Catch-22 . . . specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers . . .

Question

was the process of a rational mind. Orr [a combat pilot] was crazy and could be
grounded. All he had to do was ask; [when] he did, he would no longer be crazy and
would have to fly. . . . 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.

Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22 deals, in part, with the predicament of humans within
bureaucratic systems. What does this text from the novel tell us about this predicament?
There is no purpose to bureaucracy because no work will ever be accomplished in any bureaucratic system.
War is an inherently irrational situation that people will ultimately reject in favor of rational thinking.
People are trapped in a system that wields power over them through self- cancelling rules.

Answer 1

The text from the novel tells us that people are trapped in a system that wields power over them through self-cancelling rules. The character Orr, who is deemed crazy, can only avoid dangerous missions by asking to be grounded. However, by asking to be grounded, he demonstrates rational thinking and is no longer considered crazy, and thus has to fly the missions again. This illustrates the Catch-22 situation, where individuals are stuck in a paradoxical predicament within a bureaucratic system where their actions are constrained and their choices seem to be self-defeating.