Value Of Life And Morality In Joseph Heller's Catch-22

In Catch-22, Joseph Heller explores the value of life and morality and the absurdity of war through his contrasting characterizations of Milo Minderbinder and Yossarian, the military base setting, and the conflict between Yossarian and Colonel Cathcart. Catch-22 is a satire on the bureaucratic nature of the military during World War II. Throughout Catch-22, Heller explores different character’s reactions to the insane and arbitrary nature of the military bureaucracy. The protagonist, Yossarian, desires above all to preserve his life. However, his life is continually threatened by the increasing number of missions Colonel Cathcart, the principle antagonist of Catch-22, requires him to fly. Heller characterizes Milo Minderbinder through the physiognomy of his last name. Minderbinder combines two of Milo’s characteristics - “mind” and “bind”. Milo has the lowly job of mess hall officer when he arrives on the military base in Pianosa. Milo
In response to Yossarian’s unwillingness to participate in the war, Colonel Korn offers him the choice to be sent home with an honorable discharge or be court-marshaled. During the process of presenting the plan to Yossarian, Korn establishes the basis of Yossarian’s later refusal of the plan: “You’d have to be a fool to throw it all away just for a moral principle” (428). Yossarian initially accepts the deal, in what he later describes as a “moment of weakness” (441). Later, however, Yossarian realizes that the deal is “best for Cathcart, Korn and me, not for everyone” (442). On moral grounds, Yossarian refuses a contract that presented him with an opportunity to obtain safety and honor. By contrasting Cathcart’s unscrupulous pursuit of promotion with Yossarian’s willingness to jeopardize his life for the sake of morality, Heller demonstrates the importance of life and