Colonel Cathcart

Colonel Cathcart

Colonel Cathcart is a character in Joseph Heller's novel Catch-22.

A full colonel, he is a group commander at a U.S. Army Air Corps base in Pianosa and is obsessed with becoming a general. As such, he does whatever it takes to please his superiors—in particular, by repeatedly raising the number of missions the men have to fly to complete a tour of duty, beyond that normally ordered by other outfits. This becomes the bane of Yossarian's life, as every time he comes close to obtaining the target number of missions for being sent home, Colonel Cathcart raises the required number again.

Ironically, Cathcart himself has only flown in two missions, one of which was accidental.

Contents

Feathers and black eyes

Cathcart nightly makes lists of "feathers in his cap" and "black eyes", often finding something in the former category is in fact in the latter one, considering all the possible ways in which his superiors could react to them. In his attempts to please nearly everyone, Cathcart discovers that all the other soldiers hate him. This perception lives largely in his mind, but it affects his relationships with the others and they soon begin to actually dislike and/or avoid him. His paranoia, matched only by his arrogance, worsens throughout the course of the novel.

Catch-22

The concept of Catch-22 is also represented in the character of Colonel Cathcart, as he consists entirely of irreconcilable oppositions and maintains an illogical thought process that echoes that of the catch. Cathcart is a master of political doublespeak, often completely contradicting what he says seconds after he says it, usually when a superior officer disagrees with him.

Yossarian

Cathcart hates Yossarian almost as much as Yossarian hates him. When Yossarian publicly refuses to fly any more missions, Cathcart chomps at the bit to have him court martialed, but his right hand man, Colonel Korn, talks him out of it, advising him that a dismissal from the Air Force is exactly what he wants; Cathcart instead decorates him to ensure that he will stay in the service.

When Yossarian is caught AWOL in Rome, Cathcart is eager to have him court martialed and imprisoned, but Korn once again persuades him to offer him the credit for enough missions to send him home instead, to hush the whole affair up. Yossarian briefly considers the offer, but changes his mind when he hears that Orr got out of duty by escaping to Sweden.

Film

In Mike Nichols' film adaptation of the novel, Colonel Cathcart is portrayed by Martin Balsam.

In the Marvel comic book Truth: Red, White and Black, Isaiah Bradley is the subject of experiments at Camp Cathcart, named for the character.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cathcart (disambiguation) — Cathcart may refer to:Places*Cathcart, a place in Scotland *Cathcart, Eastern Cape, South Africa *Cathcart, Washington, United States *Cathcart, New South Wales, AustraliaPeople*Andrew Cathcart Bogle, a British recipient of the Victoria Cross… …   Wikipedia

  • Cathcart —    CATHCART, a parish, partly in the Lower ward of the county of Lanark, but chiefly in the Upper ward of the county of Renfrew; including the villages of New and Old Cathcart, Clarkston, Crosshill, Crossmy loof, Hanginshaw, Langside, Millbridge …   A Topographical dictionary of Scotland

  • Charles Cathcart, 2nd Earl Cathcart — Sir Charles Cathcart Sir Charles Cathcart Born 21 December 1783 Walton, Essex …   Wikipedia

  • William Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart — General William Schaw Cathcart, 1st Earl Cathcart KT PC (September 17, 1755 ndash;June 16, 1843), Scottish soldier and diplomatist, was born at Petersham, and educated at Eton.In 1771 he went to St. Petersburg, where his father, Charles Cathcart …   Wikipedia

  • Earl Cathcart — is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1814 for the soldier and diplomat William Cathcart, 1st Viscount Cathcart. The Cathcart family descends from Sir Alan Cathcart, who sometime between 1447 and 1460 was raised to… …   Wikipedia

  • Clan Cathcart — Crest badge …   Wikipedia

  • James Leander Cathcart — James Leander Cathcart(1 June1767 6 October1843), diplomat, slave, sailor. Notable for his narrative as a slave in Algiers for eleven years. Revolutionary War Cathcart was born in Murragh, Ireland and immigrated to the North American colonies… …   Wikipedia

  • Yossarian — Also covered in this article are the characters Snowden and Yo Yo s Roomies. Capt. John Joseph Yossarian is a fictional character and protagonist in Joseph Heller s novel Catch 22 and its sequel Closing Time . In Catch 22 , Yossarian is a 28 year …   Wikipedia

  • List of Catch-22 characters — Captain Black redirects here. For the character from the either of the two Captain Scarlet TV series, see Captain Black (Captain Scarlet). Moodus redirects here. For the village in Connecticut, see Moodus (village). The following is a list of… …   Wikipedia

  • Catch-22 - Der böse Trick — Filmdaten Deutscher Titel: Catch 22 – Der böse Trick Originaltitel: Catch 22 Produktionsland: USA Erscheinungsjahr: 1970 Länge: 122 Minuten Originalsprache: Englisch …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”