A cult classic, Catch-22 is also considered a classic in American literature. It tells the story of Captain John Yossarian, bombardier in the U.S. Army Air Force in the Second World War. Yossarian sees himself as one powerless man in an overpoweringly insane situation. Heller himself was a bombardier for the U.S. Army in the Second World War, flying in combat over Italy. He flew 60 missions before he was discharged as a lieutenant …showed first 75 words of 1128 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1128 total…his own letter protesting that he is really alive. And so Doc Daneeka realizes that he is actually dead; in a kind of extreme version of Mudd's case, death is no longer a matter of biology, it is simply a matter of paperwork. The soldiers' powerlessness over their own lives extends even to their own deaths, which can be enforced upon them living, not only by a gun but by the fall of a stamp.