Catch-22 Characters

! The characters in Catch-22 are, for the most part, completely flat, although
entertaining. All the characters have roles that they love to fill, Ex-p.f.c Wintergreen
likes to go AWOL and is therefore punished in rank, Milo has the role of running a blck
market syndicate at the cost of everyone even though “everyone has a share”,
Havermeyer likes to shoot mice in cruel ways at night. These roles do not change
throughout the novel, and the only characters who really do change Yossarian and The
Chaplain. In the beginning of the plot, Yossarian is willing to go to all ends of the world
to get out of fighting. However, when he is given the chance to leave, at the cost of his
crewʼs lives, he cannot. This is a development that can be seen from the beginning to
the end of the novel as Yossarian grows more and more fond of his crew. The Chaplain
is also a round character. He starts off fully believing in God but, as the novel
progresses, he finds it harder to maintain his faith as he sees more senseless and
illogical death.
! Every character has a trait that the reader can remember them by, and this
makes them seem like more than characters, it makes them seem like people. To say
they are believable is an understatement. However, there are many of them, and
having as many characters as there are is quite confusing. Heller does a good job
organizing the characters by devoting entire chapters to characters. However, despite
having many characters, there are only a few that are significant.
! The most important character in the book is Yossarian. He is the protagonist and
is simply trying to survive the war. He is probably in his 20ʼs, but itʼs hard to say, the
book doesnʼt really say much on his physical appearance, nothing at all really. He is,
however, desperately important to the book, as he drives what little plot there is.
Colonel Cathcart is raising the number of missions, and he is the one that wants to get
out of them the most. Yossarian is the pilot of the squadron, and his constant attempts
to get out of the war is where the book gets itʼs name, from Catch-22, saying that you
canʼt get out of the war unless you are crazy, but trying to get out means you recognize
the dangers and therefore arenʼt crazy. His importance is further solidified in the end of
the novel when we find he is offered a way out of the war that would mean him turning
his back on his men. When faced with this decision, he has little to say on it, “But what
the hell!ʼ Yossarian exclaimed. ʻIf they donʼt want to fly more missions, let them stand
up an do something about it the way I did. Right?” (Page 428) This is the first time we
see a change in Yossarianʼs character, the first time we see him turn his back on men,
and he will change his mind better. However, this quote shows how much Yossarian
doesnʼt want to fight, and that is what drives the entire novel.
! Another important character is the chaplain, who goes by no other name and is
the only other round character in the whole book. He starts out as a man, probably in
his thirties, who is optimistic and nervous to help soldiers and has a strong faith in God.
As the novel progress, this faith diminishes, as he sees the disrespect for religion and
the corrupt people. We see his enthusiasm to help people when Colonel Cathcart
discusses prayers before missions with him, but his inability to do so because of war,
! “Havenʼt you got anything humorous that stays away from waters and valleys
and God? Iʼd like to keep away from the subject of religion altogether if we can.ʼ
! The chaplain was apologetic. ʻIʼm sorry, sir, but just about all the prayers I know
are rather somber in tone and make at least some passing reference to God.” (Page
192) The chaplain wants to help the soldiers, but religion isnʼt treated well, and in this
scene is when the chaplain really starts to understand that people donʼt want him there,
heʼs there because heʼs supposed to be. This scene starts the change of the chaplain
into a vibrant, holy man into a depressed and doubtful one.
! Another one of the main characters is Colonel Cathcart, who is antagonist of the
novel. Throughout the whole thing, he is trying to become general, and he attempts this
by raising the number of missions to make his men, and him, seem braver. Heʼs selfish,
overdramatic, and rude. He is starting to get older and is in denial that he would be a
terrible general. About halfway through the book, we get the best look at how obsessed
he is with the position of general when realizing that Yossarian is resisting him. To think
about how to deal with Yossarian, Cathcart doesnʼt do much, “He wrote his reminder to
himself in a heavy and decisive hand, amplifying it sharply with a series of coded
punctuation marks and underlining the whole message twice, so that it read:
Yossarian!!!(?)!” Cathcart really believes that Yossarian is the only reason that he isnʼt a
general, and all he does about it is write his name in a journal. This just shows that
Cathcart is crazy, more than any other character, and is annoyingly stubborn.
! The last main character is Milo. Milo is just like all the other soldiers, just
significantly more selfish. He is the same age and lives in tents with all of them in
Pianosa and has to fly a ridiculous amount of missions. However, he runs a black
market syndicate, and is the mayor of Palermo, and Bagheria, and Nicosia, and
Mistretta, and several other cities along with Caliph of Baghdad, the Sheik of Araby and
various important positions is many obscure parts around the world. He finds a way to
make money by selling various goods for cheaper than he buys them, and actually
bombs Pianosa in order to make money. Whenever people start to doubt him, he
assures them that itʼs okay because “everybody getʼs a share” of the money. Nobody
knows how they get a share, but they believe him. This quote shows his brilliance and
selfishness, putting others in harms way to help himself.
! The list of characters goes on, but their significance quickly drops off. The rest of
the characters are more or less fill-inʼs, oneʼs that could be done by any character but
really are done best with the characters that Heller chose and developed. Aarfy is
significant in the story because he rapes and kills a woman, but at the end of the day
nobody is going to remember his name, just what he did. Oor fixed up his tent and put
crabapples in his cheeks, but people are going to know him for putting crabapples in his
cheeks, not for his name or anything else. The other characters contribute what theyʼre
supposed to very well, even though itʼs very little.