List of Catch-22 Characters - Other Characters

Other Characters

• Appleby is a young pilot from Iowa. He is described as being "as good at shooting craps as he was at playing ping-pong, and he was as good at playing ping-pong as he was at everything else." Appleby's character appears to represent those who thrive to a certain extent within a bureaucratic system and feel threatened by others who do not play along as much as they would like them to. He follows regulations without question and does everything he is supposed to do, managing to succeed with minimal effort at whatever he does.
• Captain Black Because of the lack of risk involved in not flying missions, Captain Black wanted to take over Major Duluth's position as squadron commander when the Major was killed over Perugia. He was thwarted, however, by Major Major, who was appointed squadron commander as a joke by an I.B.M. machine. Captain Black also constantly mocks his fellow countrymen at the Pianosa airbase when they are faced by dangerous missions, by constantly telling everyone to "eat your liver." Since he is the camp's intelligence officer, he is not on combat duty and can therefore maintain his gleeful attitude to the men risking their lives in the air.
• Colonel Cargill Before the war Cargill was a successful, though completely untalented. marketing executive. In the Air Force, Colonel Cargill provided his legendary lack of skills as General Peckem's troubleshooter. He took self-satisfaction in genius for ineptitude when addressing the enlisted men instead of the officers.
• Clevinger A highly principled, highly educated man who acts as Yossarian's foil within the story. His optimistic view of the world causes Yossarian to consider him to be a "dope," and he and Yossarian each believe the other is crazy.
• Nurse Cramer The best friend of Nurse Duckett. After Nurse Duckett starts a relationship with Yossarian, puritanical Nurse Cramer stops speaking to her.
• Major Danby A college professor and intellectual who sees himself as a poor match for the armed services. He briefs the airmen on upcoming missions.
• Mrs. Daneeka Further information: Doc Daneeka She is the wife of Doc Daneeka, and when the doctor is mistakenly declared dead after listing himself fraudulently on a flight manifest for a doomed flight, she finds herself suddenly rich and available, and moves away, leaving no forwarding address.
• Major —— de Coverley Major —— de Coverley has a terrifying visage in the Biblical tradition, so much so that men will do his desires without his even saying a word, and no one dares ask his first name. The exact nature of the Major's duties within the bomber group is uncertain. He is Major Major's executive officer, but at the squadron base in Pianosa his only official duties are pitching horseshoes, renting two-room apartments for the soldiers on rest leave, and kidnapping Italian laborers. His frequent appearance during the fall of major cities makes him an object of interest to intelligence agencies on both sides, neither of which can identify him.
• General Dreedle The commander of the U.S. Army Air Corps base in Pianosa, Dreedle is an exceedingly blunt and ill-tempered man. He is an archetypal no-nonsense military man who does not care what the men under his command do as long as they fight and die unquestioningly when given orders. His arch-rival is General Peckem, head of Special Services in Rome; the two men frequently have their disputes mediated without their knowledge by the desk clerk, ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen.
• Dobbs Originally a healthy young man, the effects of excessive combat missions have shot Dobbs' nerves, and when the narration of the book begins he is emotionally unstable and physically spent. He is described as being one of the worst pilots in the corps and his mid-air panic leads him to snatch the controls of the plane away from Huple, when Snowden is killed.
• Nurse Duckett At the start of the novel Nurse Duckett does not like Yossarian but later on she has a relationship with Yossarian which jeopardizes her friendship with Nurse Cramer. She breaks off her affair with Yossarian when she decides to marry a doctor, and realizes she should not jeopardize her chances by carrying on openly with Yossarian.
• Dunbar An airman stationed at the same base as Yossarian, on the island of Pianosa. He and Yossarian seem to have similar personalities, and so they make fast friends. Like Yossarian, Dunbar's chief goal is to prolong his life to whatever extent possible, often by cultivating boredom.
• Captain Flume Captain Flume is the squadron's public relations officer, until he moves out of the trailer he shares with Chief White Halfoat after Halfoat threatens to slit Flume's throat open from ear to ear.
• Giuseppe (the soldier who sees everything twice) A delirious soldier who creates a panic in the hospital by shouting, "I see everything twice!" Yossarian imitates him (by seeing two fingers regardless of whether a doctor holds up one, two, or none) and later impersonates him when he dies. The soldier's family does not notice that Yossarian is not their son.
• Gus & Wes Further information: Doc Daneeka Are Doc Daneeka's two orderlies, whose main activity is to paint airmen's gums and toes purple with gentian violet solution.
• Havermeyer Havermeyer lives in the tent next to Yossarian's, and according to Colonel Cathcart he is "the best damn bombardier we've got." This was because he insists on flying his plane dead straight to, over, and past the target despite any anti-aircraft fire he receives.
• Huple A fifteen-year-old pilot who lied about his age to get into the Army, and who shares a tent with Hungry Joe on the wrong side of the railway tracks. He has a cat that constantly sleeps on Hungry Joe's face.
• Hungry Joe Hungry Joe is noted for constantly trying to photograph women nude, claiming to be a photographer for Life magazine (which, ironically, he was before the war, although none of his pictures develop correctly). He is the only pilot who consistently finished the required number of missions (but was forced to continue flying as his paperwork was always delayed until the flight limit was elevated) and has screaming nightmares until he's ordered back onto combat status.
• Sergeant Knight The turret gunner on Yossarian's plane; he begins a panic prior to the Bologna operation when he brings extra flak jackets, causing everyone to think the target is deadly.
• Corporal Kolodny Captain Black's assistant. He erroneously reports that Bologna has been captured by the Allies after Yossarian surreptitiously redraws the lines on the battle map.
• Lieutenant Colonel Korn Colonel Cathcart's intellectual assistant. Korn appears along Catchart throughout the novel and it becomes clear to the reader that Korn does most of the thinking and most of the work for Cathcart, who only takes the credit. Korn is portrayed as much more relaxed and less ostentatious than his superior, but much more sadistic and cynical.
• Kraft A man killed at the bombing of a bridge at Ferrara. Yossarian blames himself, as he ordered the planes back after they missed the first time.
• Luciana A woman whom Yossarian briefly dates in Rome, Italy.
• Major Major Major Major Further information: Major Major Major Major
• McWatt The pilot of Yossarian's plane. After accidentally killing Kid Sampson, he commits suicide by crashing his plane into a mountain.
• Michaela Further information: Captain Aardvark
• Colonel Moodus General Dreedle's son-in-law, whom the general hates.
• Lieutenant Mudd More frequently referred to as "the dead man in Yossarian's tent," Mudd was killed in action before officially joining the squadron. Due to the bureaucratic uncertainty over the status of Mudd, no one will accept responsibility for Mudd and his belongings, and Sergeant Towser refuses to believe the man existed at all.
• Orr A bomber pilot in the squadron who is continually being shot down and having to crash land in the sea. Described as "a warm-hearted, simple-minded gnome," Orr is the only person in the group considered to be crazier than his good friend Yossarian, with whom he shares a tent. Further information: Orr (Catch-22)
• General Peckem A pompous, pretentious and highly delusional general who desperately wants to take over General Dreedle's post as the superior commanding officer of Pianossa. Because of this ambition, he has a vicious rivalry with Dreedle and constantly tries to undermine him and have him demoted. His attempts are mostly thwarted without his knowledge by desk clerk ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen, who enjoys making Peckem look foolish.
• Piltchard & Wren Two captains in charge of squadron operations that are always mentioned in tandem. They are sympathetic towards Yossarian despite his desire to avoid missions.
• Corporal Popinjay The clerk present at Clevinger's trial; he is imprisoned for being too specific in his shorthand.
• Kid Sampson An underaged soldier killed by the propeller of McWatt's airplane. The event drives McWatt to suicide and causes Doc Daneeka's bureaucratic "death."
• Major Sanderson A neurotic psychiatrist who is convinced that Yossarian is mentally unstable because he acts rationally.
• Mrs. Scheisskopf Scheisskopf is always too busy planning parades to fulfill his wife's masochistic sexual fantasies. Instead, she sleeps with Scheisskopf's cadets, so they can all get revenge on her husband. Further information: Scheisskopf
• Sammy Singer the tailgunner on Yossarian's bomber when Snowden dies. While he is just a minor character in Catch-22, he becomes one of the main characters in the sequel, Closing Time.
• Corporal Snark The mess sergeant before Milo Minderbinder. He was demoted for purposely poisoning sweet potatoes with soap chips, giving the squadron diarrhea, which he did at Yossarian's request.
• Dr. Stubbs Further information: Doc Daneeka
• Sergeant Towser Major Major's assistant; he prevents anyone from seeing the Major while he is in his office, and only allows them in when the Major is gone. Due to Major Major's unwillingness to see anyone, Towser is the de facto head of the 256th squadron.
• Corporal Whitcomb An atheist who constantly antagonizes and looks to usurp Chaplain Tappman, his direct superior.
• Chief White Halfoat An American Indian whose family was forced to move from wherever they settled because oil was always discovered. He is Captain Black's assistant. During the Siege of Bologna, he decides that he will eventually die of pneumonia.
• Ex-P.F.C. Wintergreen An ex-P.F.C. because of his constant urge to go AWOL, Wintergreen has been demoted so many times that he entertains hopes of becoming an ex-general. Due to his position in charge of mail distribution, he wields a great amount of power in the novel. By forging documents and destroying mail, he becomes more powerful than the generals. His main concern throughout the novel is humiliating General Peckem because he was the first person to have demoted him.