home from the war.
2. Once a pilot has flown the required number of missions, he can go home
(note: can—not must).
3. An enlisted man or an officer can never disobey a direct order from a superior.
Thus, if a pilot is ordered to fly a mission after he’s already accomplished the number of missions required in order for him to go home, he may not go home. Instead, he must fly the mission, even though he’s technically fulfilled his quota.
Colonel Cathcart continues to increase the required number of missions for his squadron, much to the disapproval of Yossarian, the Air Force’s craziest bombardier and the comedic centre of Catch-22. Yossarian feels that he’s sure to die in the war—and that Colonel Cathcart is therefore directly
responsible for his impending death because every time Yossarian gets close
to accomplishing the required number of missions, the Colonel raises them
even higher (this happens frequently throughout the book).
Catch-22 takes place during the Second World War. It’s the tale of a
squadron of Air Force men, each wildly quirky in his own way. Take Milo Minderbinder, the mess officer who’s running a syndicate that involves every country, including the Nazis. Details regarding Milo’s genius for buying and selling foodstuffs for profit is best left to the book to explain (believe me, I couldn’t explain it if I tried), but, needless to say, there’s a very confusing (and hilarious) reason why buying eggs for seven cents a piece in Malta (using military money) and then selling them back to the military for five cents a piece is actually very profitable (despite the fact that logic dictates that this would actually be a loss)—and why bombing your own men is sometimes necessary for the bottom line.
There’s Major Major Major Major, the Major with an unfortunate series of
names (and, of course, his rank). There’s also Lieutenant Scheisskopf (Lt.
Shithead, loosely translated) and his obsession with parades. In short,
there’s no lack of interesting characters in this genius of a comedic
novel.
At times, the narrative of Catch-22 can be confusing, and it’s a little hard to keep track of all of the many characters—but, on the whole, this book is funny and entertaining. I recommend it to those who love watching reruns of M*A*S*H*—or anyone who likes a good chuckle here and there in the books that they read.
