Summary — Chapter 22: Milo the Mayor
The enigmatic references to Snowden’s death are finally
cleared up; Snowden’s death is the moment at which Yossarian loses
his nerve. Flying a mission after Colonel Korn’s extravagant briefing, Snowden
is killed when Dobbs goes crazy and seizes the plane’s controls
from Huple. As he dies, Snowden pleads for Yossarian’s help, saying
he is cold. Dobbs is a terrible pilot and a wreck of a man; he later
tells Yossarian that he plans to kill Colonel Cathcart before he raises
the required number of missions again. Dobbs sees this action as
the only way to respond to Cathcart’s foolhardiness. When he asks
for Yossarian’s approval, Yossarian is unable to give it, and Dobbs
abandons his plan.
The narrator then describes an episode in which Orr, Yossarian, and
Milo take a trip to stock up on supplies. As they travel, Orr and Yossarian
gradually realize the extent of Milo’s control over the black market
and his vast international influence: he is the mayor of Palermo,
the assistant governor-general of Malta, the vice-shah of Oran,
the caliph of Baghdad, the imam of Damascus, the sheik of Araby,
and is worshipped as a god in parts of Africa. Every region has
embraced him because he has revitalized their economies with his
syndicate, in which everybody has a share. Nevertheless, throughout
their trip, Orr and Yossarian are forced to sleep in the plane while
Milo enjoys lavish palaces, and they are finally awakened in the
middle of the night so that Milo can rush his shipment of red bananas
to their next stop.
Summary — Chapter 23: Nately’s Old Man
One evening, Nately finds his whore in Rome again after
a long search. He tries to convince Yossarian and Aarfy to take
two of her friends for thirty dollars each. Aarfy objects, stating
that he has never had to pay for sex. Nately’s whore is sick of
Nately and begins to swear at him. Hungry Joe arrives, and the group
abandons Aarfy and goes to the apartment building where the girls
live. Here the men find a seemingly endless flow of naked young
women, and Hungry Joe is torn between taking in the scene and rushing
back for his camera. Nately argues about nationalism and moral duty
with an old man who lives in the building: the old man claims Italy
is doing better than America in the war because, as Italy has already been
occupied, Italians are no longer being killed. He then points out
that even America probably won’t last as long as frogs, which have
been around for five hundred million years. The patriotic, idealistic
Nately argues somewhat haltingly for America’s international supremacy
and the values it represents. But he is troubled by the fact that
the old man reminds him of his father. Nately’s whore tortures Nately
with her indifference, eventually abandoning him and going to bed
while he argues with the old man. When Nately finally does get to
sleep with his whore the next morning, her little sister almost
immediately interrupts them.
Summary — Chapter 24: Milo
By April, Milo’s influence is massive: He controls the
international black market, plays a major role in the world economy,
and uses air force planes from countries all over the world to carry
his supply shipments. The planes are repainted with an “M &
M Enterprises” logo, but Milo continues to insist that everybody
has a share in his syndicate. Milo contracts with the Americans to
bomb the Germans and with the Germans to shoot down American planes.
German antiaircraft guns contracted by Milo even shot down Mudd,
the dead man in Yossarian’s tent, for which Yossarian holds a grudge against
Milo. Milo wants Yossarian’s help to concoct a solution for unloading
his massive holdings of Egyptian cotton, which he cannot sell and
which threaten to ruin his entire operation. One evening after dinner,
Milo’s planes begin to bomb Milo’s own camp: he has landed another
contract with the Germans, and dozens of men are wounded and killed
during the attack. Almost everyone wants to end M & M Enterprises
right then, but Milo shows them how much money they have all made,
and almost all of the survivors forgive him. While Yossarian sits
naked in a tree watching Snowden’s funeral, Milo seeks him out to
talk to him about the cotton. He gives Yossarian some chocolate-covered
cotton and tries to convince him it is really candy. Yossarian tells
Milo to ask the government to buy his cotton, and Milo is struck
by the intelligence of the idea.
Summary — Chapter 25: The Chaplain
The chaplain is troubled that no one seems to treat him
as a regular human being and everyone is uncomfortable in his presence.
Furthermore, he is intimidated by the soldiers and generally ineffectual as
a religious leader. He grows increasingly miserable and is sustained
solely by the religious visions he has seen since his arrival, including
the vision of the naked man in the tree at Snowden’s funeral. (The
naked man was, of course, Yossarian.) He dreams of his wife and
children dying horribly in his absence. He tries to see Major Major
about the number of missions the men are asked to fly but, like
everyone else, finds that Major Major will not allow him into his
office except when he is out. On the way to see Major Major a second
time, the chaplain encounters Flume, Chief White Halfoat’s old roommate,
who is so afraid of having his throat slit while he sleeps that
he has begun living in the forest. The chaplain then learns that
Colonel Cathcart has promoted Corporal Whitcomb to sergeant for
an idea that the colonel believes will land him in the Saturday
Evening Post. The chaplain tries to mingle with the men
at the officers’ club, but Colonel Cathcart periodically throws
him out. The chaplain begins doubting everything, even God.
Summary — Chapter 26: Aarfy
The night Nately falls in love with his whore, she sits
naked from the waist down in a room full of enlisted men playing
blackjack. None of the enlisted men is interested except Nately,
but she eventually gets sick of him and refuses to accept the money
he offers her to stay. Aarfy calls her a slut, and Nately is deeply
offended. Aarfy is the navigator of the flight on which Yossarian
is finally hit by flak; Yossarian is wounded in the leg and taken
to the hospital, where he and Dunbar change identities by ordering
lower-ranking men to trade beds with them. Dunbar pretends to be
A. Fortiori. Finally, they are caught by Nurse Cramer and Nurse
Duckett, who takes Yossarian by the ear and puts him back to bed.
