precise machine. This reflects society's insane obsession with order and conformity, even at the cost of individuality and humanity. A further example of such dehumanizing absurdity occurs at the hospital. Yossarian has suffered a leg injury and is told to take better care of his leg because it is government property. Soldiers, therefore, are not even people, but simply property that can be listed on an inventory. In a bureaucracy, as Heller shows, individuality does not matter.
             Maybe the most absurd character in the novel is Colonel Cathcart. He continually raises the number of missions for no other reason than personal prestige. Though he achieves nothing by this, he continually persists. Cathcart's absurd drive for prestige is again emphasized in the Saturday Evening Post incident. He tries to copy another squadron's prayer meetings, not for morale, but for the absurd thought that he will be featured in the Saturday Evening Post. Even his reason for not going forward is absurd; he refuses to accept the enlisted men praying to the same God as the officers. Perhaps Cathcart's most ridiculously absurd action is his "List". Ultimately, his career is measured out in "Black Eyes" and "Feathers in His Cap" rather than in success, morale, or human life. Cathcart remains one of the novel's funniest characters, but his essential inhumanity and selfishness creates an equally contemptible character. Cathcart presents another example of Heller's beaut!
             iful weaving of comedy and tragedy.
             Final examples of the horrifically humorous absurdity of the novel are the death scenes. Clevinger is the first to make his departure, flying into a cloud and never returning. The unreasonable logistics of his demise are certain to garner laughs. Likewise, Kid Sampson's gruesome death at the blades of a propeller-- followed by McWatt's suicide-- is sadistically funny. The absurdity of Dunbar being "disappeared" cloaks its awful truth. Even l...