Who can you trust when the entire world seems to be trying to kill you?
I can only imagine what it would be like to be a bomber in WW2. What kept happening to the men in the book is that the men at the top kept raising the amount of missions that the flyers have to fly. Some of the other men had hit their missions, packed their bags, ready to go home and then learn that they now have to fly more. What is pure genius in this book is something that we hear a lot of today. World War Two was considered an honorable war. Everyone was supposed to work for it, there was the home-front war-effort and the men out fighting. No one was supposed to criticize the war or the people running the war. We have all of this today with satires of news shows and novels. Catch 22 does all of this, without coming right out right and saying it. Catch 22 made the situations so ridiculous that it made it real.
I used to wish that wars and conflicts were really black and white, no gray area. It seemed so nice and neat in school when we learned about WW2 and how the United States was fighting against Hitler to save people and the world. Good and bad, right? There seemed to be a clear good and bad side. Truth is that life is not black and white. It is FILLED with gray areas. It was naive to think that something like WAR would be any different.
My confession about this book is that I didn't get it. I have never been in a fight, I have never gone off to fight in a war. I didn't get it. Yossarian seems so crazy and so strange that I didn't put myself in his shoes. Once I did though, the book worked for me. And I hate it. It is wonderful.
Ever had to argue with someone and you knew from the very beginning that it wasn't going to do any good? One man from the novel found himself arguing with an Italian man about the virtues of country and if winning a war is really a good thing. The man, Nately finds himself arguing with a man over something he had never really thought about. Of COURSE winning a war is a good thing? Why would men on both sides be dying for it? Then the man says this which, I admit, blew my mind:
"You put so much stock in winning wars," the grubby iniquitous old man scoffed. "The real trick lies in losing wars, in knowing which wars can be lost. Italy has been losing wars for centuries, and just see how splendidly we've done nonetheless. France wins wars and is in a continual state of crisis. Germany loses and prospers. Look at our own recent history. Italy won a war in Ethiopia and promptly stumbled into serious trouble. Victory gave us such insane delusions or grandeur that we helped start a world war we hadn't a chance of winning. But now that we are losing again, everything has taken a turn for the better, and we will certainly come out on top again if we succeed in being defeated." ...
"But," Nately cried out is disbelief, "you're a turncoat! A timeserver! A shameful, unscrupulous opportunist!"
"I am a hundred and seven years old," the old man reminded him suavely.
"Don't you have any principles?"
"Of course not."
-Joseph Heller Catch 22
There are people in this world that cannot be argued with, the believe what they believe and by goodness, they are not going to give it up for you or anyone else. This is a showcase of two very different people in the world. People who are out to serve themselves, like the old Italian man. And people who feel that there are things in life that are worth fighting and dying for, like Nately. Then there are people who are caught in the middle. Question is, who is the better man? My personal vote is for the young man, who may not be able to articulate why is is fighting, but even after a conversation like this, does not stop. It may be naive. And it may all be for nothing, but I like to think that it isn't.
There is so much that can be said for this book and I am almost finished with it. I was having trouble sorting out my feelings for this book until my father asked me one simple question. "Are you mad yet?" That simple question made me realize that YES!!! I AM MAD!!! This book is amazing. Horrible.Wonderful. Infuriating.
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