Posts tagged Catch-22

Go to Russia

He was rocking the boat, Milo said, and Yossarian nodded once more. He was not a member of the team, Milo said. Yossarian nodded and listened to Milo tell him that the decent thing to do if he did not like the way Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn were running things was to to go Russia, instead of stirring up trouble. Yossarian refrained from pointing out that Colonel Cathcart, Colonel Korn and Milo could all go to Russia if they did not like the way he was stirring up trouble.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Be Patient

It was not their fault that they were young and cheerful, he reminded himself as he carried the swinging beam of his flashlight back through the darkness. He wished that he could be young and cheerful, too. And it wasn’t their fault that they were courageous, confident and carefree. He would just have to be patient with them until one or two were killed and the rest wounded, and then they would all turn out okay.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Another Generation

He could not make them understand that he belonged to another generation, another era, another world, that having a good time bored him and was not worth the effort, and that they bored him, too. He could not make them shut up; they were worse than women. They had not brains enough to be introverted and repressed.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

No Complaints

They were the most depressing group of people Yossarian had ever been with. They were always in high spirits. They laughed at everything. The called him ‘Yo-Yo’ jocularly and came in tipsy late at night and woke him up with their clumsy, bumping, giggling efforts to be quiet, then bombarded him with asinine shouts of hilarious good-fellowship when he sat up cursing to complain. He wanted to massacre them each time they did. They reminded him of Donald Duck’s nephews. They were afraid of Yossarian and persecuted him incessantly with nagging generosity and with their exasperating insistence on doing small favours for him. They were reckless, puerile, congenial, naive, presumptuous, deferential and rambunctious. They were dumb; they had no complaints.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Change

Nurse Duckett found Yossarian wonderful and was already trying to change him.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

A Normal, Lonely Adult Life

Why couldn’t anybody understand that he was not really a freak but a normal, lonely adult trying to lead a normal, lonely adult life?

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Very Friendly

Everyone was always very friendly toward him, and no one was ever very nice; everyone spoke to him, and no one ever said anything.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Never Without Misery

He was pinched perspiringly in the epistemological dilemma of the skeptic, unable to accept solutions to problems he was unwilling to dismiss as unsolvable. He was never without misery, and never without hope.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

Ecclesiastical Aplomb

In a world in which success was the only virtue, he had resigned himself to failure. He was painfully aware that he lacked the ecclesiastical aplomb and savoir-faire that enabled so many of his colleagues in other faiths and sects to get ahead. He was just not equipped to excel.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

A Victim of Anything But Circumstance

History did not demand Yossarain’s premature demise, justice could be satisfied without it, progress did not hinge upon it, victory did not depend on it. That men would die was a necessity; which men would die, though, was a matter of circumstance, and Yossarian was willing to be the victim of anything but circumstance. But that was war. Just about all he could find in its favour was that it paid well and liberated children from the pernicious influence of their parents.

Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)

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