airman's favourite haunt: 'Catch-22. Catch-22 says theyhave a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing'. The women had done nothing wrong but were still chased away. When challenged the M.P.s kept saying'Catch-22'. '"They don't have to show us Catch-22," the old woman answered. '"The law says they don't have to." '"What law says they don't have to?"'"Catch-22"' (p. 398). Yossarian strode away, 'cursing Catch-22 vehemently as he descended the stairs, even though he knew there was no such thing. Catch-22 did not exist, he waspositive of that, but it made no difference. What did matter was that everyone thought it existed, and that was much worse, for there was no object or text to ridiculeor refute, to accuse, criticise, attack, amend, hate, revile, spit a, rip to shreds, trample upon or burn up' (p. 400).The final appearance of Catch-22 is when Yossarian finally refuses to fly any more missions. He is hauled up before Colonels Cathcart and Korn and told he will becourt-martialled if he does not accept a deal they are proposing. It looks lovely. They are going to promote him, give him another medal and send him home as ahero to do morale-boosting campaigns and sell war bonds. He'll get what he has always wanted - out. They begin by telling him that there's a catch - Catch-22 -and go on for some time explaining what a despicable deal it is, how self-serving for them, how betraying of his comrades. But none of this is the essence. That's theeasiest part, they claim, but it's the one thing which he eventually finds he cannot do. They want him to like them (p. 416).At the heart of Catch-22 lies betrayal of decent values, the requirement that one sell one's soul to survive. The book turns on the axis of hope and decency versusdespair and cynicism. The logic of the system is what the chaplain rightly calls 'immoral logic' (p. 380). Everyone gives in to it at one point or another, except that thechaplain and Major Danby and Yossarian,...
