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Catch-22 Part 8: Lies 13206 Views


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Transcript

00:01

We speak student!

00:04

Catch-22

00:05

a la Shmoop

00:08

Lying

00:09

So liar, liar, pants on fire.

00:10

Most of the cast of Catch-22 are compulsive liars

00:14

with a few maybe notable exceptions that are important.

00:16

But what kind of lies are they telling

00:18

and why? What does that say about the book?

00:20

Sure, so there's a few kinds of lies in the book.

00:23

There's the innocent type of lie.

00:25

For instance, Major Major finds out that

00:28

his name isn't actually Caleb Major,

00:30

and he loses friends over the fact that he was

00:33

lying about his name, but he didn't even know his real name.

00:36

So we kind of see these innocent lies creeping in.

00:38

Then there are the lies that are for the benefit of the individual.

00:41

Going back to Milo,

00:43

this is Milo who kind of lies and steals

00:46

in order to make a profit for himself.

00:49

For the individual and that, again,

00:50

brings us back to the critique of capitalism.

00:52

And then

00:54

the kind of -- I think the crux of it are the lies that are for survival.

00:58

And Yossarian, who's our main character throughout,

01:00

is the epitome of this.

01:02

He lies like a crazy person -

01:05

again, crazy or maybe totally sane -

01:08

in order to survive.

01:09

He fakes a liver condition.

01:11

He says the thing about how he sees everything twice.

01:13

He comes up with these absurd stories

01:16

in order to survive.

01:17

Because he knows that if he goes out there to fly a mission,

01:19

there is a really good chance he's never coming back.

01:21

So those kinds of lies are the ones that really get us thinking the most

01:24

because we say, "Is lying bad?

01:27

Is he being crazy and immoral to lie about this

01:31

or is he actually being sane and everyone else around him

01:35

is being crazy?" It's kind of like

01:36

the Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Larry David syndrome,

01:39

where Larry David is the only sane one

01:42

but everyone thinks he's insane.

01:43

And the same thing's happening with Yossarian.

01:45

Okay, cool.

01:47

What sort of lies are in Catch-22?

01:50

Why did Yossarian lie all the time?

01:54

[ aww ]

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