Catch-22

Describe the rapport that develops between Yossarian and Luciana.

Chapter 16

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The interlude with Luciana provides a welcome respite from life in the camp on Pianosa, but it also illustrates the strain placed on male-female relationships by the war. Luciana and Yossarian seem legitimately drawn to one another, but their relationship is brief and almost wholly sexual. Hungry Joe’s interruption of their time together demonstrates the glaring lack of privacy in Yossarian’s life and highlights the difficulty of having meaningful relationships in wartime. Similarly, Yossarian’s tearing up of Luciana’s number constitutes an act of irrational, self-satisfied exuberance that seems part and parcel of the absurd ironies forced on him by the Catch-22 mentality of the war. He is so overwhelmed at the end of this section—after Bologna, after Luciana, and after he learns that the number of missions has been raised yet again—that he decides to check into the hospital, a place of relative sanity and safety.

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http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/catch22/section3.rhtml