Faking a Sickness: we've all done it

“Clevinger is dead.” This is the first line of the next section. The line surprised me. Clevinger seemed to be the only other sane person besides Yossarian in the book. How could this be? It’s strange I should be surprised. After all, haven’t I already proven that this is a very strange book? Anyway, Colonel Korn, in this section, decided to do something very crazy. He has nailed the medical tent door shut and forbade anyone from reporting sick. Captain Black, as a joke, then nails a note to the door that says, “Closed until further notice. Death in the family,” And Doc Daneeka is left sitting on a stool outside of the tent. I suppose you can imagine why they’d close the medical tent. It was because too many officers were reporting sick, just so they wouldn’t have to fight. I was instantly reminded of my elementary and middle school years, when students would often fake being sick avoid a test or a class. After thinking that, I began to wonder if it was unfair of me to make that connection. After all, I’m comparing a matter of life and death with a matter of skipping class. It all comes back to the definition of satire. It is a serious issue that has been given a funny, childish twist. Does that mean satire in itself might not be fair? I’ve been told satire is a very controversial form of humor, but not until this book did I really start to understand that concept for myself.