How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
The colonel dwelt in a vortex of specialists who were still specializing in trying to determine what was troubling him. They hurled lights in his eyes to see if he could see, rammed needles into nerves to hear if he could feel. There was a urologist for his urine, a lymphologist for his lymph, an endocrinologist for his endocrines, a psychologist for his psyche, a dermatologist for his derma; there was a pathologist for his pathos, and cystologist for his cysts […]
The colonel had really been investigated. There was not an organ of his body that had not been drugged and derogated, dusted and dredged, fingered and photographed, removed, plundered, and replaced. (1.100-101)
Some of the things listed in the first paragraph are not really what these types of doctors investigate. A pathologist deals with disorders and disease, not pathos. Also, it is funny that all these specialists can't determine what's wrong with the colonel. It shows how ineffective they are.
Quote #8
[…] outside the hospital the war was still going on. Men went mad and were rewarded with medals. All over the world, boys on every side of the bomb line were laying down their lives for what they had been told was their country and no one seemed to mind, least of all the boys who were laying down their young lives. (2.1)
This is absurd because it makes no sense that men would be rewarded for their madness or that boys would lay down their lives so casually.
Quote #9
"They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
"No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
"Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
"They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
"And what difference does that make?" (2.5-10)
Yossarian's logic goes against our normal conceptions of enemies and war. He accurately notices that they all are trying to kill him. However, he fails to recognize that they are all technically his enemies, or the enemy of the group of American soldiers, of which he is a member. However, taken out of the context of war, Yossarian's logic would be perfectly rational. This, then, points to the absurdity and horror of war itself.