Paradoxical situations arise all the time, and people cannot escape or benefit from them because it is impossible to act. In the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, these paradoxes come up several times. The paradoxes, called Catch-22, trap Yossarian, an Air Force pilot from the 256th Squadron, in an endless loop of despair from which he desperately wants to escape. However, Catch-22 affects not only Yossarian but his entire squadron. The military bureaucracy uses Catch-22 to control soldiers and appear innocent, as if the soldiers have control of themselves, at the same time. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Yossarian first meets Catch-22 when he asks to be sent home and relieved of combat duty. He tells Doc Daneeka that he, Yossarian, is crazy and should be grounded or not allowed to fly any more missions. However, asking to be sent home on grounds of insanity proves his sanity; therefore, Catch-22 prevents him from leaving, regardless of his sanity: There was only one trap and that was Catch-22, which specified that concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be punished. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he wouldn't be crazy anymore and would have to go on more missions. Orr would be crazy to do more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to do them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was of sound mind and had to do it. Although it's just a simple paradox, Catch-22 is genius. Escape from Catch-22 is impossible because no matter what action Yossarian takes, he ends up in the exact same place as before. Ultimately, Yossarian attempts to thwart Catch-22 by attempting to complete the number of missions required by its commander, Colonel Cathcart. However, each time a person reaches the required number of missions to return home, Colonel Cathcart simply increases the number of missions. Once again, Yossarian finds himself caught in Catch-22, controlled by the military bureaucracy and forced to do his will, yet the members of the bureaucracy seem innocent because they cannot send Yossarian home if he is not crazy , and according to Catch-22, Yossarian is completely sane. Another example of these recurring paradoxes occurs when Captain Black launches a crusade for the loyalty oath. Captain Black begins making his men sign a loyalty oath every time they wish to do something, from eating to using a vehicle, in order to affirm their loyalty to the United States. However, he refuses to let Major Major sign a loyalty oath because Captain Black is convinced that Major Major is a communist and therefore should not be allowed to sign a loyalty oath: "From now on , I'm going to make every son of a bitch who comes to my intelligence tent sign a loyalty oath. And I’m not going to let that bastard Major Major sign one even if he wants to.” Because Major Major can't sign an oath even if he wants to, he's a communist, and according to Captain Black, Major Major is a communist, so he wouldn't sign the oath even if he could. Although Captain Black, who represents the military bureaucracy, does not explicitly cite this indirect use of Catch-22 when initiating the Loyalty Pledges, the Loyalty Pledges demonstrate the same concept...