DOUG GAUKROGER

The most striking feature of Catch-22¹ is the novel's unusual structure, more specifically its time structure. The rapid changes between events back and forth in time with seemingly little regard for the reader's ability to follow the action clearly has confused some and delighted many. Therefore, it seems strange that in the eight years since the novel's publication only one article has appeared ( Critique, 1967) which attempts to examine its intricate chronological structure. This article by Jan Solomon sought to illuminate the structure and sort out to some extent the juxtaposed and carefully disordered time sequence of Catch-22.² Unfortunately, Mr. Solomon's article is flawed by a number of grave textual errors and misreadings; so grave in fact as to subvert entirely his main thesis. I hope to refute points put forth in the Solomon essay, and following this, to lay out for the first time the events in the novel in their proper chronological order. This latter step is, I feel, made necessary by two considerations. First, it offers an alternative to Mr. Solomon's faulty interpretation of the time structure. Second, it will facilitate an examination of some minor inconsistencies which appear in the novel.

A brief summary of Mr. Solomon's thesis and his arguments in support of it will be necessary before we begin to examine and ascertain its validity. He begins by telling us that he is going to examine the novel's form and that the form is most heavily influenced by the time structure.

A careful examination of Heller's novel reveals not only that it has form, but that this form is carefully constructed to support the pervasive theme of absurdity. . . .

The most significant aspect of the structure of Catch-22 is its chronology. Behind what appears to be merely random events lies a careful system of time-sequences involving two distinct and mutually contradictory chronologies. The major part of the novel, focussed on Yossarian, moves forward and back from a pivotal point in time. Yossarian, like many anti-heroes of modern fiction from Leopold Bloom to Moses Herzog, lives in a world dominated not by chronological but by psychological time. Yossarian's time is punctuated, if not ordered, by the inexorable increases in the number of missions and by the repetitious returns to the relative safety and sanity of the hospital. . . .

While the dominant sequence of events shifts back and forth from the present to the past treating any period of time as equally present, equally immediate, a counter-motion controls the time of the history of Milo Minderbinder. Across the see-saw pattern of events in the rest of the novel Minderbinder moves directly forward from one success to the next . . . . Independently, each chronology is valid and logical; together, the two time-schemes are impossible. By manipulating the points at which the different systems cross, Heller creates a structural absurdity enforcing the absurdity of character and event in the novel.³ (italics mine)

This thesis, then, states that Yossarian and Milo Minderbinder, while they appear and interact together throughout the novel, actually exist in two different time structures and that it is (at times) impossible for these two time structures to meet. It is further claimed that two events in the novel could not possibly have occurred; the first is Milo climbing the tree to join the naked Yossarian who is watching Snowden's funeral (pp. 255-61), and the second involves the missing styrettes of morphine (in the B-25's first aid kit when Yossarian tries to treat Snowden's wound) which have been replaced by signs reading "What's good for M & M Enterprises is good for the country. Milo Minderbinder" (p. 426). These two events are impossible because Milo supposedly does not arrive on Pianosa until Yossarian's hospital visit, described in Chapter I of the novel at the time when Yossarian had 38 missions to his credit.⁴ Yossarian, by this reading, does not meet Milo until shortly after this hospital visit. But this particular hospital stay did not occur until after the Avignon mission and Snowden's death and funeral. How then could Yossarian talk to Milo in the tree at a time prior to their first meeting? Howcould Milo have stolen the morphine for his syndicate when his syndicate had not yet been formed? Such obviously impossible events are explainable only as conscious devices used by Heller in an effort to cause the structure of the novel to coincide with and "support the pervasive theme of absurdity, . . . and to create its own dimension of absurdity."⁵

If all the smoke-screening found in the notions of the two time sequences, the "psychological time" of Yossarian and the "chronological time" of Milo Minderbinder, is cleared away we find that Solomon's article relies totally on two "facts" which he has gleaned from his textural analysis. One is that Yossarian does not meet Milo until after the hospital visit and that Milo has not yet begun his syndicate. The other "fact" is the impossibility of determining at which point in the chronology Yossarian and Orr join Milo on the buying trip which results in his cornering the world cotton market. If these two assertions are disproven and it is shown that Yossarian met Milo before Snowden's death, that the cotton market cornering took place before Avignon, then arguments for an impossible time sequence crumble.

Let us begin by taking a look at Yossarian's first meeting with Milo which Heller describes in Chapter VII and attempts to determine whether it actually did take place after the hospital visit described in Chapter I, when Yossarian had 38 missions.  

"What's this?" Milo had cried out in alarm, when he came upon the enormous corrugated carton filled with packages of dried fruit and cans of fruit juices and desserts that two of the Italian laborers Major-----de Coverley had kidnapped for his kitchen were about to carry off to Yossarian's tent.

"This is Captain Yossarian, sir," said Corporal Snark with a superior smirk. Corporal Snark was an intellectual snob who felt he was twenty years ahead of his time and did not enjoy cooking down to the masses. "He has a letter from Doc Daneeka entitling him to all the fruit and fruit juices he wants."

"What's this?" cried out Yossarian, as Milo went white and began to sway.

"This is Lieutenant Milo Minderbinder, sir," said Corporal Snark with a derisive wink. "One of our new pilots. He became mess officer while you were in the hospital this last time." (pp.5960) (italics mine)

Milo, then, became mess officer and hence began planning his syndicate while Yossarian was "in the hospital this last time." Nothing in this statement, nor in any statement before or after, would suggest that "this last time" refers to the opening hospital scene. The handling of the chronological structure in Chapter VIII gives the impression that all events are equally present in time, and thus a superficial reading makes it appear that Yossarian does indeed meet Milo for the first time after his hospital visit at 38 missions. A closer reading, however, reveals that this conclusion is unjustified and that in reality Chapter VII offers no clue at all as to when the first meeting did take place. Later I hope to demonstrate that while one cannot determine exactly when Yossarian and Milo first met, one can show that they did indeed meet before 38 missions, probably at a time previous to The Great Big Siege of Bologna.

If one assumes that Milo's career did not begin until after he first met Yossarian at the time when Colonel Cathcart was demanding 45 missions, then two events (the missing morphine over Avignon, and Snowden's funeral), both of which involve a wealthy Milo in some way, are rendered chronologically impossible because they occur prior to the time of the 45 missions. These two alleged chronological impossibilities, then, are said to "serve the effect of absurdity, while the two time schemes operate to enforce thematic considerations, principally the repudiation of the business ethic".⁶ Excluding the fact that one cannot prove that Yossarian first met Milo at the time of 45 missions (when Yossarian had 38 missions), a large number of other events involve Milo before this time. If only two events were out of time, as has been suggested, a case might be made for a dual time scheme; however, all the events involving Milo occurred at a time prior to the period of 45 missions. This suggests to me either that Heller made a colossal error in his plotting or that Solomon is guilty of overlooking or misreading a great number of events in Catch-22. I believe the latter to be the case and the only real impossibility in the time sequence is Solomon's interpretation of it. Heller repeatedly states in the novel that Milo was doing his dirty work long before Yossarian's hospital visit of Chapter I when he had 38 missions. Let us look at some examples.

At the time when Yossarian first meets Milo (p. 61), Milo asks Yossarian if he knows why Corporal Snark has been demoted.

[Milo speaking] "Incidentally, do you happen to know why he was busted to private and is only a corporal now?"

"Yes," said Yosarrian. "He poisoned the squadron."

Milo went pale again. "He did what?"

"He mashed hundreds of cakes of GI soap into the sweet potatoes just to show that people have the taste of Philistines and don't know the difference beween good and bad. Every man in the squadron was sick. Missions were cancelled." (p. 63)

Actually there were two poisonings. This is the first and occurred during the missions to Ferrara (p. 19) before Milo arrived on Pianosa. The second poisoning occurs during The Great Big Siege of Bologna when Milo had already been made mess officer.

"Please find out from Corporal Snark if he put laundry soap in the sweet potatoes again," he requested furtively. Corporal Snark trusts you and will tell you the truth if you give him your word you won't tell anyone else. As soon as he tells you, come and tell me."

"Of course I put laundry soap in the sweet potatoes," Corporal Snark admitted to Yossarian. "That's what you asked me to do, isn't it? Laundry soap is the best way."  

"He swears to God he didn't have a thing to do with it," Yossarian reported back to Milo. (p. 123)

Milo, apparently, became mess officer between the two poisonings, as he did not know about the first but had become mess officer by the second. The second poisoning occurred during The Great Big Siege of Bologna when Yossarian had 31 missions and the Colonel wanted 35 (p. 163). Bologna occurred before the Chapter I hospital visit when Yossarian had 38 missions; yet here we have Yossarian talking to Milo both before and during the second mess hall poisoning which happened a full seven missions previous to the time they supposedly met.

Solomon's further assertion that,

A great deal seems to hinge on the actual time of the cornering of the cotton market in relation to the other events, but Heller avoids establishing this time . . . This buying trip takes them to Cairo and to the ticker tape machine which introduces Minderbinder to cotton . . . we cannot know whether this tour preceded or followed the period when the missions were raised to 60⁷

also proves quite false. On the contrary, we can accurately establish the time when Yossarian, Orr, and Milo flew to Cairo and cornered the cotton market. The reader has merely to turn to pages 120-121 and examine the conversation between Yossarian and Wintergreen. Wintergreen, who is in competition with Milo, comes to Pianosa "to learn if it was really true about Milo and the Egyptian cotton" (p. 120). While Wintergreen is on Pianosa, Yossarian begs him to save the squadron from the fate of flying to Bologna.

Yossarian suddenly seized his [Wintergreen's] arm. "Couldn't you forge some official orders on that mimeograph machine of yours and get us out of flying to Bologna?" (pp. 120-121) (Italics mine)

Milo bought the Egyptian cotton, then, just before The Great Big Siege of Bologna which was at the time of 35 missions when Yossarian had flown 31. This means that Milo bought the cotton before Mudd was killed at Avignon, and not afterward as we have been led to believe.

Another misreading is found in Solomon's statement that "Since Avignon preceded Bologna . . . we have yet another denial of chronology".⁸ The Avignon mission did not precede Bologna; it was flown about three weeks and perhaps four missions later. Yossarian's 32nd mission was the second mission to Bologna after which he fled directly to Rome (p. 151). We learn that Snowden is also in Rome at the time Yossarian trips over his duffel bag, just before he finds the maid in the lime-green panties (pp. 132, 162). If Snowden is still alive at this time, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Avignon mission must have been flown after Bologna, probably during the six missions Yassarian flew between hospital visits at 32 and 38 missions.

Many other examples show Milo going about the business of building an empire long before the time he supposedly arrived on Pianosa. Milo begins his air empire by tempting Major ----- de Coverley with visions of a fresh egg frying in fresh butter (p. 134). Major ----- de Coverley disappears when Yossarian moves the bomb-line during The Great Big Siege of Bologna which, as we have seen, is some time before Yossarian allegedly meets Milo. Clevinger wonders how Milo can buy eggs at seven cents in Malta and sell them at a profit on Pianosa for five cents (p. 67), yet Clevinger is dead two and one half weeks before Milo supposedly starts his empire (p. 170). At the time of 70 missions, just after Thanksgiving, we find that Milo has been overseas for eleven months (p. 363). Yet it is stated that "Minderbinder . . . was not apparently even on Pianosa, at the time of Avignon and Snowden's death,"⁹ which occurred about the middle of the summer. Milo is mentioned in connection with the Great Loyalty Oath Campaign (p. 104) which was broken up by Major ----- de Coverley; therefore, it must have taken place before Bologna. Milo secretly feeds both Captain Flume and Major Major when they go into hiding, which is long before the period of 45 missions. We find that "April had been the best month of all for Milo" (p. 246). His mess hall ventures are going strong in the spring yet he is not supposed to have been made mess officer until the summer. If we add all these "chronological impossibilities" to the three already noted, there seems to be little doubt that Milo was around long before the time of 45 missions.

That it cannot be shown for certain that Milo was just beginning his career at the time of 45 missions, plus the fact that Heller clearly shows us that Milo's fortunes were booming long before this time, demonstrates quite amply that any theory which posits two juxtaposed time schemes developed to further the sense of absurdity is false. On the contrary, I believe a time scheme for the novel is possible in which all events follow quite logically one upon the other. With one or two minor exceptions, chronological paradoxes are quite rare in Catch-22. The following is a summary of the events of the novel in what I believe to be their proper chronological order.

Yossarian talks to Wintergreen at Lowry Field, Colorado (p. 105). We learn that sometime after this, Wintergreen strikes a waterpipe while digging holes as punishment for going A.W.O.L. The water is rumoured to be oil, and Chief White Halfoat is kicked off the base and eventually ends up on Pianosa as a replacement for Lt. Coombs who was killed in Kraft's plane when it was shot down during the second bomb-run over Ferrara. We also learn that Milo bombs the squadron seven months after Wintergreen strikes water.

Yossarian is a private at Lowry Field (p. 175). He discovers the hospital as a sanctuary when he enters it to escape calisthenics. Here he first learns to fake a liver condition. He spends ten days in the hospital, then fourteen more under quarantine with the soldier who saw everything twice. Yossarian imitates this soldier's symptoms for one more day but quits when the man dies. Before he leaves the hospital Yossarian must take the place of Guiseppi, the dying soldier, whose parents have come to visit him (pp. 180-184). This hospital stay coincides with Thanksgiving, and Yossarian resolves to spend all his Thanksgivings in a hospital.

One full year later we find Yossarian taking officer training in California under Lieutenant Scheisskopf (p. 67-70) and spending Thanksgiving in bed with Scheisskopf's wife, arguing about God. We learn of Scheisskopf's passion for parades (p. 70) and Clevinger's experiences with the "Action Board" (pp. 74-80).

Yossarian, Appleby, and Kraft fly from Puerto Rico to Pianosa and become involved in The Splendid Atabrine Insurrection (p. 105). Yossarian first refused to take his malaria pill in Puerto Rico and ten days later, Appleby, immediately upon arrival on Pianosa, tries to report Yossarian to Major Major, only to find that the Major is in hiding.  

Yossarian begins flying missions under Colonel Nevers. When he has flown 17 missions Yossarian enters the hospital with a case of clap.

Hungry Joe had finished flying his first twenty-five missions during the week of the Salerno beachhead, when Yossarian was laid up in the hospital with a burst of clap he had caught on a low-level mission over a Wac in bushes on a supply flight to Marrakech. Yossarian did his best to catch up with Hungry Joe and almost did, flying six missions in six days, but his twenty-third mission was to Arezzo, where Colonel Nevers was killed, and that was as close as he had ever been able to come to going home. The next day Colonel Cathcart was there, brimming with tough pride in his new outfit and celebrating his assumption of command by raising the number of missions required from twenty-five to thirty. Hungry Joe unpacked his bags and rewrote the happy letters home. (p.53)

Much important chronological information is to be gleaned from this paragraph. Yossarian and Hungry Joe seem to begin flying at approximately the same time under Colonel Nevers when the required number of missions was 25. Yossarian has a total of 17 missions when he enters the hospital; Hungry Joe, who continues flying, reaches 25 during this time. Discharged from the hospital, Yossarian flies six more missions in six days for a total of 23 when Colonel Nevers is killed. Colonel Cathcart takes over and raises the required number to 30.

One of the first acts of Colonel Cathcart upon taking command is to volunteer the group for Ferrara, where ". . . his men had flown nine missions . . . in six days and the bridge was not demolished until the tenth mission on the seventh day, when Yossarian killed Kraft and his crew by taking his flight of six planes over the target a second time" (p. 135). A great many problems with time surround these Ferrara missions. We know that they occurred after Yossarian had 23 missions because they were ordered by Colonel Cathcart who assumed command at that time (p. 53). We also know that they occurred after Yossarian had 23 missions because they were ordered by Colonel Cathcart who assumed command at that time (p. 53). We also know that they occurred before the First Mission to Bologna which would have been Yossarian's 32nd mission had he not aborted it. ("By the time of the mission to Bologna, Yossarian was brave enough not to go over the target even once . . ." p. 39). It is obvious that Yossarian did not fly all the missions to Ferrara as there were ten flights in all and Yossarian could have flown a maximum of eight (24-31 inclusive). This would mean that the final successful mission to Ferrara was Yossarian's 31st, though if he flew less than his possible maximum of eight, then it might have been his 30th or 29th. The squadron was first poisoned by Corporal Snark during the Ferrara missions (p. 19), an event Milo has not heard of so he could not have been on Pianosa at this time (p. 63). When Corporal Snark poisons the squadron again during The Great Big Siege of Bologna (p. 123), Milo is already mess officer during The Siege. This, however, conflicts with Corporal Snark's remark to Yossarian, that Milo was made mess officer while Yossarian was "in the hospital this last time" (p. 60). This is plainly not the hospital visit at 17 missions necessitated by the clap, nor is it the hospital visit at 32 missions which occurred after Bologna. As far as we can determine there is no hospital visit in between. Were it not for this remark by Corporal Snark, we would assume that Milo had joined the squadron shortly after the Ferrara missions, and the chronology would follow plausibly. Similarly, were it not for the single reference (p. 19) made by Yossarian to the food first being poisoned during Ferrara, we might assume the poisoning occurred very early, even before Yossarian got the clap. This would allow Milo to have been made mess officer while Yossarian was "in the hospital this last time." Indeed, when Yossarian refers later to the first poisoning, he says to Milo: ". . . every man in the squadron was sick. Missions were cancelled" (p. 63). This does not sound like Ferrara where ten missions were flown in seven days. It is difficult to see how any missions were cancelled when ten were flown in a single week.

There is a definite conflict in time as regards this whole business of Yossarian's releases from the hospital, the first food poisoning, Milo's promotion to mess officer, and the Ferrara missions. It is, of course, impossible to say for certain whether Heller deliberately included this conflict in the novel or whether it was an oversight. There seems to be no artistic demand for the two conflicting statements of Yossarian, or for Corporal Snark's reference to Milo's promotion, so the whole matter might be interpreted as a slight slip in plotting. After all, the book was written and re-written, old episodes dropped and new episodes inserted over a seven-year period, and this business of the food poisoning during Ferrara may be an example of an event which has been changed or should have been changed during the book's final editing. Another example of this may be the puzzling statement by Yossarian after Ferrara when he suggests that Colonel Cathcart give him a medal because, "You gave one to Hungry Joe when he cracked up that airplane by mistake" (p. 137). As the only mention of Hungry Joe crashing a plane, this may be a reference to an event which Heller decided at some period in his editing to leave out, and the statement of Yossarian's is all that remains.

Major Major's retreat from the world also presents some problems in chronology. When Yossarian and Appleby arrive on Pianosa from Puerto Rico, Appleby's first action is to report Yossarian to Major Major because he will not take his Atabrine tablets (p. 105). Major Major, however, is in hiding and Appleby cannot see him because, as Sergeant Towser tells him, " MajorMajor never sees anyone in his office while he's in his office." This contradicts the account of Major Major's actions preparatory to his going into seclusion. Major Major drops out of sight some time after he is appointed Squadron Commander by Colonel Cathcart; however, Colonel Cathcart does not take over the squadron until Colonel Nevers dies at the time when Yossarian has completed 23 missions. It is, therefore, impossible for Major Major to have already gone into hiding when Yossarian and Appleby first arrive on Pianosa. This inconsistency may be merely a detail which escaped Heller's notice, but I am inclined to view it as an inability on his part to resist placing the priggish and officious Appleby in a position where he can be humiliated by Sergeant Towser.

The next series of events occur during The Great Big Siege of Bologna which is central to the novel. The long, nerve-eroding wait for the dreaded flight to Bologna is important to the character development and motivation of Yossarian. He has lost his bravery over Ferrara and thus feels more keenly the sense of doom which pervades the base. A number of events occur during The Siege. Yossarian moves the bomb-line (p. 118), which causes Major de Coverley to fly to Florence and disappear (p. 114) and enables General Peckem to get a medal because he "was the only officer with sufficient initiative to ask for it" (p. 119). Chief White Halfoat first decides to die of pneumonia at this time (p. 126). Corporal Snark prolongs the wait by poisoning the fliers again (p. 123). Hungry Joe goes to pieces and tries to kill Havermeyer and a day later has a fist fight with Huple's cat (p. 128). Milo, Orr, and Yossarian fly to Cairo, and Milo corners the cotton market (p. 224). In order to pay for all the cotton which begins piling up in the warehouses, Milo is forced to take contracts from both sides to bomb and defend the bridge at Orvieto, and later takes a second contract from the Germans to bomb his own squadron. Yossarian sees Wintergreen about Milo's Egyptian cotton (p. 120). Yossarian has a fight with Colonel Korn over the Lepage glue gun (p. 123). Orr is holidaying in Rome during The Siege and during the actual mission is on a rest leave after he ditched his plane over Genoa (p. 141). It is never specifically mentioned how long The Great Big Siege of Bologna lasts. As time in the novel is measured only in terms of the number of missions flown, the length of periods when missions are not being flown is impossible to determine. I believe Heller is deliberately vague in his treatment of The Siege in order to avoid the necessity of being specific about the order and chronology of all the events which occur during this time.

Yossarian aborts the mission to Bologna by tearing out the wires in his intercom (p. 139). Bologna proves to be a milk-run (p. 143). The second run to Bologna encounters heavy flak, and Yossarian is reduced to a quivering hulk by Aarfy, who won't get out of the hatch way and keeps prodding Yossarian in the ribs (pp. 145-150). This was Yossarian's 32nd mission.

Yossarian runs to Rome and finds Lucianna (p. 144), then loses her (p. 161). When he returns to base he finds that the required number of missions has been raised.

"Forty missions," Hungry Joe announced readily in a voice lyrical with relief and elation. "The colonel raised them again."

Yossarian was stunned. "But I've got thirty-two, goddammit! Three more and I would have been through."

Hungry Joe shrugged indifferently. "The colonel wants forty missions," he repeated.  

Yossarian shoved him out of the way and ran right into the hospital. (p. 163)

Yossarian stays in the hospital for ten days, comes out and flies six more missions for a total of 38, then runs right back into the hospital when Colonel Cathcart raises the required number to forty-five. A number of important events occur during these six missions between hospital visits: the Avignon mission on which Snowden is killed is flown (He is alive in Rome [p. 162] but dead by this second hospital visit at 38 missions [p. 165] ); Clevinger disappears (p. 170); Yossarian receives his medal for the Ferrara mission (p. 210) and sits naked in the tree watching Snowden's funeral (pp. 257-58).  

During the hospital visit at 38 missions Yossarian first meets the Chaplain (p. 7), and also the soldier in white. The whole business of forging Washington Irving's signature and the subsequent investigations of the C.I.D. begin at this point. Yossarian and his friends are eventually driven out of the hospital by the friendly Texan, and Orr tells Yossarian about his apple cheeks and the whore who kept hitting him over the head (pp. 22-24). Yossarian flies six more missions and Colonel Cathcart raises the required number to 50.

"Fifty missions," Doc Daneeka told him, shaking his head. "The colonel wants fifty missions." "But I've only got forty-four!" . . . "Fifty missions," he repeated, still shaking his head. "The colonel wants fifty missions."

Yossarian flies four more for a total of 48 but the Colonel raises the required number to 55.

Yossarian slumped with disappointment. "Then I really do have to fly the fifty missions, don't I?" he grieved. "The fifty-five," Doc. Daneeka corrected him. "The fifty-five missions the colonel now wants all of you to fly." (p. 58)

Yossarian goes to see Major Major about grounding him when he has 51 missions. Major Major offers him an opportunity to fly only milk-runs, but Yossarian turns him down (p. 101). After seeing Major Major, Yossarian goes to Doc Daneeka to be grounded. Doc Daneeka refuses to help and advises Yossarian to fly the remaining four missions so that he will be in a stronger position when he refuses to fly any more. Yossarian decides to fly the remaining missions, but before he reaches 55 Colonel Cathcart raises the number to 60 (p. 187). The season is now late August (p. 196). At this time, Dobbs comes to Yossarian's tent with a plan to kill Colonel Cathcart (p. 222), and the Chaplain reports to the Colonel about the prayers before missions which the Colonel hopes will get his picture in The Saturday Evening Post, and leaves with a plum tomato (p. 187).

Yossarian is wounded in the groin on the weekly milk-run over Parma and is hospitalized (p. 284). While Yossarian is in the hospital, Orr makes his last practice crash-landing off the coast of Marseilles during the second mission to Avignon (p. 301). In the hospital Yossarian has his experiences with Major Sanderson, the psychiatrist (pp. 285-93). He is visited by Dobbs who again tries to enlist his help in killing Colonel Cathcart (p. 295). A. Fortiori gets Yossarian's medical discharge while he and Dunbar are returned to combat (p. 299).

When Yossarian comes out of the hospital, the required number of missions is still 60. He tries to enlist Dobbs' help in killing Colonel Cathcart, because he has scheduled another mission to Bologna, but Dobbs now has completed his 60 missions and refuses (p. 309). Orr finishes his stove and asks Yossarian to fly with him on the mission to Bologna. Yossarian refuses and Orr disappears on that flight (p. 310).

After Orr's disappearance, Yossarian almost kills McWatt when McWatt flies too low returning from a practice mission (p. 326). During this time Yossarian begins taking Nurse Duckett to the beach. Just after McWatt frightens Yossarian by flying too low on a practice mission, he flies low over the raft at the beach and chops Kid Sampson in half and then flies himself into a mountain (pp. 330-333). Colonel Cathcart is so upset by the death of McWatt and Kid Sampson that he raises the number of missions to 65 (p. 333). When he hears that Doc Daneeka is also "dead," he raises the number to 70 (p. 334). "Yo Yo's" room-mates move in within forty-eight hours of McWatt's and Kid Sampson's deaths (p. 340). Yossarian runs to Rome and rescues Nately's whore from the generals (pp. 345-52).

Thanksgiving night Sergeant Knight shoots up the camp and Yossarian breaks Nately's nose, sending him to the hospital (p. 254). Yossarian, Dunbar, Hungry Joe, and the Chaplain check in as patients to visit him (p. 353). The soldier in white returns, pandemonium breaks out, and Dunbar "is disappeared" (p. 360).

Yossarian and Nately both finish their 70 missions (p. 367). Nately is afraid that he will be sent home, and thereby lose his whore, if he does not volunteer to fly more than 70 missions (p. 361). Colonel Cathcart wants to raise the required number to 80, but he is afraid the men won't fly any more (p. 367). He figures that if he "can get just one of the regular officers to fly more, the rest will probably follow" (p. 367). Milo tells him about Nately and Colonel Cathcart is overjoyed.

"But Nately will fly more!" Colonel Cathcart declared, and he brought his hands together in a resounding clap of victory. "Yes, Nately will fly more. And this time I'm really going to jump the missions, right up to eighty, and really knock General Dreedle's eye out. And this is a good way to get that lousy rat Yossarian back into combat where he might get killed." (p. 367)

The next day, Yossarian cannot find Nately in time to persuade him not to fly and thus present a solid opposition to the increased number of missions. They all fly the mission to Spezia and Dobbs and Nately are killed (p. 369). This is Yossarian's 71st and last mission. From this point on, Yossarian refuses to fly any more missions, and the climactic chapters which follow are plainly chronological and need not be summarized at this point.

After spending such a great deal of time proving (what in any other novel would be taken for granted) that the chronological structure of Catch-22 is indeed possible, one must face the question as to why Heller spent so much effort in obfuscation. The answer is, I believe, twofold. The most obvious is the effect created by treating all events as equally present. The intent is to confuse the reader's sense of order and to upset his basic assumptions regarding proper form and structure. The unorthodox treatment of time in Catch-22 is both parallel to, and prepares the reader for, the unorthodox treatment of the subject matter. It is only fitting that a novel which deals with an apparently absurd and confused world should be written in an apparently absurd and confused style.

The second reason for Heller's obfuscation concerns itself mainly with numerous events occurring during The Great Big Siege of Bologna. By being vague (or even obtuse) as to the length of The Seige, Heller is able to deal with a large amount of humorous material, from a satiric treatment of a loyalty crusade to jokes about a Lepage glue gun, without the necessity of trying to locate events specifically in time. Heller does not need to develop an impossible time scheme to create a sense of absurdity and confusion in his novel; he achieves this effect better by obscuring and twisting a chronological structure which is both plausible and logical.

UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO, ONTARIO

FOOTNOTES