Catch-22 Chapter 32 Summary

  • "Yo-Yo's Roomies" is the greatest chapter title ever.
  • As the winter approaches, bad weather comes to Pianosa and forces everyone indoors.
  • Yossarian is depressed gazing out at sea and thinking of his dead comrades.
  • Four new men arrive to replace Kid Sampson and McWatt, and they move in with Yossarian. They are young, loud, and obnoxious. They call him "Yo-Yo."
  • Yossarian begs Sergeant Towser to throw them out, but he is refused. (This happens to Yo-Yo a lot.)
  • Yossarian does not abandon his tent, as Towser suggests, because he feels loyalty toward Orr.
  • Chief White Halfoat has decided it is time to die of pneumonia because Captain Flume has returned.
  • Doc Daneeka, who now no longer practices medicine and draws no pay, blames Dr. Stubbs for his bad luck. Dr. Stubbs grounds men with sixty missions (i.e., doesn't allow them to fly). This turns Cathcart and Korn against flight surgeons, because they like seeing people fly and almost die.
  • Chief White Halfoat compares Yossarian getting kicked out of his tent by his new roomies to his tribe's exile at the hands of the white man. He suggests Yossarian get Captain Black to kick out the new kids.
  • At the mention of Black, whom he hates, Yossarian resolves to be more lenient toward the roomies.
  • But when he steps into the tent, he finds they are burning Orr's birch logs in the stove.
  • The next day, they move the dead man's (Mudd's) belongings out of the tent.
  • Yossarian is astonished by their efficiency and fears they will get rid of him just as easily. He doesn't seem to recognize the fact that, being alive and all, he might be more difficult to displace.
  • He flees to Rome with Hungry Joe for a rest leave.