Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach. 'Is Orr crazy?'

'He sure is,' Doc Daneeka said.

'Can you ground him?'

'I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That's part of the rule.'

'Then why doesn't he ask you to?'

'Because he's crazy,' Doc Daneeka said. 'He has to be crazy to keep flying combat missions after all the close calls he's had. Sure, I can ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to.'

'That's all he has to do to be grounded?'

'That's all. Let him ask me.'

'And then you can ground him?' Yossarian asked.

'No. Then I can't ground him.'

'You mean there's a catch?'

'Sure there's a catch,' Doc Daneeka replied. 'Catch-22. Anyone who wants to get out of combat duty isn't really crazy.'

There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. 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. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.

'That's some catch, that Catch-22,' he observed.

'It's the best there is,' Doc Daneeka agreed.

Yossarian saw it clearly in all its spinning reasonableness. There was an elliptical precision about its perfect pairs of parts that was graceful and shocking, like good modern art, and at times Yossarian wasn't quite sure that he saw it at all, just the way he was never quite sure about good modern art or about the flies Orr saw in Appleby's eyes. He had Orr's word to take for the flies in Appleby's eyes.

Basic set up:

Right here is the first time that "Catch-22" is mentioned in the book, and we see Yossarian chewing over the logic (er…"logic") that his pal Doctor Daneeka lays out.

Here's the Catch-22, as Doctor Daneeka explains it:

There's a pilot that's gone crazy; in order not to fly, though, the pilot has to ask to be grounded. But…anyone who tries to get out of duty can't be crazy (it's too sane a request), and that means they don't have reason to be pulled out of duty.

How's that for absurd logic?

Although he lets out a "respectful whistle" and sees it "clearly in all its spinning reasonableness," Yossarian isn't quite sure that he does understand it—a contradiction that adds to the novel's postmodern credentials.

Yossarian's example of modern art gives us an idea of his dilemma: is modern art (we're talking a blob of color rather than a classic oil/watercolor painting) always art, or is it sometimes just pretentious? When we look at one of these paintings, do we "get it"?

Now take that sentiment and apply it war…and you've got Catch-22.

The way in which Daneeka describes Catch-22 makes it seem…almost reasonable. It's described in such an orderly, matter of fact way, that it comes off like it's an official thing that everyone recognizes. But…it's not.

As the novel goes on, the brutality and absurdity of Catch-22 becomes more obvious, and we see how this one simple catchphrase can have very real and serious consequences.

At this point, though, it cloaks itself in pretend logic and intelligence.