Tuesday, February 4, 2014

catch-22

Three times today I got to the end of the period and rushed the most important quote from the novel.

We'll start tomorrow by discussing what a catch-22 is and how it went from title to indispensable term that describes an experience so frustrating you wind up writing about it in run-on sentences while simultaneously gesturing with your hands.

Here is the quote:

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
 

"That's some catch, that catch-22," he observed.
 

"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.


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