It was a vile and muddy war, and Yossarian could have lived
without it - lived forever, perhaps. Only a fraction of his
countrymen would give up their lives to win it, and it was not
his ambition to be among them. To die or not to die, that was
the question, and Clevinger grew limp trying to answer it.
History did not demand Yossarian's premature demise, justice
could be satisfied without it, progress did not hinge upon it,
victory did not depend on it. That men would die was a matter
of necessity; which men would die, though, was a matter of
circumstance, and Yossarian was willing to be the victim of
anything but circumstance. But that was war. Just about all he
could find in its favor was that it paid well and liberated
children from the pernicious influence of their parents.
Joseph Heller, Catch 22, 1955
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