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All the while, the predominant feature of this chapter is the enigmatic figure of Orr, and readers should watch his development and activity carefully. |
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The main point of this chapter is emphasized in the final question, "What else is there?" In other words, the chapter portrays a number of people principally concerned with themselves and their life and happiness and asks, is there anything but this? And, although there is no answer to this question immediately forthcoming, the chapter does raise questions about the machinations we go through in the interest of these "ideals." |
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Using Doc Daneeka as a pivotal point, the chapter raises the issues of the use of talents and brains, the place of questioning ideas and traditions, and the worth of a long but meaningless life. Principally, through Yossarian's humorous misunderstanding of Doc Daneeka's catch phrase, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours," this chapter questions the philosophy of getting ahead through mutual favors, a philosophy which is disavowed quickly even by its principal proponent, the Doc. |
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Against this age-old, accepted idea of the way to live, the chapter raises the possibility inherent in questioning life. The questioning sessions, however, are cancelled not only because of the ingenious formula regarding who can ask questions, but also because the only question really asked is the same as Doc Daneeka's question, "Why me?" It is in this connection that the novel asserts the necessity of a re-education of our perceptions if the question at the end of the chapter, what else is there?, is to have an answer; but the chapter also indicates the impossibility of educating those who won't question any of the "givens" of their existence. In the absence of any questions except "Why me?'', the only course seems to be Dunbar's, the extension of life by whatever means possible. Note here how time is defined in terms of age and age is defined, in turn, as proximity to death. Within the logic of those definitions, Dunbar's stretching of time seems to be an irrefutable course; and only a re-definition will allow the reader and characters to provide an answer to Dunbar's question. In the meantime, Dunbar's strategems and the terrors of existence read like a catalogue drawn from Schopenhauer's pessimism in The World as Will and Idea, and in one way, this novel can be seen as an answer to Schopenhauer. |
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Thus the business of skeet shooting makes sense in these terms, even though it is obviously senseless: "Shooting skeet. . .it was excellent training. . .it trained them to shoot skeet." The reader should pay careful attention, however, to the contrasts in character given in this chapter, for each contrast suggests a possible perspective on this issue. |
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Readers might also notice how Wintergreen is able to disturb or |
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