544 Heller, Joseph
break many psychologically. It is common to all the-
aters of war in all times, from the jungles of Vietnam,
the sands of Iraq, the mountains of Afghanistan, or
30,000 feet above Earth where John Yossarian, the
hero of Catch-22, encounters death and suffering on
a daily basis as a bombardier on a B-24.
Yossarian and his squadron are stationed and
imprisoned on the island of Pianosa, off the coast
of Greece, by their certifiable commander and the
simplistic lunacy of Catch-22. The catch is that any
person who continues to fly bombing missions in
the face of certain death is insane and as such enti-
tled to be relieved of duty; however, any person who
recognizes the truth of the situation and requests to
be removed from flight status for that reason must
be sane enough to fly. Catch-22 traps Yossarian and
his squadron on interminable flight duty, unable to
go home until they fly the requisite number of mis-
sions or they die trying. Yossarian comes to realize
that the only avenue of escape is death because the
squadron commander, Colonel Cathcart, always
raises the total number of missions one has to fly as
soon as someone nears the mark.
Throughout the novel, Yossarian hatches a series
of schemes to escape the brutal realities of war, but
the suffering and death surround him, whether he
is in the air, in the hospital, or in his bunk. Mudd,
referred to throughout the novel as “the dead guy
in Yossarian’s tent,” is killed on a mission before
the military bureaucracy actually processed him as
a member of the squadron, and he is never listed
as having arrived. Mudd becomes an invisible man
who is dead, but not declared dead, and no one in
the unit retains the authority to remove his personal
belongings from Yossarian’s tent. This is one of the
constant reminders of death that Yossarian deals
with in Catch-22.
Yossarian constantly evades active duty by claim-
ing to be ill. He spends days on end in the hospital
with mysterious illnesses that the doctors cannot
diagnose or treat. While lying in the hospital, Yos-
sarian encounters the soldier in white, a man with no
name and bandaged from head to toe. “The soldier
in white was encased from head to toe in plaster
and gauze. He had two useless legs and two useless
arms.” The soldier in white dies and is replaced by
another, although everyone in the hospital assumes
it is the same person, which signifies the perpetual,
anonymous casualties that war inflicts.
Yossarian witnesses other tragic events more
directly in Catch-22. McWatt, a daredevil pilot who
seldom follows orders, buzzes the beach as a stunt
but accidentally flies too close and slices Kid Samp-
son in half with the propeller of his B-24. McWatt,
consumed by guilt and regret, crashes his plane into
the side of a mountain. Nately is a patriotic 19-year-
old in love with a prostitute in Rome. He completes
his required 70 missions but will not return home
until he can bring his lover with him. Yossarian
pleads with him in vain, but Nately volunteers to
fly Milo Minderbender’s missions for him. Nately
is killed on a bombing mission along with 12 other
men.
These tragic deaths contribute to Yossarian’s suf-
fering, but Snowden’s death, by far, makes a more
devastating imprint. Snowden’s death is a marker in
the novel. Unable to forget and incapable of mov-
ing on, Yossarian recalls his death continually. The
gory circumstances of Snowden’s death are gradually
revealed as the story progresses.
On a bombing raid against Avignon, Snowden
is wounded by artillery flak, and Yossarian crawls
into the tail of the plane to tend to his wounds.
Yossarian consoles Snowden, who repeatedly cries
out that he’s cold, as Yossarian dresses the gaping
wound in Snowden’s leg. Yossarian assures Snowden
that he will live until he notices blood trickling out
from under Snowden’s bomber jacket. The narrator
describes Snowden’s death:Yossarian ripped open the snaps of Snowden’s
flak suit and heard himself scream wildly as
Snowden’s insides slithered down to the floor
in a soggy pile and just kept dripping out. A
chunk of flak more than three inches big had
shot into the other side just underneath the
arm and blasted all the way through, drawing
whole mottled quarts of Snowden along with
it through the gigantic hole in his ribs it made
as it blasted out. Yossarian screamed a second
time and squeezed both hands over his eyes.
His teeth were chattering in horror . . . Here
was God’s plenty, all right, he thought bit-
terly as he stared—liver, lungs, kidneys, ribs,