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that attention – that is, to render these episodes commonplace and, thus, lessen in the overall scheme than the characters think at the time. |
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The promotion of Major Major, however, fits nicely into the theme of who decides what and why, a theme which, along with the reaction to his peculiarities, is accentuated by his scheme for being left alone, another example in itself of the double talk which these people resort to to save themselves. The reader might well follow these attempts to see if any of them ultimately succeed. |
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The chapter ends, again, on the theme of "whose side are you on, boys"; and, again, the only answer Yossarian can give is that it is a damn fool who is not on the side of the majority – that is, the winning side. |
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The "disappearance" of Clevinger suggests how little individual human beings count in the world depicted by the novel. This is a theme which will be pursued later in these same terms. In such a world, Wintergreen and his holes are, indeed, wisdom. Here, Wintergreen personifies the anti-hero of modern literature, the man with no loyalities to anything higher than himself. Thus he is able to play the novel's language game, ascribing his escape from duty as duty in itself, one which he performs better than others perform theirs. |
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In the wake of this, Appleby goes away from Major Major's headquarters very confused by the double-talk there, and immediately there is a recollection of the atabrine episode. This recollection may call to the reader's mind Yossarian's comment about knowing they were sick but not knowing they were poisoned. In this same vein the novel plays off "tricks" versus "purpose" in the argument that closes the chapter. This, in turn, is supplemented by the subject of "Mudd," a victim of chance, which we know from a previous chapter means circumstance (which Yossarian opposes vehemently), the opposite of purpose. |
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Once again, however, these phenomenon are not meant to be seen as being isolated to Pianosa. Mention of the family of man enlarges the scope of Pianosa, and this reference is recapitulated in the idea that the world is a charnel house, an idea which makes it clear that the novel is not dealing with just a locality but the human predicament. This total predicament is underscored by the continued repetition of incidents. |
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The chapter ends with the return to the issue of craziness and insanity, this time with the suggestion that, once again, appearances may be deceiving, and that craziness may in fact be the sane path. This thought is given a further dimension by such descriptive phrases as "sulphurous fog," giving the connotation of the brimstone we associate with the hellish and satanic, thus raising the issue to cosmic proportions. |
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