Chapters 25-28
Heller uses “Catch-22” to suggest to his readers that the United States government is corrupt and does not actually uphold the basic philosophies that the nation was built upon. One example of this is Nurse Cramer’s statement, “that leg belongs to the U.S. government” which suggest that the government does not truly care about its citizens but sees them like they see lumber or coal– as natural resources (286). The men fighting know that this is how the government feels, and as a result they don’t fight for their country, with pride and valor, but because they know they have to. This not only weakens the morale and ability of the soldiers but it also lessens the chances of America winning the war.
Heller points out more of this foolishness through the character of Major Sanderson who is a symbol for the government. Sanderson is a fool who asks pointless questions and is incapable of seeing the blatantly obvious, that Yossarian is in the hospital for a wounded leg, and is therefore not Fortiori who is in the hospital with a stone in his salivary gland (290-293).
In this case, Orr is also a symbol for the government. He is known for being the best pilot when it comes to ditching or crash landing, which essentially means that he’s wonderful at not doing the right thing (306).
