Observations on Characters

One of the most fascinating things about this book are the many eccentric characters. They are so important, in fact, that the title of each chapter is the name of the character described in the chapter. Here are a few of my favorites:

Orr: Orr is Yossarian's roommate. He is the type of man who will do his own thing for absolutely no reason and ignore everyone around him despite their clearly not knowing what he's talking about. For example, he tries to explain to Yossarian why he used to walk around with crab apples in his mouth. His reasoning? "Because they're better than horse chestnuts."

Doc Daneeka: This character is meant to represent one of the more intelligent of the group. However, his reasonings are almost always off. He's the one who first explains to Yossarian the concept of Catch-22. He avoids work at all cost and instead complains about what it was like being a doctor. During one particular interesting monologue, he describes an incident with some patients of his; the "virgin newlyweds."

Dunbar: Dunbar is an old man who's sole purpose in life is to make his life drag out as long as it can. He spends his time with people he hates, doing things he hates, because it makes the time pass so much more slowly, thus increasing his life span. He describes the happiest times of our life as passing much more quickly. Life is the most important thing we have, and we must extend our time on earth as long as we can.

These are just a few of the strange characters we encounter in Catch-22, and I have a feeling they won't be the last.