ore life-threatening missions. Throughout the novel, the bombardier Yossarian battles repeatedly with his superior officers over the dangerous number of missions to be flown. Each time the squadron raises the number of missions the men are required to fly, Yossarian's life becomes more threatened and his hospital visits increase in frequency and seriousness, until the final time involves a life-threatening wound. By escaping into the hospital, Worst of all, his friends are dying, and they are dying horribly- not to win the war, though, just for the insane purpose of helping a colonel become a general. Yossarian ties to speed up time, hoping he can remain in the hospital until the war is over and he can go home. For the reality of a pending death for Yossarian and the other men in the squadron becomes more of a reality as each day goes by. There is still a "dead man" in his tent. Yossarian watches Snowden die. He sees Kid Sampson get killed by a practical joke. "Yossarian was a lead bombardier who had been demoted because he no longer gave a damn whether he missed or not. He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt, and his only mission each time he went up was to come down alive" (38). It's only a matter of time until death overtakes Yossarian.
             As the novel progresses, the only way to keep track of a given point in time is by the number of missions the men are required to fly and if certain scenes have already occurred, such as Orr's disappearance and Snowden's death. With each repeating scene in the book, there exists a spiral from the comic to the tragic. Yossarian's sense of humor decreases as the comedy in each repeated scene becomes less farcical. An example of this pattern is the sequence of recollections Yossarian has about Snowden's death. As it is one of the most significant events, Sno
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