Catch-22
(Joseph Heller)

John Yossarian

Yossarian is a Captain in the Air Force and works as a bombardier. He utterly despises the war and does not believe there is any reason for himself or anyone else to be risking their lives in lieu of the lives of others. He spends most of his time trying to avoid death, which he sees as a certainty and tries to be discharged for any illness he can possibly fake. Eventually Yossarian realizes that everyone around him is dead and escaping to Sweden is his only chance to survive without compromising his morals or his respect for his fallen comrades.

Milo Minderbinder

Milo is in charge of the mess hall and serves fantastic food. Outside of the mess hall Milo is the owner and operator of a black market syndicate that involves the trade of food and supplies to other countries. In return, he can order attacks on anyone he wishes, even on his own people. He is entirely ruthless in his business decisions and is so well-loved and respected over several continents that he holds political office in multiple countries and is worshipped as a God in some others. He tells everyone that they have a share in his syndicate and will benefit from it, though it seems obvious he never intends to share his profits.

The Chaplain

The Chaplain is a devoted friend to Yossarian and is one of the few people who sympathize with the soldiers’ desire to be discharged and their disdain for the mission requirements being constantly raised on a whim. The Chaplain is turned against by all of the officers and accused of crimes he did not commit. He is constantly plagued by a feeling of déjà vu and wonders where God’s plan is in everything that happens. He realizes that the world and war have been so unjust that perhaps God does not exist and his faith waivers.

Doc Daneeka

Doc Daneeka tries to be a friend of Yossarian, but his hands are tied because of catch-22 which he explains to Yossarian the best that he can. Doc is afraid of flying and thus Yossarian botches the flight logs to make it seem as though Doc logs his flight hours. Resulting from this forgery, it is assumed that Doc is dead, and word gets back to his wife who is excited at the prospect of his insurance payouts. Doc gets word to his wife that he is still alive, and she ignores him and moves away, content with keeping the payments and he is also shunned by the soldiers, who blame him for the latest increase in their mission requirements.

Colonel Cathcart

Cathcart is the leader of Yossarian’s squadron and not nearly intelligent enough to be in charge of so many people. He is hugely ambitious, and desperately wants to be a general so he is always making moves that he hopes will impress the officers above him and make him stand out amongst the other colonels. He constantly offers his men up for the most dangerous missions and raises the number of missions they must complete before being discharged. Despite the fact that he is extremely ruthless and ambitious, Cathcart is also quite insecure and always worries what others are thinking of him.

Nately

Nately is a young guy from a wealthy family who serves in Yossarian’s squadron and is one of the people that Yossarian is closest to. He falls in love with a whore in Rome and is offended when anyone speaks poorly of her, like when Aarfy calls her a slut. Nately is one of the few people who try to keep Yossarian from getting into too much trouble, though he is not always successful. Nately is killed while out on a mission and his whore blames Yossarian for his death, following him around trying to kill him.

Hungry Joe

Hungry Joy is another man in Yossarian’s squadron who is waiting to be discharged though every time he fulfills his quota the number of missions required is raised. He used to be a photographer for Time magazine, and, within the war environment, he becomes infatuated with photographing naked women, mainly the prostitutes in Rome. The only time Hungry Joe is calm is when he is on a mission because as soon as the missions are over he suffers from horrific nightmares. He ends up dying in his sleep having been smothered by another guy’s cat.

Dunbar

Dunbar is a friend that Yossarian meets in the hospital. Like Yossarian, Dunbar seems to realize that they are in a war situation and their likelihood of survival is minimal. Dunbar decides that the way to live as long a life as possible is by leading a boring and uneventful life that goes by exceedingly slowly and in the war the only place to do that is by staying in the hospital as long as possible. As Dunbar’s mind starts slipping, and he goes a little crazy the doctors decide that they are going to make him disappear, essentially, but when Yossarian goes to warn him, he finds Dunbar is missing.

Major Major

Major Major has the unfortunate stigma of being born with the name Major Major Major because his father thought it would be funny, and his mother died during child birth so she had no say in the matter. He is promoted through the ranks at first by computer error and then to simply push him out of the way by people who just do not like him. Major Major is isolated all his life, and when he reaches the rank of Major he isolates himself totally, refusing to see anyone in his office, which only increases his loneliness.

Major ----- de Coverly

Major de Coverly is so mysterious that his first name is never revealed. He is the executive officer of the squadron and is quite respected by the men though they are a bit scared of him, as well. He does not actually do anything of importance or anything related to war missions, so the men actually have no reason to fear him at all. He spends him time playing horseshoes, which he is quite adept at, and reserves hotel rooms in the cities that have been taken over by Americans for his soldiers to take their rest leave.

Orr

Orr is the tent-mate of Yossarian, and he is a bit on the strange side. Orr is the handyman in the tent and is always fixing things or making improvements to make himself and Yossarian more comfortable. He always has weird stories to tell and tries to get Yossarian to ask him questions that he does not want to know the answer to. Orr has a knack for crashing planes and surviving and offers to give Yossarian lessons on how to survive a plane crash. One day Orr uses this skill to his advantage and crashes his plane into the water only to escape to Sweden, inspiring Yossarian to do the same.

Captain Black

Captain Black is the intelligence officer in Yossarian’s squadron. He wants to be the commander, and he feels as though the only way to do that is to berate the men, so assert his dominance over them. He does everything he can to make the men miserable and fully supports the raising of mission requirements to keep the men in service for as long as possible. He even commissions Nately’s whore for sex knowing that he is in love with her and it will cause him considerable distress.

Mudd

Mudd is the dead man who lives in Yossarian and Orr’s tent. Though his body is not actually there, all of his personal belongings are there so it is like a dead man lives with them. Mudd was not officially signed in as a squadron member when he was killed on a mission and, therefore, fundamentally does not exist in the eyes of the military. Because he was never processed or listed as having been there, no one has the authority to remove his belongings, so they just stay there until Yossarian’s obnoxious, younger, new roommates move in after Orr disappears, and take it upon themselves to clear Mudd’s things out.

Snowden

Snowden was a gunner whose death destroyed Yossarian’s confidence and was a turning point for Yossarian as far as his participation in the war goes. When Snowden died all he could say to Yossarian was “I’m cold”. When he died his entrails were splattered on Yossarian’s uniform leading to Yossarian’s refusal to wear the uniform to Snowden’s funeral, instead sitting naked in a tree. Yossarian never got over the death of Snowden and was plagued by it at random moments throughout the novel.

Lieutenant Scheisskopf

Scheisskopf is first a Lieutenant and then is promoted to Colonel and then General, much to the dismay of Peckem who would have become General if he had not been promoted first. Scheisskopf loves military parades and being the center of attention. He does not pay nearly enough attention to his wife, so she sleeps with any man who pays attention to her, like Yossarian. He is first in charge of training Yossarian’s squadron before he goes up in ranks.