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Catch-22 Chapter 2: Clevinger
Yossarian believes everyone is trying to murder him. Clevinger, a fellow officer, explains that the war is not a personal attack on Yossarian, but rather that everyone is trying to shoot everyone else. Yossarian is not convinced. Frustrated, Clevinger calls Yossarian crazy and lists his psychotic symptoms as: "an unreasonable belief that everybody around him was crazy, a homicidal impulse to machine-gun strangers, retrospective falsification, an unfounded suspicion that people hated him and were conspiring to kill him." Chapter 2, pg. 29
At the officer's club, Yossarian fantasizes about assassinating some nearby drunken singers and swears hatred for Appleby, a Midwestern Ping-Pong champion and all-around golden-boy. A scrumptious lunch in Milo's mess hall momentarily interrupts Yossarian's paranoia. Recovering his anxiety, Yossarian asks Doc Daneeka to take him off combat duty. Doc Daneeka reminds Yossarian that a complete tour of duty is fifty missions. Since he is six short, Yossarian will have to stay on.
