Catch-22

Korn’s attempt to impress the superior officers took place before the mission to Avignon, when Snowden was killed (a traumatic memory that Yossarian recalled in Chapter 5). The mission and Snowden’s death was when “Yossarian lost his nerve” (185). Yossarian now blames Dobbs for Snowden’s death as Dobbs is a terrible pilot. In the present, Dobbs hatches a plan to kill Cathcart (as well as other potential victims) and hopes that Yossarian will help him. Yossarian refuses to be involved. Instead, he flies missions to collect items for Milo’s black market. Dobbs abandons his plan because Yossarian will not give his approval.

Yossarian, Milo, and Orr stock up on supplies. During the supply mission, Yossarian and Orr begin to realize the vast extent of Milo’s burgeoning black-market activities. By now, Milo is somehow the mayor of the Italian city of Palermo. He also holds positions in Malta, Oran, Baghdad, Damascus, and Aarfy. In certain parts of Africa, Milo is worshiped like a God. Everyone seems to love Milo because his grasp of economics can stimulate even the most war-torn economy. Everyone allows Milo to get away with his illegal activities because he assures them that “everybody has a share” (191) in the black-market syndicate. When they land in Palermo, crowds chant Milo’s name and cheer his arrival. Despite Milo’s growing wealth and influence, he makes Orr and Yossarian sleep onboard the plane while he sleeps in palaces. Orr tries to tell a story about being attacked by a naked sex worker, but his mouth is filled with horse chestnuts. One night, Milo wakes them up on an urgent mission to take a shipment to their next destination. They fly around the cities where Milo is adored, and, in each destination, Yossarian and Orr must sleep in the plane. Only in Egypt do they stay in a hotel, where Milo buys a huge supply of Egyptian cotton.

Nately is in love with an Italian sex worker who does return his love. He searches for her in Rome until he finds her, and he must convince Yossarian and Aarfy to purchase the services of her colleagues for $30 each. Aarfy declines, even though he hopes that Nately’s rich father will give him a job after the war, so they recruit Hungry Joe instead. The sex worker swears at Nately with “rising, menacing resentment” (196).

The three hired sex workers take Nately, Yossarian, Dunbar, and Hungry Joe to the workers’ apartment. As Nately engages in a discussion of philosophy and morality with “an evil and debauched ugly old man” (197), Hungry Joe does not know whether he should rush back to the base to fetch his camera to photograph the young women. Nately argues with the neighbor about whether Italy or the United States is currently doing better in the war. Nately tries to be patriotic, but the elderly neighbor argues insistently that the only objective during a war is to stay alive, which Italy is managing. Throughout the conversation, the old neighbor reveals that he was the person who threw the flower that hit Major –– de Coverley in the eye. Nately is outraged by the man’s ambiguous loyalties. He is also upset that his attempts to “make tender, courteous love” (202) with his beloved sex worker must be abandoned because she has gone to bed. The next morning, Nately finally has sex with her, but her younger sister interrupts them. As the two sisters fight, Nately tries to settle the argument by taking them both to breakfast. When he sees the neighbor again, he is somehow reminded of his father even though they are very different men. Nately feels a “confusing shame” (203).

Milo builds his black-market empire. In just a few months, he controls most of the contraband products in the world and is a key player in the global economy. He uses militaries and air forces from around the world to ship his goods, rebranding them with his own company name. Throughout all this, he insists that everyone has a stake in his so-called syndicate. Yossarian believes that Milo is both a “jerk” and a “genius.” Milo’s “international cartel” (206) begins taking bombing assignments from rival governments. The Germans pay him to shoot American planes, and the Americans pay him to bomb the Germans. The German guns he contracted were the same guns used to kill Mudd, the dead young airman still technically in Yossarian’s tent. Because of this, Yossarian has not forgiven Milo, who claims that he is just trying to put the war “on a businesslike basis” (208) and reminds Yossarian that he, too, has a share in the syndicate.

Milo asks Yossarian to help him sell a huge supply of Egyptian cotton. If he cannot sell the cotton, Milo explains, the whole syndicate is in danger. Milo takes a contract from the Germans and bombs his own base to make up for the losses incurred by the cotton issue. Many men are either wounded or killed. Politicians and members of the public clamor for Milo’s punishment as he has “gone too far” (210). However, Milo reveals how much they all stand to make from their stake in the syndicate. The fact that everyone has a share in the syndicate, he says, means that he has made profits for everyone. However, he never actually shares these profits. The syndicate attack on the base has a profound effect on Doc Daneeka, similar to the effect of the Avignon mission, with Snowden, on Yossarian.

On that day of that Avignon mission, Daneeka had helped take care of the shattered Yossarian with pills and shots. Yossarian refused to wear clothes in the wake of Avignon (which is why he was naked during Snowden’s memorial service). When he left Daneeka’s care, Yossarian was still naked for the rest of the day and into the next morning, where he climbed into a tree. Milo then found Yossarian naked in the tree and asked him for help selling the Egyptian cotton. When Yossarian suggested that he sell the cotton to the government, Milo was delighted with the idea. However, he was worried that Yossarian’s nakedness might “start a trend” (215) that would hinder the sale of all the cotton.

While undergoing a crisis of faith, Chaplain Tappman is concerned that the men seem uncomfortable and awkward in his presence. No one treats him humanely, and he is intimidated by the “people with loud voices” (216). So insecure, he is not an effective religious leader to the squadron. As he’s sunk into a deep depression, he’s been sustained by a series of strange religious visions. One of these visions was of a “naked man in a tree” (217), seen during Snowden’s memorial service. The chaplain does not know that this “vision” was actually Yossarian.

The other officers confuse and worry the chaplain; the only one who seems to realize that he has “feelings” (218) is Corporal Whitcomb, who is constantly trying to undermine him. The chaplain has nightmares about his family dying while he is away. He is also haunted by the image of the naked man in the tree, which he cannot explain. When he wants to ask Major about the mission requirements and the effect on morale, he cannot even meet with the major. Tappman sits in the office, close to tears, as he convinces himself that the men have played a practical joke on him. He jumps out of the office window and goes to his tent, where Whitcomb tells him that Major Major left a letter for Tappman. However, Whitcomb has read then disposed of the letter, and he accuses Tappman of not knowing “how to delegate responsibly” (222).

Rushing back to Major Major’s office, the chaplain runs into Flume. Previously, Flume shared a tent with Chief White Halfoat, but now he is so scared of Halfoat that he sleeps in the forest. Flume panics and accuses the chaplain of wanting to “cut [his] throat” (225). After Flume runs away, the chaplain returns to his tent. Whitcomb boasts that he’s received a rank promotion from corporal to sergeant; Colonel Cathcart promoted him because he suggested an idea that could result in a newspaper story. When the chaplain tries to talk to the colonel, Cathcart dismisses his complaints and plans to volunteer the men for another mission to Avignon. Later, Cathcart tries to have the chaplain thrown out of the officers’ club. The chaplain is so distraught that he begins to question his own belief in God.