Catch 22

Catch 22 is a wonderful book. One of my favorite books along with Huck Finn because it informs my worldview. And it's the same reason that I like movies by the Coen Brother's so much.

Catch 22 presents an absurdist view of the world in which people in power aren't really in power. They do have power, but their power is often determined by other peoples actions. Bureaucracy, for instance, is a big thing in the book. And I do think Heller indulges himself too much in his conversations and plots that go around in circles, there's usually a gut punch of irrational logic at the end which makes everything clear in it's own crazy way.

People have their own goals - Yossarian wants to live, Colonel Cathcart wants glory and fame, Milo wants to make money - and their pursuits and goals all clash with one another spinning into crazy situations that often seem absurd. I'm not sure where I stand philosophically, but I do think that while we have control over our actions, our fates are often not determined by us but by circumstance. We all have our own plots and they all end up crashing into one another for the better or worse. Yossarian just wants to live, but the war that is conducted by the hands of those above him keep putting his life in danger.

Like The Comedian, I feel like like is just one big joke that we are all playing on each other constantly. We the country can be fixed by electing the right president, but how much control do they really have when you have PFC Wintergreens defying you bureaucratically or Milos undermining you and profiteering in the name of "what is good for the syndicate is good for the country." there are so many levels of power and so many conflicting interests it's incredible that anything gets accomplished ever.

The world is an absurd place.

"When I look up, I see people cashing in. I don't see heaven or saints or angels. I see people cashing in on every decent impulse and every human tragedy..."
"What does upset me, though, is that they think I'm a sucker. They think that they're smart, and that the rest of us are dumb. And, you know, Danby, the thought occurs to me right now, for the first time, that maybe they're right."

" In parts of Africa little boys were stolen away by adult slave traders and sold for money to men who disemboweled them and ate them. Yossarian marveled that children could suffer such barbaric sacrifice without evincing the slightest hint of fear or pain. He took it for granted that they did submit so stoically. If not, he reasoned, the custom would certainly have died, for no craving for wealth or immortality could be so great, he felt, as to subsist on the sorrow of children"