Chapters 35-38
I believe that Heller meant for the army and all of the people related to it to be symbolic of America, with the Generals and others at the top being the President and the people with lots of power while the soldiers and enlisted men are the citizens of America. In this metaphor, Yossarian, the chaplain and the others who oppose the system and the eighty missions required by Colonel Cathcart, are the rebels in society fighting laws and policies that they disagree with. Unlike in the real American system, however, in this symbolic version the renegades are often “disappeared.” The men that are revolting are the ones that are capable of thinking for themselves and are unwilling to follow blindly like the other men, and for this reason, they are dangerous. They pose more of a threat to the system than the actual enemy, the Nazis, do because they have the power to lead other men, their comrades, towards rebellion. The action of “disappearing” men, however, is not something associated with the American system because it is founded upon the freedom of speech and the right to petition. The men have been forced into something that they do not want to do, and they are not allowed to argue out against it without facing serious punishments. With this point, Heller is showing the deceit in the bureaucracy, where, despite what the public is lead to believe, democracy does not exist, and instead the government rules with an iron fist.
