"Catch-22," Heller's hilarious World War II satire, tells the story of Yossarian, a fighter pilot who spends the entire book finding endlessly ridiculous ways to avoid being killed in his dangerous missions, and his Colonel Cathcart, who constantly gets in Yossarian's way. The title of the book and the phrase catch-22 both come from the book's Great Loyalty Oath Crusade, a law which says that any man who willingly flies missions where he is sure to die is insane, but any man who asks not to fly anymore missions, because he doesn't want to die, proves himself sane, and therefore he can't be excused from missions for mental health reasons.
