How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #21
"Please," he urged her inarticulately with his arm about her shoulders, recollecting with pained sadness how inarticulate and enfeebled he had felt in the plane coming back from Avignon when Snowden kept whimpering to him that he was cold, he was cold, and all Yossarian could offer him in return was "there, there. There, there." "Please," he repeated to her sympathetically. "Please, please." (39.21)
Yossarian's repeated "please" means nothing to Nately's prostitute and does little to comfort her.
Quote #22
Yossarian kept nodding in the co-pilot's seat and tried not to listen as Milo prattled on. (39.2)
Milo's words of condemnation fall on deaf ears. Yossarian pretends to agree with Milo's criticism by nodding, when, in fact, he is not listening.
Quote #23
"I'm cold," Snowden said again in a frail, childlike voice. "I'm cold."
"There, there," Yossarian said, because he did not know what else to say. "There, there." (41.8-9)
Yossarian's words do not comfort Snowden, and Yossarian is so overcome by emotion that he cannot articulate his true feelings. Yet his words reflect a genuine attempt to nurture. This could arguably be the one time in Catch-22 when words are effective and real.