Catch-22

These notes are old and were written while reading — they don’t necessarily reflect my current views.

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he were sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to, but if he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle. (p. 56, ch. 5)

The book revels in paradoxes and irony. It critiques the war, the concept of war, the military and the military industrial complex.

These is one priest that sees Yossarian sitting on a tree naked and thinks about why he could have had such an illusion. He is going all the way questioning if he even exists or existance as a concept exists, but it does not occur to him that it just was reality. i think that great satire of philosophy.

There is one character making fun of capitalists who runs a business operation during his service proccuring various goods for other soldiers and pretending it’s for “the syndicate in which everyone has a stake” which makes fun of capitalists claiming they work for the greater good. After he miscalculates on a cotton trade, he quickly justifies to himself selling it to the government even though he was before of the strong opinion that government should not interfere with business. This addresses issues like bailouts.