War?

As Catch-22 progresses, it continues to shed light on the nature of war and continues to amuse the reader. The many characters in the story each help show a different aspect and side on war, helping the reader to analyze and think more about the realities of war. Besides Yossarian, there are many dilemmas that the characters face that shed light on a previously unthought-of aspect of war.

One of the most amusing scenes of the novel is when Yossarian meddles with the official plans of the war. Before the bombing of Bologna, Yossarian moves the lines of the bombings to falsely show that Bologna has already been bombed. Yossarian is able to mess with the plans of the highest commanders and mess with the highest plans of the war. It is interesting to think that Yossarian, an ordinary man in the readers’s eyes, is able to mess with grand schemes of operations. The reader begins to wonder how many things such as this are possible in a real war. How many plans in wars were skewed by mischevious prankster-soldiers? Though people do not think of war as susceptible to pranks and mischief, Catch-22 shows that it is entirely possible and sometimes unnoticeable.

One aspect of war that Catch-22 reveals more about is romance. Typically we think of husbands and men going to war away from their loved wives and sweethearts. The reader rarely gets to see much of romance during the actual war scene, but Catch-22 is able to show how romance exists during war. The issue of romance during war can be associated with the characters of Yossarian and especially Nately. Both characters fall in love with whores that soldiers frequently are involved with. Though this relationship should seem purely for physical happiness, the characters become love-smitten. The whores call both Yossarian and Nately “crazy” many times, and this shows the soldiers may actually be “love crazy”. They feel as though there is no time in the world and must settle down with a loved one immediately, for there might never be another chance for love. The relationship between the soldiers and the whores show the sense of urgency that is involved during war. Though the reader may typically think of love as an object that is set far away for soldiers during war, love is sometimes right in front of the soldiers, dangling with a sense of urgency.

These two issues seen in Catch-22 are associated with war, but are shown in a different light. The beauty of Catch-22 is that it helps show different angles to a stereotypical issue. The reader’s mind is opened with new possibilities and the reader starts to question what really can and did happen in war.