Yossarian

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Yossarian is a fictional character in the novel Catch-22 and its sequel Closing Time, by Joseph Heller, and is the title of the final Chapter 42.

Contents 1 Character introduction 1.1 Catch-22 1.2 Closing Time 1.3 Explanation of the character's name 2 Character sketch 2.1 Catch-22 2.1.1 Motivation 2.1.2 Goal(s) 2.1.3 Relationships and conflicts 2.1.4 Epiphany 3 Biographical summary 3.1 Timeline in "Catch-22" 3.2 Actions in "Catch-22" 4 Major themes 5 Literary significance & criticism 6 Film portrait 7 Sources, references, external links, quotations 8 References

[edit] Character introduction

[edit] Catch-22

John Yossarian is the 28-year-old protagonist of the novel, and is a Captain in the 256th squadron of the Army Air Forces where he serves as a B-25 bombardier stationed on the small island of Pianosa off the Italian mainland during World War II.

The character's exploits are based on the experiences of the author: Heller was also a bombardier in the Air Corps, stationed on an island off the coast of Italy during World War II, and also lost crew members when his plane was attacked on his flight to bomb the city of Avignon.

[edit] Closing Time

[edit] Explanation of the character's name

Although "Catch-22" describes him as being Assyrian, his name indicates an Armenian background. In Closing Time, he is revealed to be an Armenian jokingly posing as an Assyrian.

Yossarian's first name, John, is discovered quite late in the novel, with a throwaway remark by Colonel Korn: "Call me Blackie, John. We're pals now." The movie poster has Yossarian's dog tags listing his first name as "Aram," which is Armenian for John. Later in the novel, a doctor also calls him John. In Closing Time, his first name is used frequently, as the novel has a civilian, rather than a military setting. In Catch-22, however, Yossarian is very much detached from the dominant culture, a fact which is emphasised by his foreign name and "Assyrian" background. The exotic name "Yossarian" was chosen by Heller to emphasise his protagonist's detachment from the mainstream military culture. To highlight this, Yossarian's name is described by Cathcart as being "an odious, alien, distasteful name, that just did not inspire confidence. It was not at all like such clean, crisp, honest, American names as Cathcart, Peckem and Dreedle."

Moreover, Heller saw the Jewish community of America becoming more integrated and less sidelined by mainstream society, and so decided not to give his protagonist a Jewish name and a Coney Island background (as Heller himself had), since it would not have had as strong an effect in 1961 as perhaps twenty years previously.^{[citation needed]} As to the origins of the name itself, "Heller admitted in later years that the name 'Yossarian' was derived from the name of one of his Air Force buddies, Francis Yohannon, but that the character of Yossarian himself was 'the incarnation of a wish' (Now and Then 175-6)."^[1]

[edit] Character sketch

[edit] Catch-22

[edit] Motivation

Throughout the novel, Yossarian's main concern is the idea that people are trying to kill him, either directly (by attacking his plane) or indirectly (by forcing him to fly missions), and he goes to great lengths to try and prevent his death.

[edit] Goal(s)

To try and survive the war and prolong his life Yossarian has a number of strategies:

• Postponing dangerous missions e.g. during the “Great Big Siege of Bologna” Yossarian was responsible for the mass poisoning of squadron and the moving of the bomb line.
• Going on sick leave with a convenient liver complaint and a constant temperature of 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Ordering his pilot to perform harsh evasive action in the face of flak, something that he will not trust anyone else to do.

Yossarian, like many of the other soldiers, tries to escape the reality of war, whether that be by getting drunk in the Officer’s Club, gorging himself in Milo’s sumptuous canteen or sleeping with women.

[edit] Relationships and conflicts

Yossarian is in continual conflict with Catch-22 situations and the bureaucracy that he sees as trying to get him killed.

The bulk of Catch-22 concerns Yossarian's relationships with the other soldiers in his squadron, such as the neurotic Hungry Joe, the war profiteer Milo, the spoiled, idealistic Nately, and selfish Doc Daneeka. There are many characters that Yossarian hates and likes. His best friends seem to be: Dunbar, the Chaplain, Nately, and Hungry Joe. There are two characters whom Yossarian argues with, but he is greatly saddened when, on separate occasions, Clevinger and Orr disappear. He hates the majority of his superiors for continually putting him in harm's way, especially the sadistic Joe McCarthy-like careerist Captain Black and the egomaniacal Colonel Cathcart, who continually raises the number of missions required before the aircrews can rotate back home as well as volunteering his soldiers for the most dangerous missions, in an attempt to make himself look good to his superiors.

Yossarian shows particular grief for the men that die during the novel, particularly Kraft, McWatt, Nately, Dobbs and Hungry Joe, or those who appear to disappear; Orr, Clevinger and Dunbar. His relationship with the enlisted gunner Snowden is very vivid and intense, and is the emotional centre of the book. When Snowden gets injured over Avignon it is Yossarian who he tries to treat and comfort him, only to have Snowden’s insides spill out over him as he dies.

[edit] Epiphany

At the end of the novel, Yossarian is forced to accept a deal with Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn or else, in another Catch-22 situation, face court martial for going AWOL in Rome. This deal means that Yossarian can go home, but only if acts as best mates to Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn, so giving them an excuse for his special treatment whilst retaining their authority. As expected, Yossarian finds this deal odious as it lets down all the others in the squadron who were relying his previous dissent to force the superior officers treat them all differently.

Yossarian’s epiphany comes when he hears of Orr’s escape to neutral Sweden and realises that it is possible to defeat the military philosophy and the Catch-22s that support it.

[edit] Biographical summary

[edit] Timeline in "Catch-22"

Yossarian features to some extent in all but two of the 42 chapters of novel, but due to the skewed timeline it is often not clear which events follow which. A timeline has been developed by CS Bruhans Jr [1], whereby the main plot follows the actions of Yossarian:

• 1943, Yossarian sent overseas, Splendid Atabrine Insurrection
• September 1943, required number of missions for tour of duty is 25, Colonel Nevers dies on Arezzo mission
• September 1943, arrival of Colonel Cathcart, required missions raised to 30
• April 1944, setup of M & M Enterprises by Milo, death of Mudd on Orvieto mission
• May 1944, required missions raised to 35
• May 1944, death of Kraft and Coombs on Ferrara mission, first poisoning of mess
• May 1944, bombing of squadron by Milo
• May 1944, Great Big Siege of Bologna, second poisoning of mess, required missions raised to 40
• June 1944, fall of Rome
• June 1944, first Avignon mission, death of Snowden
• June 1944, Yossarian naked at Snowden’s funeral and medal for bravery on Ferrara mission
• June 1944, Clevinger disappears in cloud
• July 1944, required missions raised to 45, Yossarian admitted to hospital (Beginning of book)
• July 1944, Yossarian leaves hospital, required missions raised to 50
• August 1944, missions raised to 55
• August 1944, Yossarian tries to punch Colonel Cathcart in officer’s club
• August 1944, fall of Paris, missions raised to 60
• September 1944, Yossarian wounded over Leghorn
• September 1944, second Avignon mission
• September 1944, Bologna mission, Orr shot down and disappears
• September 1944, Schiesskopf joins General Peckem’s command
• September 1944, raid on small Italian village, dissent by Dunbar
• September 1944, death of Kid Sampson and McWatt, missions raised to 65
• October 1944, missions raised to 70
• October 1944, Yossarian’s new roommates
• November 1944, Yossarian breaks Nately’s nose on Thanksgiving Day, Dunbar is "disappeared"
• November 1944, Chief White Halfoat dies
• December 1944, missions raised to 80, Dobbs and Nately killed on La Spezia mission
• December 1944, General Peckham becomes wing commander under General Schiesskopf
• December 1944, Yossarian with 71 missions refuses to fly any more
• December 1944, Yossarian knifed by Nately's Whore, Hungry Joe dies, Orr escapes to Sweden, Yossarian deserts

Bruhans states that though this chronology shows a general consistency, at times Heller errs, either due to carelessness or intention (that he means to confuse the timeline for “his thematic purposes”).

[edit] Actions in "Catch-22"

Throughout the book, Yossarian's main concern is the idea that people are trying to kill him, either directly (by attacking his plane) or indirectly (by forcing him to fly missions). His suspicion becomes full-blown paranoia when he discovers that, because of Air Force red tape, he cannot leave. He is unable to fly the required number of missions to be discharged from duty because his superiors keep increasing the number of required missions. Additionally, he cannot obtain a Section 8 by pretending to be insane because his superiors see his desire to get out of flying as a sign of perfect sanity (hence Catch-22). Therefore, Yossarian boycotts flying missions as much as possible, either through feigning illness or inventing an excuse to return to base (like a busted radio.) In fact, the book begins with Yossarian staying in the hospital due to an invented liver condition. He busies himself by censoring letters — seemingly done arbitrarily — and signing them Washington Irving, Irving Washington, or (as gets the Chaplain into trouble with authorities) Albert T. Tappman (also R. O. Shipman), the Chaplain's name.

The dark humour of Yossarian's situation stems from the fact that Yossarian cannot get out of flying missions due to insanity, because Catch-22 stipulates that "a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind." The only people who try to get out of flying missions are the sane ones: those who continue to fly are insane, and thus can be grounded, if only they ask. However, once they ask, this concern for their well-being immediately means they are sane, and must continue flying. The message found in Yossarian's response to this - ultimately in his desertion and refusal to fly - is that war is something conducted on all levels, General to Private, by insane people, and "it was all a sensible young gentleman like himself could do to maintain his perspective amid so much madness." The notion that a war is somehow different to that of thousands of individual murderous rampages is challenged by Yossarian's character, who reasons that people must be insane to take part in a war, since they are basically just government-sanctioned killing sprees and essential suicide, founded on such illogical causes as patriotism.

Yossarian is also haunted by memories of the final moments of Snowden, one of his crew. Snowden, hit by flak fire during a bombing run over Avignon, was tended to by Yossarian. When Yossarian finished patching what he assumed was Snowden's only wound (severe yet not life-threatening) he realised that, in actuality, Snowden's stomach had been opened, and he had tended the wrong wound. However, in all likelihood, Snowden would have been killed by the unseen wound despite Yossarian's intervention. Snowden's death manifests Yossarian's desires to evade death in combat, as by seeing Snowden's entrails spilling over the plane, he learns that "Man was matter, that was Snowden's secret. Drop him out a window and he'll fall. Set fire to him and he'll burn. Bury him and he'll rot, like other kinds of garbage. The spirit gone, man is garbage." Ironically, he is described as preferring to die naturally than being killed in combat. It is a meaningless, premature death for someone else's cause which Yossarian fears.

Whenever on leave, Yossarian and his friends carouse, drink, and sleep around as much as they can, knowing and fearing they could die on any given mission. One of the prostitutes they employ becomes Nately's unofficial girlfriend (she is referred to only as "Nately's Whore" and "Nately's Girl"). Despite Nately's repeated advances, she spurns him cruelly until he, instead of sleeping with her, lets her get a good night's sleep. The next morning she began to show some signs of affection, which could possibly be construed as love. When Nately is killed, she blames Yossarian for his death; she manifests a towering rage and tries to kill Yossarian several times during the remainder of the narrative.

By end of the book, just about every other member of his squadron has been killed, disappeared, gone AWOL or otherwise removed. When Yossarian learns from Captain Black that Nately’s Whore’s kid sister has been evicted by the Military Police, he flies with Milo to Rome, AWOL to try and save her. He is not able to find her, and ends up walking through the street observing all the horrors that comes with war. Eventually he gets back to the officer’s apartment where Aarfy has just raped and murdered Michaela, but when the MPs come they do not arrest Aarfy, they arrest Yossarian for going AWOL.

Yossarian is then forced by Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn into an odious deal whereby if he acts as their best friend he will be allowed to go home. The deal is designed so that the rest of the squadron will not believe Yossarian will be sent home because he has been so determined to go, but because he was sucked up to his superiors, so allowing them to retain their authority.

On leaving the colonels Yossarian is badly injured when Nately’s whore stabs him, and he is rushed to hospital. There he recovers and is visited by the Chaplain and Major Danby. Major Danby confirms that the deal with the colonels is still on but Yossarian wishes not too take it as it lets the rest of the squadron down.

While Yossarian is trying to work out how to escape this Catch-22 situation the Chaplain runs in to announce that the missing Orr, is alive and well, and has rowed his way to neutral Sweden escaping the war. This gives a new lease of life to the Chaplain and Major Danby, but more so Yossarian, who now see the genius of Orr’s plans and makes him determined to immediately escape the war. As Yossarian leaves, Nately’s whore again tries to kill him but Yossarian jumps out of the way and runs off:

“I mean it, Yossarian. You’ll have to keep on your toes every minute of ever day. They’ll bend heaven and earth to catch you.
“I’ll keep on my toes every minute.”
“You’ll have to jump.”
“I’ll jump.”
“Jump!” Major Danby cried.
Yossarian jumped. Nately’s whore was hiding just outside the door. The knife came down, missing him by inches, and he took off.

However, Closing Time hints that the idealistic escape did not really eventuate, with Yossarian saying that when he went home, he was made a major. While Korn and Cathcart are not mentioned, there are implications that perhaps Yossarian took their deal in the end. This reflects more the character of the elderly Yossarian, who by his eighties has become a part of the society he spurned in his youth.

[edit] Major themes

Major Themes Include:

    - Sanity vs. Insanity
    - The Individual vs. Society
    - Heroes and Heroism
    - Absurdity 
    - Language and Meaning

[edit] Literary significance & criticism

[edit] Film portrait

In Mike Nichols' 1970 film adaptation of the novel, Yossarian was played by Alan Arkin.

[edit] Sources, references, external links, quotations

Catch-22 quotes from Wikiquote

[edit] References

1. ^ Scoggins, Michael C.: "Joseph Heller’s Combat Experiences in Catch-22"; War, Literature and the Arts, vol. 15; pg. 223. United States Air Force Academy, 2003. (available here)