WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.000 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are opening 00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:05.219 up a file that, honestly, if you just glanced 00:00:05.219 --> 00:00:07.660 at the cover, you'd swear belongs in the comedy 00:00:07.660 --> 00:00:09.820 section. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we are talking 00:00:09.820 --> 00:00:12.460 about a character named Captain Aardvark. It 00:00:12.460 --> 00:00:14.519 really does sound like a Saturday morning cartoon 00:00:14.519 --> 00:00:16.719 character, doesn't it? Totally. Captain Arfy 00:00:16.719 --> 00:00:19.519 Aardvark, you hear that name and you expect, 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:22.760 I don't know, a goofy sidekick. Right. And if 00:00:22.760 --> 00:00:25.660 you've read Joseph Heller's Catch -22 or seen 00:00:25.660 --> 00:00:28.920 the movie or the miniseries... Your first impression 00:00:28.920 --> 00:00:31.640 probably lines up with that. He's the comic relief. 00:00:31.960 --> 00:00:35.020 He's this plump, pipe -smoking navigator who 00:00:35.020 --> 00:00:37.859 seems completely harmless. But that is exactly 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:40.359 the trap the author Joseph Heller sets for us. 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:42.820 Because looking at our source material for today, 00:00:42.979 --> 00:00:45.299 which includes character sketches, biographical 00:00:45.299 --> 00:00:47.640 summaries from the text, and some pretty heavy 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:50.320 thematic analysis, we're going to see that this 00:00:50.320 --> 00:00:53.740 harmless buffoon is actually a Trojan horse. 00:00:54.100 --> 00:00:56.979 A Trojan horse for what? For one of the most, 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:00.630 uh... terrifying depictions of evil in 20th century 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:04.629 literature. So today's mission is to unpack how 00:01:04.629 --> 00:01:08.109 a character goes from being a funny, oblivious 00:01:08.109 --> 00:01:11.709 guy getting lost in an airplane to, well, a monster. 00:01:11.870 --> 00:01:15.950 Okay. And I have to warn you right now, usually 00:01:15.950 --> 00:01:18.870 on this show, we love a story where the bad guy 00:01:18.870 --> 00:01:21.700 gets caught. Right. The handcuffs go on. Justice 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:24.159 is served. Catch 22 does not play by those rules. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:26.159 OK, let's unpack this. Let's start with the visual, 00:01:26.219 --> 00:01:29.019 because the text is very specific about how Arfie 00:01:29.019 --> 00:01:31.879 presents himself to the world. If we were casting 00:01:31.879 --> 00:01:34.060 this in our heads, who are we looking at? He 00:01:34.060 --> 00:01:39.200 is described as distinctively round, plump. He's 00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:41.200 almost always smoking a pipe, which gives him 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:43.620 this air of. I don't know, cozy intellectual. 00:01:43.620 --> 00:01:45.959 Like a friendly uncle or something. Yeah, or 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:48.120 maybe a college professor who got lost on his 00:01:48.120 --> 00:01:49.879 way to the library and somehow ended up in a 00:01:49.879 --> 00:01:52.700 B -25 bomber. He's the navigator for the protagonist, 00:01:52.920 --> 00:01:55.359 Yossarian. And his defining trait, at least in 00:01:55.359 --> 00:01:57.019 the first half of the book, it seems to be that 00:01:57.019 --> 00:01:59.959 he's just completely out to lunch. Oblivious 00:01:59.959 --> 00:02:02.500 is the word that anchors his character early 00:02:02.500 --> 00:02:04.359 on. But we have to be careful with that word. 00:02:04.459 --> 00:02:07.019 Because usually when we say someone is oblivious, 00:02:07.019 --> 00:02:10.210 we mean they're absent -minded. With ARFI, it's 00:02:10.210 --> 00:02:13.530 almost weaponized obliviousness. How does a navigator, 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:17.090 the guy whose one job is to know where you are 00:02:17.090 --> 00:02:20.069 and what's happening, weaponize being lost? Well, 00:02:20.090 --> 00:02:22.810 think about the environment. They're flying combat 00:02:22.810 --> 00:02:25.830 missions over Italy in World War II. It's loud. 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:28.229 It's violent. People are shooting flak at it. 00:02:28.509 --> 00:02:31.710 Exploding anti -aircraft shells. Right. And Usarian, 00:02:31.930 --> 00:02:34.909 the bombardier, is terrified. Yeah. He's screaming 00:02:34.909 --> 00:02:37.449 over the intercom, taking evasive action. Anarchy. 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:41.039 He's puffing on his pipe, admiring the view. 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:43.379 He literally acts as if the explosions aren't 00:02:43.379 --> 00:02:46.039 happening. He ignores the flack completely. It's 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:48.080 almost a superpower. He just filters out the 00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:49.919 fact that people are trying to kill him. He does, 00:02:50.099 --> 00:02:52.800 and that filtering has consequences. He's a terrible 00:02:52.800 --> 00:02:54.919 navigator because he doesn't seem to think the 00:02:54.919 --> 00:02:57.780 details matter. There's a specific mission mentioned 00:02:57.780 --> 00:03:00.580 in the files, the milk run to Parma. A milk run 00:03:00.580 --> 00:03:02.900 usually means an easy trip, right? In and out, 00:03:02.919 --> 00:03:05.539 no danger. Exactly. But Arvi gets them lost, 00:03:05.620 --> 00:03:08.150 and he drifts them over Livorno instead. And 00:03:08.150 --> 00:03:11.050 Livorno is definitely not a milk run. It's heavily 00:03:11.050 --> 00:03:14.870 defended. And because of that oops moment, Yossarian 00:03:14.870 --> 00:03:17.550 gets hit. He takes Strapnil in the leg. But here 00:03:17.550 --> 00:03:20.330 is the thing. Eriki doesn't register it as his 00:03:20.330 --> 00:03:23.110 fault. He just thinks, oh, well, tricky map. 00:03:23.710 --> 00:03:25.770 There's another incident in the notes here that's 00:03:25.770 --> 00:03:34.449 even worse. It's over Ferrara. And in aerial 00:03:34.449 --> 00:03:36.909 warfare, going around twice is pretty much a 00:03:36.909 --> 00:03:38.729 death sentence. Because you've lost the element 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:40.770 of surprise. Right. The gunners on the ground 00:03:40.770 --> 00:03:42.590 have your range. They know exactly where you 00:03:42.590 --> 00:03:46.229 are. And because Arafi made them go back, a pilot 00:03:46.229 --> 00:03:49.629 named Kraft and his entire crew are shot down 00:03:49.629 --> 00:03:51.930 and killed. So let's pause there. We have a body 00:03:51.930 --> 00:03:54.909 count now. Arafi's obliviousness has killed men 00:03:54.909 --> 00:03:57.669 on his own side. How does he react to that? I 00:03:57.669 --> 00:03:59.740 mean... Surely, even if you're incompetent, you 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:01.840 feel the weight of that. You would think so. 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:03.939 Yeah. But this is our first clue that something 00:04:03.939 --> 00:04:07.199 is wrong with Arafi's wiring. He isn't racked 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:09.639 with guilt. He isn't even defensive. He's just 00:04:09.639 --> 00:04:13.219 surprised that anyone is upset. He is described 00:04:13.219 --> 00:04:16.839 in the text as heedless. He is insulated from 00:04:16.839 --> 00:04:19.959 reality. And the book makes that insulation literal, 00:04:20.220 --> 00:04:22.899 right? There is this incredible bit of physical 00:04:22.899 --> 00:04:25.019 comedy involving Yossarian that really stuck 00:04:25.019 --> 00:04:27.060 with me reading the summary. It's a very memorable 00:04:27.060 --> 00:04:30.480 scene. Yossarian is trying to get past Arfi to 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:33.199 the escape hatch during a mission. He's screaming 00:04:33.199 --> 00:04:36.160 at Arfi to move. Right. But Arfi claims he can't 00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:38.339 hear him. Which is so frustrating. It's like 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:40.920 talking to a wall. It drives Yossarian insane. 00:04:41.060 --> 00:04:43.720 No matter how loud he shouts, Arfi just smiles 00:04:43.720 --> 00:04:46.319 and points at his ears. Intercom must be out, 00:04:46.379 --> 00:04:49.060 old boy. Then the second Yossarian gives up and 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:52.759 says, never mind, suddenly Arfi hears that perfectly. 00:04:53.079 --> 00:04:55.879 Classic selective hearing. And finally, Yossarian 00:04:55.879 --> 00:04:58.730 snaps. He starts punching him. He is physically 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:01.370 beating him in the chest. And this is the cartoon 00:05:01.370 --> 00:05:03.730 moment Yossarian is punching him. And what happens? 00:05:04.009 --> 00:05:06.430 Nothing. Yeah. Arfi's body fat is described as 00:05:06.430 --> 00:05:09.290 being so thick that it just absorbs the blows. 00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:12.689 He doesn't even bruise. Wow. Yossarian is exhausting 00:05:12.689 --> 00:05:15.290 himself, venting all his rage. And Arfi just 00:05:15.290 --> 00:05:17.790 sits there, cushioned by his own blubber, completely 00:05:17.790 --> 00:05:20.069 unaffected. That is such a perfect metaphor. 00:05:20.329 --> 00:05:22.670 You can't hurt him. You can't reach him. He is 00:05:22.670 --> 00:05:26.560 soft, but he's impenetrable. Exactly. And that's 00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:28.839 where the comedy stops being funny and starts 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:31.939 being a commentary on the system. Arfi represents 00:05:31.939 --> 00:05:35.040 a kind of bureaucratic insulation. He is safe 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:38.060 because he doesn't perceive the danger and he 00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:40.480 doesn't perceive the suffering of others. So 00:05:40.480 --> 00:05:43.699 we have this image of the incompetent, insulated 00:05:43.699 --> 00:05:46.379 navigator. But let's dive into his head a little 00:05:46.379 --> 00:05:48.699 bit. What does Captain Aardvark actually want? 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:50.819 Because he doesn't seem to care about the war. 00:05:51.060 --> 00:05:54.259 No, the war is just a backdrop for him. His motivation 00:05:54.259 --> 00:05:57.040 is purely social climbing. He wants to be part 00:05:57.040 --> 00:05:59.480 of high society. And this leads us to his relationship 00:05:59.480 --> 00:06:02.240 with Nate Lee. Nate Lee is another pilot, a nice 00:06:02.240 --> 00:06:05.060 kid, comes from a very wealthy family, and Arfie 00:06:05.060 --> 00:06:08.100 is obsessed with him. He is. Arfie has decided 00:06:08.100 --> 00:06:10.759 that Nate Lee is his ticket to the top. The source 00:06:10.759 --> 00:06:13.180 material says Arfie has fallen truly in love 00:06:13.180 --> 00:06:15.279 with Nate Lee's father. That's a weird way to 00:06:15.279 --> 00:06:17.379 put it. Not Nate Lee, but his father. Right. 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.920 He wants a job. He thinks if he befriends the 00:06:19.920 --> 00:06:21.899 son, the father will hire him as an executive 00:06:21.899 --> 00:06:25.120 after the war. He sees himself as Nately's protector 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:28.240 or mentor. Which is ironic because Nately doesn't 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:30.300 seem to like him that much. Nately sees right 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:33.639 through him. Nately hangs out with the misfits, 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:38.120 Usarian, Hungry Joe, or he knows Arafi is a climber. 00:06:38.500 --> 00:06:41.019 But Arafi doesn't get it. He thinks he's the 00:06:41.019 --> 00:06:43.519 only proper gentleman in the group. And this 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:45.600 is where we get to his twisted sense of morality. 00:06:46.329 --> 00:06:49.050 Because Arberfi thinks he is better than everyone 00:06:49.050 --> 00:06:51.870 else. He does. He looks down on the other officers, 00:06:52.050 --> 00:06:54.250 especially when it comes to women. The other 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:57.129 men go to brothels. They visit prostitutes. Araki 00:06:57.129 --> 00:06:59.290 turns his nose up at that. He has a catchphrase 00:06:59.290 --> 00:07:01.550 about this, doesn't he? He does. He loves to 00:07:01.550 --> 00:07:04.550 say, Old Arfi has never paid for it. Old Arfi 00:07:04.550 --> 00:07:07.089 has never paid for it. He wears that like a badge 00:07:07.089 --> 00:07:08.910 of honor. He thinks that makes him virtuous. 00:07:09.329 --> 00:07:11.449 He thinks because there is no transaction of 00:07:11.449 --> 00:07:14.649 money, he is morally superior. But his behavior 00:07:14.649 --> 00:07:18.350 towards women is actually manipulative and predatory. 00:07:18.550 --> 00:07:20.949 There's a note here about him protecting women. 00:07:21.069 --> 00:07:23.670 Can you explain that? It's a very cynical kind 00:07:23.670 --> 00:07:26.490 of protection. If the officers are at a party 00:07:26.490 --> 00:07:28.329 or an apartment and there are women present, 00:07:28.629 --> 00:07:31.430 Harafi will interfere. He'll block the other 00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:33.920 men from making advances. But he's not doing 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.439 it to be a good guy. No, he's not doing it to 00:07:36.439 --> 00:07:38.800 save the women from harassment. He's doing it 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:40.379 because he thinks these women might have social 00:07:40.379 --> 00:07:43.040 connections. So he's guarding them like assets. 00:07:43.300 --> 00:07:46.399 Exactly. He's networking. He thinks, if I keep 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:48.920 this girl clean, maybe she knows someone who 00:07:48.920 --> 00:07:53.600 can help my career. He views women entirely as 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:56.819 objects, either objects of distaste, if they 00:07:56.819 --> 00:08:00.000 are prostitutes. or tools for social advancement. 00:08:00.220 --> 00:08:03.480 So he's not a good boy. He's a gatekeeper. Precisely. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:05.740 And this is where the mask really starts to slip. 00:08:05.839 --> 00:08:08.199 We move from section two, the social climber, 00:08:08.220 --> 00:08:10.800 into section three of our outline. The mask slips. 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.160 Because there is a story Arfie tells Nathalie 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.240 that just chills my blood. Okay. This is the 00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:19.519 moment where you realize Arfie isn't just a buffoon. 00:08:19.620 --> 00:08:21.759 He's talking to Nathalie about his college days 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:24.060 back in his fraternity. And he tells this story 00:08:24.060 --> 00:08:25.800 like it's a fond memory, like a boys will be 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:28.449 boys prank. Right. He recounts how he and his 00:08:28.449 --> 00:08:30.569 frat brothers tricked two high school girls into 00:08:30.569 --> 00:08:32.169 coming into the fraternity house. High school 00:08:32.169 --> 00:08:36.090 girls. So they are likely minors. Yes. And once 00:08:36.090 --> 00:08:38.649 they were inside, Arfie and his friends trapped 00:08:38.649 --> 00:08:41.230 them. They kept them in bed for over 10 hours. 00:08:41.429 --> 00:08:44.289 10 hours. That is, that's kidnapping. That's 00:08:44.289 --> 00:08:47.330 assault. It is gang rape. They forced these girls 00:08:47.330 --> 00:08:50.950 to put out, as he puts it, for anyone who wanted 00:08:50.950 --> 00:08:54.019 them. And the coercion they used was threatening 00:08:54.019 --> 00:08:56.539 to call the girls' parents and tell them they 00:08:56.539 --> 00:08:58.960 were being promiscuous. That is sickening. It's 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:00.779 psychological torture on top of the physical 00:09:00.779 --> 00:09:03.340 violation. And it gets worse. Arfini mentions, 00:09:03.480 --> 00:09:06.139 almost casually, that they smacked their faces 00:09:06.139 --> 00:09:08.399 a little when the girls complained. Oh, my God. 00:09:08.480 --> 00:09:10.320 And then after 10 hours of this torture, they 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.720 threw them out. but not before stealing their 00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:14.879 nickels and chewing gum. They stole their chewing 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:17.039 gum. It's that detail that really highlights 00:09:17.039 --> 00:09:19.500 the cruelty. It's petty. It's dehumanizing. He 00:09:19.500 --> 00:09:22.259 took everything from them. And yet, in Araki's 00:09:22.259 --> 00:09:25.879 mind, because he didn't pay them, he thinks he's 00:09:25.879 --> 00:09:27.759 the good guy. Right, because of his catchphrase. 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:30.440 Exactly. He advises Nathalie that if you pay 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:32.220 a woman, you're engaging in something dirty. 00:09:32.539 --> 00:09:35.240 But if you force a woman, trick her and beat 00:09:35.240 --> 00:09:38.940 her. Well, old Arfi's never paid for it. That 00:09:38.940 --> 00:09:41.559 is a terrifying distortion of logic. He thinks 00:09:41.559 --> 00:09:44.559 the lack of payment makes it romance, or at least 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:47.159 not a sin. He confuses a lack of commerce with 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:50.399 morality. He thinks he is a good boy. And that 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:52.340 self -delusion is what makes him so dangerous. 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:54.980 He has no conscience, only a set of arbitrary 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:57.919 rules that always let him win. This leads us 00:09:57.919 --> 00:10:00.720 to the darkest part of the deep dive, the horror 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:03.720 in Rome. This is the climax of our Arfi storyline, 00:10:04.220 --> 00:10:07.240 and really the emotional center. of the novel's 00:10:07.240 --> 00:10:09.759 tragedy. This is the event that breaks Yerserion. 00:10:09.899 --> 00:10:13.139 They're on leave in Rome. Yerserion is trying 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:14.940 to find moments of peace in the middle of this 00:10:14.940 --> 00:10:17.259 war, and then he stumbles upon Arfi. And our 00:10:17.259 --> 00:10:20.299 Arfi has committed a horrific crime. He has raped 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:23.230 a maid named Michaela. An innocent woman who's 00:10:23.230 --> 00:10:25.009 just working in the building. And when Yossarian 00:10:25.009 --> 00:10:27.090 finds him, I mean, imagine the scene. Yossarian 00:10:27.090 --> 00:10:30.750 is screaming. He is horrified. And Arlarfi is 00:10:30.750 --> 00:10:33.309 calm. He's condescending. He acts like Yossarian 00:10:33.309 --> 00:10:35.389 is making a fuss over nothing. He's puffing that 00:10:35.389 --> 00:10:37.370 pipe again. But then Yossarian realizes something 00:10:37.370 --> 00:10:40.370 else. The room is quiet. Michaela isn't moving. 00:10:40.590 --> 00:10:43.370 No. Arlarfi threw her out the window. He killed 00:10:43.370 --> 00:10:45.149 her. And this is where the dialogue, I mean, 00:10:45.169 --> 00:10:46.970 I just have to read this logic because it's insane. 00:10:47.129 --> 00:10:49.950 Yossarian yells, you killed her! And Parry says, 00:10:50.149 --> 00:10:52.269 oh, I had to do that after I had reaped her. 00:10:52.350 --> 00:10:54.210 And then the justification. I couldn't very well 00:10:54.210 --> 00:10:56.250 let her go around saying bad things about us, 00:10:56.289 --> 00:10:58.950 could I? That sentence right there. I couldn't 00:10:58.950 --> 00:11:00.750 very well let her go around saying bad things. 00:11:00.970 --> 00:11:04.710 Oh. It's the banality of evil in its purest form. 00:11:04.909 --> 00:11:07.769 No. He didn't kill her out of rage. He didn't 00:11:07.769 --> 00:11:09.970 kill her out of passion. No. He killed her as 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:12.409 a practical, administrative decision to avoid 00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:15.509 gossip. To protect his reputation. To protect 00:11:15.509 --> 00:11:18.409 his social climbing prospects. Precisely. In 00:11:18.409 --> 00:11:20.649 his mind, her life is worth less than the risk 00:11:20.649 --> 00:11:23.549 of a bad rumor. And when Yossarian, in his desperation, 00:11:23.769 --> 00:11:27.029 asks, Why? Why did you do this? Why didn't you 00:11:27.029 --> 00:11:29.029 just get a prostitute if you were that desperate? 00:11:29.289 --> 00:11:31.389 Arefi falls back on his catchphrase one last 00:11:31.389 --> 00:11:33.990 time. Oh, no, not me. I never paid for it in 00:11:33.990 --> 00:11:38.100 my life. He is bragging. Standing over the body 00:11:38.100 --> 00:11:40.840 of a woman he raped and murdered, he is bragging 00:11:40.840 --> 00:11:43.700 about his thriftiness and his virtue. He genuinely 00:11:43.700 --> 00:11:46.019 believes he is superior to Yossarian because 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:49.179 he didn't spend money. It's disgusting. It makes 00:11:49.179 --> 00:11:50.899 you want to reach through the pages and shake 00:11:50.899 --> 00:11:53.559 him. But Yossarian thinks, okay, this is it. 00:11:53.620 --> 00:11:55.440 The police are coming. The sirens are blaring. 00:11:55.639 --> 00:11:58.519 Yossarian tells him, you're going to jail. They're 00:11:58.519 --> 00:12:01.080 going to hang you. And Arfi just laughs. He says, 00:12:01.200 --> 00:12:04.500 no one would do that to good old Arfi. And this 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:07.070 brings us to section five. The ultimate catch 00:12:07.070 --> 00:12:12.070 22. The police, the military police, the MPs, 00:12:12.070 --> 00:12:15.090 they burst into the room. The listener, the reader, 00:12:15.230 --> 00:12:17.750 Yossarian, everyone expects justice. There is 00:12:17.750 --> 00:12:20.309 a dead body on the pavement. There is a rapist 00:12:20.309 --> 00:12:22.509 in the room. But what do the MPs do? They ignore 00:12:22.509 --> 00:12:24.669 the body. Yeah. They ignore our feet. They walk 00:12:24.669 --> 00:12:27.570 right past the murderer and they grab Yossarian. 00:12:27.690 --> 00:12:30.850 They arrest Yossarian. For what? For being AWOL. 00:12:31.159 --> 00:12:32.960 Absent without leave. He didn't have a pass to 00:12:32.960 --> 00:12:35.100 be in Rome that specific day. Wait, wait. So 00:12:35.100 --> 00:12:38.820 raping and killing a woman. Ignored. Missing 00:12:38.820 --> 00:12:41.360 a permission slip. Handcuffs. That is the ultimate 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:44.320 catch -22 of the novel. The system is not designed 00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.860 to protect people like Michaela. It is not designed 00:12:46.860 --> 00:12:49.259 to punish evil. It is designed to maintain bureaucracy. 00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:53.600 So Yossarian, who is the moral center, the man 00:12:53.600 --> 00:12:56.580 who was horrified by violence, is the criminal 00:12:56.580 --> 00:12:58.899 because he broke a rule about paperwork. Exactly. 00:12:59.320 --> 00:13:02.059 And Arfie. Arfie gets away with it. Arfie is 00:13:02.059 --> 00:13:05.600 vindicated. His insouciant, arrogant belief that 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:08.360 no one would hurt good old Arfie turns out to 00:13:08.360 --> 00:13:11.519 be true. The system protects him. Why? Why does 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:14.220 the system protect the monster? Because Arfie 00:13:14.220 --> 00:13:16.559 fits into the insanity. Think back to the beginning. 00:13:16.899 --> 00:13:19.779 He ignores the flack. He ignores reality. He 00:13:19.779 --> 00:13:22.360 ignores the humanity of the girl he abuses. The 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.200 military bureaucracy in Catch -22 also ignores 00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:28.080 reality and humanity. They are compatible. Arfi 00:13:28.080 --> 00:13:30.879 is the perfect citizen of this insane world because 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:32.559 he has no conscience to get in the way of the 00:13:32.559 --> 00:13:34.700 machinery. So the guy who absorbs punches with 00:13:34.700 --> 00:13:36.919 his fat also absorbs the consequences of murder. 00:13:37.159 --> 00:13:40.039 Nothing sticks to him. Exactly. While the good 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:42.399 characters, neatly graphed, the people who try 00:13:42.399 --> 00:13:45.580 to care, they die. They suffer these ignominious 00:13:45.580 --> 00:13:48.120 deaths. But the oblivious, selfish predator, 00:13:48.539 --> 00:13:50.820 He survives. He prospers. That is incredibly 00:13:50.820 --> 00:13:52.860 bleak. It feels like the book is telling us that 00:13:52.860 --> 00:13:56.799 justice is a lie. It is bleak. But it's a warning. 00:13:57.539 --> 00:14:00.100 Heller is showing us that in a society governed 00:14:00.100 --> 00:14:04.320 by insane rules, sanity is a liability. Being 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:07.500 able to feel pain or guilt or empathy, those 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:10.360 are weaknesses in the eyes of the machine. Our 00:14:10.360 --> 00:14:13.700 curfew succeeds because he is hollow. So if we 00:14:13.700 --> 00:14:16.669 look at the big picture here. our curfey isn't 00:14:16.669 --> 00:14:19.669 just a villain he's a symbol he is a symbol of 00:14:19.669 --> 00:14:22.019 the perversity of the system He represents the 00:14:22.019 --> 00:14:24.399 people who can navigate a corrupt world perfectly 00:14:24.399 --> 00:14:27.200 because they simply do not care who they trust 00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.659 along the way. He's the man who never questions, 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.379 never feels and never pays. And he thinks he's 00:14:32.379 --> 00:14:34.659 the hero of his own story. That's the scariest 00:14:34.659 --> 00:14:37.019 part. He never has an epiphany that he's evil. 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:39.159 He thinks he's a nice guy who just had to, you 00:14:39.159 --> 00:14:40.799 know, tidy up a loose end. Well, that certainly 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:42.659 changes how I'll ever look at a comic relief 00:14:42.659 --> 00:14:44.940 character again. We've gone from a funny name, 00:14:45.059 --> 00:14:47.299 Captain Aardvark, to a chilling portrait of a 00:14:47.299 --> 00:14:50.059 sociopath protected by bureaucracy. It's a deep 00:14:50.059 --> 00:14:52.220 dive. that really forces you to question what 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:54.820 we mistake for inoldance. Just because someone 00:14:54.820 --> 00:14:56.759 is smiling and smoking a pipe doesn't mean they 00:14:56.759 --> 00:15:00.080 aren't dangerous. Absolutely. So here's a final 00:15:00.080 --> 00:15:01.820 thought for you to mull over as you go about 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:05.100 your day. We've seen how the world of Catch -22 00:15:05.100 --> 00:15:08.139 protects Arfi because he refuses to see reality. 00:15:08.279 --> 00:15:10.799 He ignores the flak. He ignores the murder. He 00:15:10.799 --> 00:15:13.019 refuses to acknowledge the consequences of his 00:15:13.019 --> 00:15:16.019 actions. Right. So if the insane world protects 00:15:16.019 --> 00:15:19.149 the blind... What does that say about the dangers 00:15:19.149 --> 00:15:22.669 of being sane? If seeing the world clearly, like 00:15:22.669 --> 00:15:25.590 Yossarian does, only brings you pain and punishment, 00:15:25.889 --> 00:15:29.070 is sanity a curse? That is the question at the 00:15:29.070 --> 00:15:31.190 heart of the book. And looking at Arefi, the 00:15:31.190 --> 00:15:33.750 alternative seems terrifying. Indeed. Something 00:15:33.750 --> 00:15:35.850 to think about. Thanks for joining us on this 00:15:35.850 --> 00:15:38.370 deep dive into the dark side of Catch -22. It 00:15:38.370 --> 00:15:39.830 was a pleasure to unpack this with you. We'll 00:15:39.830 --> 00:15:41.830 see you next time. Stay curious and watch out 00:15:41.830 --> 00:15:42.590 for the navigators.