Chapter Nine Blog
Major's Dad
Major Major
Forging signatures of famous authors (putting to use his college knowledge of English History), getting beat up on the basketball court, pitting the C.I.D. agents against each other, being served first class meals by Milo... Major Major leads a wild life. But at the same time shows us the difficulties of managing a squadron: "What could you do with a man who looked you squarely in the eye and said he would rather die than be killed in combat, a man who was at least as mature and intelligent as you were and who you had to pretend was not?" (106).
Questions
- What do you think of Major Major's dad? What do you think of Major Major?
- At the end of the chapter, Major Major asks Yossarian if he would like to see the country lose the war because of his desertion. Here, it appears that Major Major prefer to win the war, but from his earlier dialogue during the basketball game we know that he values certain ways of winning more than others. What might be considered a success (scoring a basket), is only a "win" if made in a proper environment. In your opinion, what is it about his conditions that -- after 51 "successful" flights -- Yossarian would rather quit than continue fighting?
- Certainly there are lots of contradictions/absurd dialogues and scenes in this book... What was your favorite from this chapter's reading?
1. I do not like Major Major’s dad. He clearly doesn’t care about those around him, is hypocritical, and overall doesn’t seem like a good person. One of his most obvious flaws is his attitude towards women, especially his wife. He doesn’t care about her preference for their son’s name, even after she spent a full day and a half in labor, and doesn’t care when she dies because he was already interested in other women. As for Major Major, he seems slightly out of touch, but I feel bad for him. I think the line that says “Because he needed a friend so desperately, he never found one” (85) sums him up well. He seems very nice, and doesn’t seem like he’s done anything to deserve his mediocrity, trying to be the best he can be, but still is disliked by most, if not all. I feel bad for him, and would like to see him happy (though I don’t think that I will).
ReplyDelete2. I think that, with every flight he flies, Yossarian realizes how close they bring him to death. Each one, he has to actively dodge walls of anti-aircraft fire in an attempt to survive. I think he sees the dead man in his tent at the start of every day and is reminded that he could be with him before the end of it. I don’t think that Yossarian’s conditions or his views on quitting have changed much between flight 50 and 51 (I think he’s always wanted to go home), but I do think that a combination of the rising number of necessary flights and the combined stress of all 51 flights have finally pushed him to the point of trying anything in order to go home. The latest flight and the latest change in regulation may be the final straw for Yossarian.
3. My favorite was the fact that Major Major’s elders disliked him because he, by following their advice and doing as they said, was a “flagrant nonconformist” (85).
1. While I dislike him, I think that Major Major’s father has a better understanding of the world than Major Major does. Although he preaches about God and morality, he does not hold himself to the standards he idealizes. He is extremely hypocritical, and it is through his hypocrisy that Major Major’s father is able to survive and be successful in life. Major Major, on the other hand, is an extremely moral and kind person, always following all of the advice given to him by his elders. Yet despite all of his efforts, Major Major remains disliked by all. I think that Heller uses Major Major as an example of how goodness, decency, and morality cannot succeed in a world twisted by selfishness, corruption, and war.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Major Major is an overall more competitive person than Yossarian, and furthermore, he feels an obligation and sense of duty in his role in the war that Yossarian does not share. Given this, in addition to his fear of dying, Yossarian wants to go home regardless of the cost to other men. I think that Yossarian has always felt this way ever since he was forced into the Army, and I do not think that his values have changed much throughout his time as a bombardier.
3. My favorite from this chapter was the paradox of Major Major’s mediocrity: “Even among men lacking all distinction he inevitably stood out as a man lacking more distinction than all the rest, and people who met him were always impressed by how unimpressive he was” (83). This part made me laugh because it so perfectly conveys the rather sad, unfortunate nature of Major Major’s character.
1. I think Major Major’s dad is a hypocritical criticism unto himself. In one moment he criticizes the government spending money on people who do not deserve it, and in the next, he buys land so that he can grow even more nothingness. He sits on his ass all day and makes an exponentially growing income for it, yet he preaches that he reaps what he sows. I think given his upbringing, it is no surprise that Major Major ended up as a mediocre, unimportant recluse. Of course he doesn’t want to talk to people--his only friendships were ruined by his promotion. I think his actions are mostly understandable yet unfortunate nonetheless.
ReplyDelete2. In the plane missions, Yossarian experiences unyielding fear for his life, and after his missions, he knows that he will have to live through the hell of bombing runs countless more times until he inevitably dies. It is also worth mentioning that Yossarian’s chance of surviving to the end of his required mission would become statistically negligible if the Coronal raised the mission count even by one. I think Yossarian’s path to living through the war is completely logical; why risk death countless, horrible missions if you could just refuse to fly? The probability that he is executed is most likely less than the probability of his death in combat.
3. My favorite moment was when Major Major and Lieutenant Sheizkopf kept calling each other “sir” over and over again, or when Major Major stood at attention for 20 minutes in a room full of people saluting to him.
1) Similar to the other responses, I do not like Major Major’s dad. He is awful, hypocritical, and just overall a nasty person. However, he lives a better life and profits more than most other characters through lying and scamming, and the government is helping him cheat the system. Also, I agree that Major Major shows us the challenges with running part of the military, and I think he is a commentary on how capable and knowledgeable Heller thinks the people running our military are. I feel sorry for Major Major, partially because of his dad. Even from the moment he was born, he was the victim of a cruel joke. Major Major reminds me a little bit of Billy because he doesn’t do much, but I still find him to be overall a likable character. He is described as mediocre, though, which is far from the truth. He wants to blend in so badly, but the world just won’t let him. I think Major Major is just another example of how paradoxical war is.
ReplyDelete2) From the previous chapters, it is clear that Yossarian has little knowledge of the details of why the war is being fought. The people in charge are clearly uneducated, as well. Also, it is a lot easier for someone like Major Major to say patriotic things. His life is not in danger if he continues working his job, but Yossarian’s is. I think it would be bizarre for Yossarian, without much of a sense of patriotism or information about Hitler, to want to continue fighting. He is more afraid of dying than anything else, so why would he want to risk his life if he is not given a good reason to fight in the war, especially because he thinks all the other men who are fighting for the “American cause” are crazy?
3) My favorite was that Major Major, trying to be secretive, “did all his signing only with his left hand and only while wearing the dark sunglasses and false mustache” (93). I just think this is a funny image. I also like that he started writing funny variations of the name, like “‘Is anybody in the John, Milton?”’ (94).
I'm going to not be Major Major Major Major and not do what Javy asked. I'm answering #4 first. My favorite MMMM scene—and there's one on every page of the chapter—is when he tells Sgt. Towser to not "come here while I'm here to ask me if there's anything you can do for me." When Towser asks when he should come to find out what MMMM wants him to do, MMMM says, "When I'm not here." "Yes, sir. And what should I do?" "Whatever I tell to." "But you won't be here to tell me. Will you?" "no." "Then what should I do?" "Whatever has to be done" (99). This whole section kills me.
ReplyDelete1. MM's father is such a believable figure to me. He's a guy we're seeing a lot of today. A righteous hypocrite who demands no one gets what he clearly deserves. Think of Rand Paul who does everything he wasn't supposed to to become infected. Be tested, go to meetings, go swimming in the Senate pool. Why would he do this? Because he's Rand Paul! "He was a....God-fearing, freedom-loving, law abiding rugged individualist who held that federal aid to anyone but farmers was creeping socialism" (83). MM's dad has a job waiting for him in DC these days.
MMMM is another, in my mind, pathetic man in a book full of pathetic men. He's another conformist in a book full of conformists. Heller may be overstating his case in the novel: how different is MMMM than Clevinger? Yesterday we were talking about how one dimensional the women often seem in the book. With MMMM and Clevinger we maybe can say the same thing about the men. We're a long way from Miller's squad aren't we?
2. I think Yossarian wants, to use a word I first heard three years ago in another seminar, said bt Moey Rojas and which I hear often now, is agency. He wants to control his fate. He doesn't want anyone else determining whether he lives or dies. And to not die when it would make no difference on the outcome of a war where "a lot [of people] are making money and having fun" (103). That's obscene to him. I can't diagree.
1. I think Major Major’s father is an awful person, but I have quite a bit of respect for him. He has essentially found a way to cheat his way through life, and while he has disregarded the well being and the sanity of every person in his life and profited off of their misfortunes, he has created an incredibly complex system in which he can thrive off of treating people poorly. I don’t like it, nor would I ever do that myself, but its quite impressive. I think Major Major, as one of the people his father exploited, has been set up for failure in his father's shadow. Even in adulthood, his childhood traumas linger. It’s quite sad, but I think his time in the army changes him and gives him a greater sense of purpose.
ReplyDelete2. I think Yossarian cares a lot less about the war than post people he works with. He seems to be aware of how absurd it is, how little information they have been given and doesn’t seem to fully devote himself to sacrificing his life because he knows its just not really worth it. Not that Yossarian doesn’t care at all about the war, I think it has given him the same sense of purpose as the other men, but I think he prioritizes his soldier hood in a different, less blindly-supporting way.
3. I think the description of Major Major’s father’s job was particularly absurd. I struggled to see how it made any sense whatsoever, because it contradicted itself many times. It appears that many of these absurd dialogues go against one another completely. They’re so much more than confusing, and are in some ways completely meaningless.
I find Major Major’s dad to be a bitter, arrogant, hypocritical man. He seems to use religion as a justification to be a brute. Because he is a “devout” man, he can get away with his terrible behavior, “never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle, and extort for as much as he could get from whomever he could”(84). Heller is commenting on the illusion of religion and how absurd it is that people use it to justify wrong, just like the war. Like Charlotte, I also feel bad for Major Major. Similar to other characters in the book, he is forced to live in the shadow of his awful name. Reading the initial description of Major Major who was “polite to his elders, who disliked him”(85) reminded me of the hated Texan in the beginning of the book. Just like the Texan, Major Major is disliked for being a mediocre, polite man. Heller shows that the Texan’s patriotism and Major Major’s politeness do not mean anything in wartime. War seems to have a whole new set of counterintuitive morals, “the people who did lie were, on the whole, more resourceful and ambitious and successful than people who did not lie”(97).
ReplyDeleteI do not think that Yossarian has the same draw to duty that helps the other soldiers cope with the absurdity of war. Heller is showing us the true war story of the men that are in the war. Of course Yossarian does not want to fly the extra four missions after having flown 51 because he is a normal human being who is afraid. As we discussed on the previous blog, Yossarian, more than the other men, is terrified of dying. Heller is further dismantling the stereotype of the hyper masculine soldier who fears nothing.
I found the contradiction about rank very comical, “Rank meant little to the men on combat duty”(88). As soon as Major Major’s rank changed, he was treated completely differently by these men! Although rank does mean something in Major Major’s life, Heller is sure to point out the absurdity of the hierarchy in war. Major Major hides from his responsibilities and, just like the rest of the authorities, is deeply flawed.
1. I couldn't really get a read on Major Major's dad's intentions which impacts the way I feel about him. I do not like the fact that he disrespected his wife's wishes and lied about his son's name until this truth came out, however I'm not entirely sure his intentions were to be a horrible person. Honestly, I think Major Major's dad is just a guy who finds himself really funny and takes his jokes way too far, but is not intentionally trying to set off a whole blog about how horrible he is. He's a smart ass and a narcissistic and I do not particularly like him as a person, but I think there are worse people. As far as how I feel about Major Major and how I interpret him, and I could be way off about this, but he honestly kind of reminds me of Robert Cohn. I don't really know why, I guess it's because he comes off as kind of pathetic to me and I feel bad for him; especially during the part when he gets beaten up on the basketball court. I felt so bad for him and it's like no matter how hard he tries to avoid being the center or attention or causing drama or creating enemies, he just has bad luck and he's clueless. All he wants to do is blend, and yet for some reason the world won't let him.
ReplyDelete2. I think, kind of similar to the last question two blogs ago, Yossarian views things differently than most other soldiers. War has not desensitized Yossarian the way that it has the others. I think he still cares and is affected by death the same way he was during his first mission, nothing has changed for him. He doesn't view this as a war to win, he views this as a war to survive. By Yossarian's standards, living is the only "win" he desires and is competitive for. I think that after 51 "successful" flights, Yossarian has been given a lot of time to think about his fear and how much he hates flying and wants to leave, and overtime it's been built up in his head that he doesn't even view it as quitting, he views it as wanting to save himself.
3. I would say my favorite contradictory dialogue from this chapter's reading is Major Major lying to both of the C.I.D. men and messing with them by sort of pitting them against each other. Both the C.I.D. men are so confident in themselves and how they think they have solved this case, when really "Washington Irving" is sitting right in front of them spinning this lie even more and leading them even farther off the trail.
1. I really liked Heller’s characterization of Major Major and his father because of their similarities. Major Major’s father seems to skirt by in life. For one, he disregards everyone else in his life. He does not care about his son and thinks it is funny to mess with his life by naming him Major Major. He doesn’t care about his wife at all, and is “fine” with her death. Also, he doesn’t really work. The more he doesn’t farm, the more money he makes. These two aspects of his life may seem different from his son, but they really aren’t. Major Major, himself, also doesn’t really work. He is merely pushed along the chain of command because people don’t want to deal with him. He did not have to do anything to become the squadron commander. Major Major also distances himself from others in his life as we see at the end of the chapter; he changes his life around to ensure that he does not come in contact with anyone until Yossarian interrupts his solitude. I think Heller includes them in the story to showcase the ease of their lives that isn’t as desirable as it seems. It’s like the game of basketball: when the other players stop trying then it becomes no fun.
ReplyDelete2. I think that Major Major doesn’t have a good idea of Yossarian’s perspective, so he can’t understand that Yossarian isn’t deserting. Major Major has not been to war or experienced anything like it, whereas Yossarian has overdone his part for the US. I think that Yossarian exemplifies the mental impact of 51 missions on a completely sane person. He even says in the chapter, “You wouldn’t be normal if you were never afraid” (102). Yossarian’s rationale seems very sane, and I think he is very deserving of quitting. To that end, I wouldn’t even call it quitting because the normal quota is forty missions. Thus, I think Heller is continuing to show Yossarian’s desperation to make readers focus on what just “four more missions” can do to a person. I think that this shows that Yossarian’s “conditions” are inhumane and make him want to quit, therefore, he is not deserting.
3. My favorite contradiction from this chapter was the idea that Major Major’s father is opposed to government paying unemployment insurance, but he was all for the pay he received for planting too much alfalfa that no one wanted to buy or for not producing any.
Wow, Javi! The blog’s so pretty!
ReplyDeleteMajor Major’s dad is absolutely pathetic and I feel for his wife. Majorx4’s dad feels like mansplaining on steroids but with the explanation replaced by religious zeal, sexism, laziness, and maliciousness. Needless to say, I do not like him. I actually really love Majorx4. He is the easiest to empathize with out of anyone in the entire book so far. I want him to be happy so badly.
Yossarian is afraid, as he says so bluntly at the end of the chapter, “I’m not ashamed. I’m just afraid” (102). This seems like a good enough reason to me to want to get out of the Army, especially after he talks about the millions of people who could take is place, and I’m sure many of them are Harvermeyers or McWatts.
The C.I.D man jumping through the window, having gained 20 extra pounds and in such great health after returning to the hospital in the decrepit, so-easily recognizable red hospital pajamas is hilarious to me. I also enjoyed when Yossarian and Majorx4 take turns going back into the office through the window. It made me think of the theme of politeness we have seen in many of the books we have read: soldier’s calling soldier’s wives who are only a couple years older than them “ma’am” in You Know When The Men Are Gone, Billy apologizing while bumping into Weary in the snow in Slaughterhouse-Five, all the “sir’s” in a previous scene in the chapter… This chapter has so many great absurdities and was my favorite read so far.
Agreed, Jordyn. This is a very aesthetically pleasing blog
ReplyDelete1. Like everyone else, I do not like Major Major’s dad at all. He is so self-righteous, but has absolutely no reason to be because he is an objectively bad person for a few reasons. One, anyone who names their child Major Major Major is actually cruel because his son will have to live with that and as we see Major Major’s name creates many problems for him. I do concede that it is a funny name and the narrator makes a great remark about it, saying “A lesser man might have wavered that day in the hospital corridor, a weaker man might have compromised on such excellent substitutes as Drum Major, Minor Major, Sergeant Major, or C. Sharp Major, but Major Major's father had waited fourteen years for just such an opportunity” (84). I understand that Major Major’s dad is meant to be absurd, but I still do not like him. Two, he was checking out one of the young nurses right after his wife had given birth to their son. What the heck, man? Three, he is not at all upset about his wife dying because now he can date a younger, “bad tempered” girl. I was so excited to finally meet Major Major Major Major because my parents talk about his name more often than one might think. I feel very bad for him. “Because he needed a friend so desperately, he never found one” (85). This poor guy. He seems like a nice dude and he does try to befriend people, but everyone turns away from him. It is similar to the Texan in the first chapter who seems nice enough, but no one likes him. Although, I feel like Major Major makes a more compelling case for someone one would want to befriend.
2. I think he is fed up with the army and does not want to die fighting in it. Yossarian says to Major Major, “Some people are getting killed and a lot more are making money and having fun. Let somebody else get killed” (103). He hates not being in control of his life. Free will, right back to SH-5. He also hates the bureaucratic system that controls whether he lives or dies and that idea of someone who is a little higher in command making that call for him.
3. I loved the scene where Major Major wants to play basketball, but knows that it will not be a fun game if the soldiers know it is him because he is their commanding officer, so he puts on a very bad disguise. “The dark glasses had large magenta rims. The false black mustache was a flamboyant organ-grinder's, and he wore them both to the basketball game one day when he felt he could endure his loneliness no longer. He affected an air of jaunty familiarity as he sauntered to the court and prayed silently that he would not be recognized. The others pretended not to recognize him, and he began to have fun” (97). The image that comes to mind of this man is one of utter absurdity. It kind of makes sense that he would want to be in disguise because he does not want to be treated differently and just wants to be one of “the boys,” but this is clearly an absurdly bad disguise.
I really hated Major Major’s dad. I just don’t think he ever thought about the repercussions of what his actions did to other people. He named his son Major Major Major for christ sake! I just feel like he is very immature and didn’t really take anything seriously, along with being selfish, saying that God gave us two hands to take as much as we could. As for Major Major, I felt like he just grew up in a very bad situation and environment that shaped him to who he is now. It is sad to see his depression and loneliness, as no one wants to interact with him.
ReplyDeleteYossarian has finally come to the realization of his situation. He understands he is afraid, and finally decides to take action on it. He knows that the cycle will be endless if he doesn’t take action on it. There will always be more missions to fly, endless fighting, and constant death. The only way to get out is to go home as an order. Yossarian has now come to a conclusion and won't back down until it becomes a reality.
My favorite paradox in this chapter was when he was telling the soldier to never come to his trailer to ask questions unless he was sure that he wasn’t there. But if he wasn’t sure, he would have to assume that he was there and go away. That’s one way to get alone time! In a ssense, it is so clever, each and every paradox. It reminds me of a heads and tails game: heads I win, tails, you lose. Either way, you would win.
If you look in my book on the first page of Chapter Nine, the first note on the page just says, “dick”, which about sums up what I think of Major Major’s dad. (This working-from-home business is really eroding my profanity filter.) Specifically, I was referring to the incident where he lied to his bedbound wife about his son’s name for the sake of a joke. He strikes me as a self-centered, hypocritical man who doesn’t hesitate to exploit others, which doesn’t make him much different at all from many characters in this book. However, for some reason, he bugged me even more. Perhaps it was his level of unrepentant immaturity. In terms of Major Major, he seems to have, as a reaction, become the exact opposite. He is so biddable and obedient that everyone hates him for trying so hard to be likable. Honestly, I found him to be a more pitiable character than anything else, and was legitimately surprised by how not annoyed I was. His utter incompetency and helplessness and his unfortunate promotion highlights another side of these hierarchies: what being in power feels like for someone who is utterly unsuited to it, but whom the systems say is in charge anyways.
ReplyDeleteI think Yossarian would have basically always rather have quit than continue fighting. Even when you look at his motivation for becoming an aviation cadet, it’s because he would have a longer training period and he was hoping the war would be over by the time he had to deploy. Not unreasonably, he puts survival above all else and always has because there is no meaning to him dying in war as opposed to the next guy over dying. I honestly think Major Major finds Yossarian’s points to be uncomfortably logical, but through his sheer by-the-book mentality and total incompetence in all matter, he cannot decide to help Yossarian, instead going with the route of least resistance. It’s less that Major Major wants to win the war, and more that that’s what you’re supposed to want. Major Major is basically an echo chamber. He doesn’t disagree with Yossarian, but through his mediocrity, can’t help him either.
I loved the bit with the two CID agents, where, thinking that they are the sole investigators in the scenario, end up suspecting each other instead and chasing after each other as prime suspects.