Catch-22
(Joseph Heller)

Chapter One

John Yossarian is a bombardier for the Air Force and is currently in the military hospital faking a liver condition, so he does not have to risk his life fighting. While in the hospital, it is Yossarian’s job to censor incoming mail, and he has fun with it by signing different names or turning a regular letter into a love letter.

The other two men in Yossarian’s ward are Captain named Dunbar and a bigoted Texan who nobody likes. When a man wrapped all in gauze dies Yossarian and Dunbar accuse the Texan of killing him because he is black, which the Texan denies and from then on no one wants to be near him.

While Yossarian is in the hospital a colonel is admitted though no one can figure out what is wrong with him, the mess hall catches on fire, and a chaplain who says nothing more than “that’s good” in response to everything visits Dunbar and Yossarian.

Chapter Two

Yossarian seems to be the only person who realizes that a war is happening. Everyone else understands that they are trying to kill the enemy, but, for some reason, they do not link this to the idea of war.

Yossarian introduces the reader to Clevinger, who thinks Yossarian is crazy for all his war-talk; Orr, who is Yossarian’s tent-mate; Havermeyer, who is in a neighboring tent and likes to shoot mice; McWatt, who lives with Nately and everyone thinks is crazy because he likes to buzz his plane close to the ground and scare people; and Appleby, who is likeable by everyone except Yossarian who does not seem to like anyone.

Yossarian is discharged from the hospital, but much to his chagrin is denied a discharge from the war by Doc Daneeka, who reminds him that he has only flown 44 missions, and must fly 50 missions before he can be released.

Chapter Three

When Yossarian heads to his tent after being released he sees his odd tent-mate, Orr. Orr tells strange stories about his past, like how he used to stuff crab apples in his cheeks to make them bigger and how he laughed until he passed out when a prostitute beat him in the head with her shoe, and tries to get Yossarian to ask questions about his experiences though he does not.

Yossarian tells about the power-struggle between the colonels and generals in the war, which causes them to subject their men to more dangerous missions and raise the number of missions that must be completed before discharge. This frightens the many men who have flow 50 missions and are waiting for their walking papers. Some of the men, like Hungry Joe, begin to lose their minds a little while waiting around to be discharged.

Chapter Four

Yossarian tries to help Hungry Joe by asking the Doc to discharge him though the Doc refuses to help even though Yossarian helps him by lying about the flight hours he has logged. Yossarian attends an information session held by Clevinger to find out why everyone wants to kill him, but no one is allowed to ask questions because the colonels do not wish for the soldiers to have that freedom.

Colonel Korn makes a rule that the only people who can ask questions are those who never ask questions – yes, this is a catch-22. General Dreedle makes his men shoot skeet for fun, mandatory fun. Yossarian does not enjoy it nor does he enjoy gambling which sparks a controversy involving some prank phone calls and T.S. Eliot that send the superiors all into a tizzy.

Dunbar tells Clevinger that he likes to shoot skeet because he likes time to move slowly as slow moving time makes life seem longer. Clevinger notes that Dunbar’s logic includes having a long life of miserable circumstances and Dunbar replies “What else is there?”

Chapter Five

Doc Daneeka tells Yossarian about his awful life and the medical practice he had before he was drafted, where he was visited by a couple who could not get pregnant only to learn that though they thought they were having sex they were not because the wife was a virgin.

Yossarian introduces Chief White Halfoat who is an intelligence officer though he cannot even read, is obsessed with digging for oil and is convinced he will die of pneumonia. Doc tells Yossarian that a person has to be crazy to get discharged, but must ask to get discharged, and anyone who would ask is obviously not crazy, because they know what is best for them; Catch-22.

Yossarian remembers a mission when the pilot, Dobbs, suddenly went crazy and lost control of the plane and a man named Snowden lies in the back of the plane dying from the impact of the nose dive.

Chapter Six

Hungry Joe suffers from nightmares but only in between missions. He denies having the nightmares, but everyone hears him struggling in his sleep. Colonel Cathcart volunteers his soldiers for the most dangerous missions and one of them was to Ferrara where Yossarian lost one of his men, Kraft, which he still feels terribly guilty about.

The men often get into fights with one another over nothing when they are drunk, as is displayed in this chapter. When Major Deluth is killed on a mission, Major Major is given his position as squadron leader, and Yossarian is excited because being led by Wintergreen he thinks he only has to complete forty missions to be sent home, which means he is eligible.

Wintergreen tells him that he must complete whatever his original officer wants (catch-22), and if that was not bad enough, Cathcart has just raised the quota to fifty-five missions.

Chapter Seven

Milo is the food supplier and he does business on the side sending food to other countries for a profit. When Milo is instructed by Doc Daneeka to give Yossarian plenty of fruit because he has a liver condition, he is worried that giving away all that fruit will affect his profits, especially when he learns that Yossarian does not even have a liver problem and just gives all the fruit away.

Milo likes Yossarian and tells him everything except where he keeps his money. Milo’s mission is to make delicious food, and he is upset when someone puts soap in the potatoes to prove that the men have no sense of taste, but it proves true. Milo will not steal goods from the government, but he will work out trades that will get him those goods anyway and he has no problem stealing from foreign traders. Someday Milo dreams of opening a mart where he can sell things.

Chapter Eight

Clevinger is part of the action board and constantly butts heads with Scheisskopf who is obsessed with entering parades to win meaningless prizes every weekend. Scheisskopf is so obsessed that he does not notice that his wife is having relationships with any man who will pay attention to her behind his back, including Yossarian.

Yossarian does not actually have feelings for her but for her friend Doris who does not return his feelings. Clevinger gets in trouble when his suggestion for Scheisskopf proves to be successful in helping him win parades and in turn Scheisskopf accuses him of launching a conspiracy against the officers.

Clevinger is convicted and sentenced to fifty-seven tours, which does not destroy his morale quite as much as the mean and hateful look he got from the men on the board, who were supposed to be his brothers in war.

Chapter Nine

Major Major has lived his entire life as an outcast, mostly for his unfortunate name, Major Major Major, which his father thought it would be funny to name him, but it makes his adolescence extremely difficult. No one likes him, and when he joins the Air Force, he is quickly moved up in ranks because no one wants to deal with him, which makes other people dislike him.

Major Major had just started to make some friends who would let him play basketball with them, when he got word that he was being promoted to lead the squadron after Major Deluth dies; he is outcast by his basketball buddies as well because of his upward ranking. He eats alone in the mess hall and amuses himself by wearing a disguise and signing all papers “Washington Irving” which causes a few compelling arguments.

Eventually he makes it so no one else has the authority to see him, though Yossarian manages to and demands he be sent home, though Major Major tells him he can do nothing to help him.

Chapter Ten

One day Clevinger goes missing when he is supposedly on a milk run. Though everyone thinks that he has died Yossarian believes he has gone AWOL, something that Wintergreen has been known to do on a regular basis.

The punishment for going AWOL is to dig holes, though eventually it will lead to jail time. One day while digging holes Wintergreen hits a water pipe and floods the barracks, though everyone thinks he has struck oil and frenzy ensues. Sargent Tower is increasingly uncomfortable at the mention of the dead man who resides in Yossarian’s tent.

The man was named Mudd, and because he never checked in at the base he was not able to check out either, so his body just stays there. After Mudd dies the men are told they will go on a particularly dangerous mission which none of them are okay with and so they try to fake illness, but the hospital closes so they cannot. Yossarian is more fearful than ever that he is going to die.

Chapter Eleven

Captain Black is enthralled by the fear the men are feeling anticipating the dangerous mission in Bologna, and he remembers the days of the Glorious Loyalty Oath Crusade (GLOC). The GLOC came into existence when Captain Black was upset that he did not get the promotion to squadron leader over Major Major.

As a part of the GLOC the men were forced to sign loyalty contracts before they did anything, including eat, and as other officers jumped on the bandwagon Captain Black made up new things for the men to do to ensure that he always stayed one step ahead of everyone else, like singing the national anthem or reciting the pledge of allegiance before they could eat. Major Major was the only person not allowed to participate, making him seem disloyal. The GLOC lasted until the feared Major ----- de Coverly barked an order for food one day without signing an oath.

Chapter Twelve

The men are happy with any circumstance that delays the mission to Bologna, including the horrendous weather. One day while looking at the map of the mission they decide that if the bomb line on the map is above Bologna they will not have to go because the officers will think Bologna has already been defeated, so Yossarian moves it in the middle of the night despite the fact that some people think he is being ridiculous.

The next morning, the mission is cancelled, and General Peckem receives a medal though he did nothing to deserve it. Flashing back to before the Bologna mission Yossarian remembers everyone telling him to prepare for death, which does not sit well with Yossarian who tries to tell the other men that the real enemy is anyone who put the soldiers’ lives in jeopardy, like Colonel Cathcart, though he is the only one who seems to think that way. Yossarian tells the other men to steal a car and go AWOL, which they try but the drunk Halfoat is driving and crashes it.

Chapter Thirteen

Major de Coverly is a truly mysterious man whose job essentially consists of playing horseshoes and renting rooms in cities that have been taken over for the men to take their leave in. Despite the fact that he seems a powerful and intelligent man, Major de Coverly was easily fooled into thinking that Bologna had already been taken over when Yossarian moved the bomb line.

Colonel Cathcart was upset with Yossarian’s performance on a previous mission to Ferrera, the one that killed Kraft. Yossarian had to fly over a target two times before he hit it, which Cathcart found to be unacceptable, and Kraft was killed by shrapnel on the second go around. To stave off criticism Yossarian was awarded a medal for his efforts, rather than reprimanded.

Chapter Fourteen

The soldiers end up having to go on the mission to Bologna and are all terrified that they are going to die. Yossarian pretends that his radio is broken and uses this as an excuse for Kid Sampson, his pilot, to turn around.

Upon landing the feeling back at the base is one of defeat and sadness for the others who are on the mission and Yossarian goes off by himself after ignoring questions about why he turned around. He has some hallucinations that the mushrooms in the woods are severed limbs and falls asleep. The next day he wakes to find that the planes are flying in from Bologna perfectly safe. The mission was a success and free of the danger that had been anticipated.

Chapter Fifteen

Captain Prichard and Captain Wren are upset with Yossarian and his men for bailing on the Bologna mission and make them go back out because the job was not completed the first time. During the mission, Yossarian loses his calm with Aarfy who is constantly joking around and distracting him while

Yossarian is trying to yell instructions to McWatt, the pilot, to keep them from being hit. The plane is hit once, but the men manage to land safely, though many of the planes that had gone up with them were not as lucky. Yossarian looks around to make sure that Orr is okay and sees that his plane has landed slightly damaged but safe, much to his relief. After a quick debriefing, Yossarian wastes no time packing his bags for a leave in Rome.

Chapter Sixteen

When in Rome Yossarian meets a beautiful woman named Luciana whom he convinces to sleep with him, though she will not do so until the next morning. When Luciana arrives at his hotel room the next morning, she still refuses to sleep with him until she cleans his room, which she does.

Yossarian falls in love with Luciana, and asks her to marry him, but she refuses because she says that Yossarian is obviously crazy as only a crazy man would marry a woman who is not a virgin. When Yossarian and Luciana part ways she gives him her number and tells him she expects him to rip it up as soon as he walks away, happy with himself for getting such an attractive woman to sleep with him.

Yossarian tells her he will not but, lo and behold that is exactly what he does though he immediately regrets it. He hears that Cathcart has raised the number of missions required to forty and decides he must enter the hospital right away.

Chapter Seventeen

Yossarian is in the hospital and so is Dunbar. He is enjoying being in an atmosphere that is not violent, though it is filled with people who are dying. The men who are in the hospital discuss death with one another and the mysterious decision of who lives and who dies that seems to have no rhyme or reason.

Yossarian has a hard time paying attention to the conversation because his mind, as always, is trying to keep track of all of the possible forces that could kill him in this environment. Yossarian and Hungry Joe make a list of contagious diseases that they take turns pretending to have with the hopes that Doc will deem it necessary to keep them off duty, though the Doc does not fall for their tricks. Doc tells Yossarian that after he has flown his mission quota he will help him be discharged.

Chapter Eighteen

Yossarian remembers the first time he ever visited the military hospital, complaining of abdominal pain. He soon decided to take on the symptoms of another man in the hospital who was claiming to have double vision. He spent Thanksgiving in the hospital and vowed to spend every coming Thanksgiving there as well though he broke that vow on the next one which he spent sleeping with Scheisskopf’s wife.

Once Yossarian's fake double vision and stomach pains were gone, he was asked to pretend to be a dying soldier whose family was coming to visit because they were unaware that he had actually died that morning. Yossarian was bandaged heavily and visited with the family. The father told Yossarian to make sure God knows that it is a crime for such young men to die.

Chapter Nineteen

Colonel Cathcart, though seemingly cocky, is terribly insecure and paranoid. He cares deeply what the public thinks of him and allows Colonel Korn to make all of his decisions for him. Deep down Cathcart resents Korn for being a higher rank than him, and also for having attending a state college. As he wants nothing more than to become a General, he tries to enforce prayer sessions before the men leave on missions hoping that it will get him into the Saturday Evening Post. When Cathcart meets with the Chaplain to discuss the required prayer the Chaplain does not think it is a brilliant idea because of the atheists and the fact that Cathcart wants the men to say prayers that are inferior to those of the officers. Cathcart abandons the plan and gets defensive when the Chaplain mentions how upset the men are that he has raised the mission quota to sixty.

Chapter Twenty

The Chaplain is not well liked by most of the officers, especially Colonel Korn who forces the Chaplain to live off in the woods and dine with different men in a different place each night. He is also disliked by Corporal Whitcomb who is an atheist and is made to live with the Chaplain. He thinks that if he can get rid of the Chaplain, then he will be able to move back to live amongst the other men, so he does his best to paint the Chaplain in a negative light.

Whitcomb accuses the Chaplain of being the person responsible for signing letters “Washington Irving”, for getting into Major Major’s personal mail, and for stealing tomatoes. The Chaplain falls into a depression at the accusations.

Chapter Twenty-One

Colonel Cathcart does not know what to do about Yossarian whom he sees as a mischievous distraction to the other men. Yossarian is extremely dramatic, refusing to wear clothes to the medal ceremony after Snowden died because Snowden had bled on his uniform and moaning during mission briefings out of fear that he will no longer sleep with beautiful women if he dies.

Cathcart believes that if he can stop Yossarian’s antics than General Dreedle will be impressed, but Dreedle does not care in the least what Yossarian is doing as long as he is alive. General Dreedle is totally unimpressed by the Colonel’s trying to undercut one another in seeking his approval and praise, especially Colonel Korn.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Snowden’s death resulted from a mission in which Dobbs, one of the pilots, went insane. He stole the controls from another pilot and rambles about wanting to kill Cathcart before he raises the mission quota again. Snowden dies while complaining to Yossarian that he is cold, and it is upon Snowden’s death that Yossarian becomes so cowardly.

Yossarian and Orr went with Milo on one of his black market food missions and learned the true extent of Milo’s success. Because Milo’s syndicate effects and enriches everyone it touches he holds political office in some countries and in others he is seen as a God. Yossarian and Orr are amazed by Milo’s fame though they do not get to experience the fruits of his labors as they are forced to sleep on the plane while Milo is out living it up.

Chapter Twenty-Three

One night when the men are in Rome Nately finds the prostitute he had lost a while back. He wants Aarfy and Yossarian to pay her friends thirty dollars each, but Aarfy refuses to pay for sex; instead Hungry Joe comes alone. They end up in a place that is full of naked woman, and Joe is tempted to go get his camera though he does not.

Nately gets into it with an old man who reminds him of his father about nationalism. The old man does not think that Americans will last long in the world and feels that Italy is in a better position in the war than America is. Nately misses the opportunity to sleep with his whore because he is arguing with the old man but gets his chance again the next morning though they are interrupted by her sister.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Milo primarily controls the entire black market and ends up being the cause of most of the bombings. He uses government planes with his logo on them – M&M Enterprises and contracts bombings between the Americans and Germans making him responsible for quite a few deaths including Mudd, the dead man in Yossarian’s tent. One day there is bombing on Milo’s own camp and several men are injured or killed causing them utter disdain toward Milo.

Milo quickly reminds the men how much money they are making from being a part of the syndicate and they all forgive him. He presents Yossarian with chocolate covered cotton on the day of Snowden’s funeral, when Yossarian is sitting naked in the tree, and Yossarian tells him to try to sell it to the government, which Milo thinks is a terrific idea.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The Chaplain is growing increasingly depressed at the fact that no one seems to like him or want him around. He believes he is seeing visions from God, such as a naked man in a tree which was Yossarian though the Chaplain does not seem aware of that fact. He worries that his family is suffering in his absence and tries to help the soldiers by getting Major Major to lower the number of missions they need to participate in, but Major Major will not allow the Chaplain, or anyone else, in to see him.

The Chaplain tries to socialize with the other men, but Colonel Cathcart always has him removed from social settings much to the Chaplain’s dismay. He feels as though he is helpless and begins to doubt everything about his life, including God.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Nately eventually falls in love with his whore who does not return his feelings and is actually quite sick of him to the point that she will no longer accept his money. She spends the night mostly naked sitting in a room full of men who are playing cards and is called a slut by Aarfy, a sentiment that seriously offends Nately.

Aarfy is the pilot flying on the mission when Yossarian finally is injured and taken to the hospital. He and Dunbar decide that they are going to trade places with two men who rank lower than them, but they are quickly found out by the nurses Duckett and Cramer and made to return to their own beds.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Nurse Duckett is sexually assaulted by Yossarian, who puts his hand up her skirt, and Dunbar, who grabs her breast until she has to be rescued. Yossarian tells the Doctor who rescues her that he is insane, and that is why he acted the way he did. Yossarian is sent to see Major Sanderson, the psychiatrist, who agrees that Yossarian is crazy and should be discharged, but there is a mix-up and the man that Yossarian had been pretending to be before gets sent home instead. Yossarian is furious, and his friends try to console him, Dobbs even offers to kill Cathcart again. Yossarian goes to see Doc, but Doc refuses to send him home because he thinks that if all the crazy people were discharged there would be no one left to fight.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Yossarian is ready for Dobbs to kill Colonel Cathcart and tells him so, but Dobbs is no longer interested because he has completed his missions, and is waiting to be discharged, refusing to believe that the number may be raised again. Yossarian learns that Orr crashed his plane into the ocean while he was in the hospital and managed to survive, now offering to show Yossarian how to survive a crash landing, and also to explain why a naked woman was hitting him with a shoe in Rome, but Yossarian declines. On Orr’s next mission, he crashes his plane into the ocean yet again, but he disappears this time, presumably drowned.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Scheisskopf has become a colonel and has joined with General Peckem, much to the soldiers’ dismay, though Peckem only promoted him in hopes of getting a leg up on his competition, General Dreedle. Scheisskopf is not all that thrilled about his new position because he could not bring his wife with him, and also he would not be able to have parades every day as he did before.

Cathcart’s squadron is set to go on a mission that involves bombing an undefended village for the sole purpose of taking superb photos to impress General Peckem with. When Cathcart sees that Scheisskopf is there as well he is upset and feels uncomfortable but manages to give a briefing anyway, pleased with how well he operated under pressure.

Chapter Thirty

Yossarian goes on a mission with McWatt and totally loses his mind, fearful that he will die and crazy over flashbacks of Snowden. McWatt seems concerned about Yossarian after the mission is over though Yossarian feared McWatt would be mad at him. Yossarian is having a sexual relationship with Nurse Duckett, and they like to have sex on the beach, but when Yossarian is near water he thinks of the men he knows who have died underwater like Orr and Clevinger.

One day when McWatt is buzzing the beach (flying low) he accidentally gets too close and cuts Kid Sampson in half with his propeller. He immediately flies higher and crashes his plane into a mountain, killing himself. Cathcart is extremely upset, but this turn of events and raises the mission quota to sixty-five.

Chapter Thirty-One

Cathcart learns that Doc was on the plane with McWatt and has been killed as well and raises the quota once again, this time to seventy missions. Doc was not actually on the plane but because Yossarian had been altering the flight logs to make it look as though Doc was logging his hours the paperwork showed that Doc was on the flight.

Doc’s wife gets a letter stating he is dead, which saddens her, but she realizes she will be getting a sizeable income from his insurance for the rest of her life, and she starts flirting with men and dies her hair.

The men are mad with Doc’s forgeries because their mission quota has increased and he is no longer allowed to practice medicine, which substantially upsets him. He writes a letter to his wife to ask her to tell the authorities he is alive but happy with the money she will be receiving she moves herself and the children out of state and does not give Doc a forwarding address.

Chapter Thirty-Two

As the days go by, and the weather starts to get colder Orr still never returns and Kid Sampson’s legs are still on the beach because no one will retrieve them. Yossarian’s tent is overrun with new young guys, who have never been to battle.

The new guys called Yossarian “Yo-yo” and he develops an overwhelming hatred for them almost to the point of homicidal. The guys remove Mudd’s belongings and burn Orr’s wood which prompts Yossarian to ask Halfoat to move in and scare them but he says he is going to move into the hospital where he will finally die of pneumonia. Yossarian decides that rather than kill them, he will go to Rome with Hungry Joe on leave.

Chapter Thirty-Three

In Rome Yossarian misses Nurse Duckett and goes looking for Luciana, sure that he will not find her. Nately sets out to find his whore who is being held in a hotel room by some men who refuse to let her go, hoping to rescue her.

When Nately does find her, she is relieved and falls in love with him. Nately dreams of moving his whore and her sister to America with him and having his military brothers all live near him and work for his father.

The whore is upset when she learns Nately no longer wants her to prostitute herself, and also wishes her not to speak to the old man he got into the argument with the last time he saw her. Despite her anger, she is sad when Nately leaves and is quite upset with Yossarian after he breaks Nately’s nose with his fist.

Chapter Thirty-Four

On Thanksgiving Milo gives all of the men whiskey and they get a little rowdy. They panic when they hear the sound of machine guns though they quickly realize that it is a prank but Yossarian is still infuriated. He makes to go after them with his own gun but Nately tries to stop him which results in Yossarian breaking his nose.

In the hospital wing, Yossarian feels terrible for Nately’s nose, and they see the Chaplain who has faked an illness to be there. When Dunbar begins to scream hysterically the other men follow suit and Yossarian seems confused. Nurse Duckett tells Yossarian that the doctors plan to make Dunbar “disappear” and when Yossarian goes to tell him, he finds that Dunbar is missing.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Halfoat finally dies of pneumonia, just as he expected he would, and Nately finishes his mission quota though he does not want to go home because he cannot bring his whore with him. Yossarian wants Milo to help him convince Nately not to go on anymore missions, and Milo immediately goes and asks that he, himself, be put on more dangerous missions because he feels he has not done his duty while running his operation.

Cathcart volunteers to run the syndicate while Milo is on missions but when he finds out how much work is involved he changes his mind and tells Milo that other men can do Milo’s missions and Milo will be rewarded for them with medals of Honor. The mission quota is increased to eighty and the men are sent on a particularly dangerous mission which ends up killing twelve of the men, Dobbs and Nately included.

Chapter Thirty-Six

The Chaplain is arrested for various crimes, which are unspecified at the time, much to his shock. He is accused of forgery, of being Washington Irving, and of stealing plum tomatoes. A document that Yossarian forged the Chaplain’s name on some time ago is the only evidence that they have against him, and they sound ridiculous trying to justify their accusations.

The Chaplain is set free until they figure out how to punish him and he goes right to Colonel Korn to complain about the number of missions the men have to complete. Korn informs the Chaplain that all of the higher-ups agree with the idea of increasing the quota to whatever they want, and anyone who disagrees, such as Dr. Stubbs have been sent away.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Peckem moves into his new office which is Dreedle’s old office and learns that Scheisskopf has been promoted to general, making him Peckem’s new commanding officer which makes Peckem extremely aggravated. Peckem refuses to take any phone calls from Scheisskopf and cannot believe that such a dimwit could be in charge.

Apparently the leader of special services was being promoted to general, which would have been Peckem had he not already been promoted and instead went to his successor, Scheisskopf. Peckem is now stuck following Scheisskopf’s orders, as absurd as they may be, and he wants everyone to march.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Yossarian refuses to participate in any more missions and out of pity for the loss of Nately Cathcart and Korn decide to send him to Rome on leave. When in Rome Yossarian tells Nately’s whore about his death and she attacks him with a knife, as does her little sister, convinced that Yossarian is to blame for his death. She follows him everywhere he goes, including back to base, determined to seek revenge for Nately’s death, though it was not Yossarian’s fault.

The officers ask Yossarian to fly in nondangerous missions, but he refuses, knowing that someone else will be asked to fly in the more dangerous ones in his stead. He finds out that Nately’s whore, her sister, and the other ladies living in their building were flushed out by M.P.’s, and he is worried about them.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Yossarian and Milo head to Rome which is in a state of shambles and ruins beyond what he imagined. He learns from the old woman who lived in the whores’ apartment building that they were presented with a Catch-22, that the soldiers could do anything that the people could not stop them from doing, and the other Catch-22 was that they did not have to present the people with a written Catch-22.

Yossarian knows that Catch-22 does not exist, but it sticks around because people believe in it. Yossarian looks for Nately’s whore, and Milo gets distracted by a business opportunity. As he wanders he sees rapes, beatings, and corpses everywhere he looks, he even encounters Aarfy beating and raping a maid. M.P.’s burst in and apologize to Aarfy for interrupting him but arrest Yossarian who is doing nothing wrong for being in Rome without a pass.

Chapter Forty

Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn tell Yossarian that they want to send him home but because of Catch-22 they cannot. They decide that they would like to promote him to major so his only job would be to watch over them, but, in return, he would have to like them and approve of what they are doing. Yossarian does not want to betray his fellow soldiers, knowing that they will still have to fly an unspecified number of missions, but he thinks it is his only way out so he accepts. As he is leaving the office, he is stabbed by Nately’s whore who is dressed in disguise.

Chapter Forty-One

Yossarian is operated on in the hospital and when he awakens he see the Chaplain and Aarfy. He promises the Chaplain that he will not take Cathcart and Korn’s deal, though he had previously agreed to it. He realizes that his only friend who is still alive is Hungry Joe but the Chaplain tells him that Joe died in his sleep, apparently smothered by a cat.

Yossarian drifts in and out of dreams and remembers the day that Snowden died, telling Yossarian “I’m cold.” In an attempt to help Snowden, Yossarian opened his suit, but his entrails all spilled out and, in the entrails, Yossarian read, “The spirit gone, man is garbage”.

Chapter Forty-Two

Yossarian tries to explain to General Danby about the offer Cathcart, and Korn gave him and why he cannot take it, as he must honor his friends who have died needlessly in war. He believes that he has no hope when the Chaplain tells him that Orr has washed up in Sweden, alive, and Yossarian knows that he does stand a chance. He gathers his clothes and leaves the hospital, headed toward Sweden to leave the war forever. As he is leaving Nately’s whore tries to stab him one more time, but he escapes her and runs off as fast as he can toward Sweden.