Catch-22

As the novel opens, its protagonist, Captain John Yossarian, is in the squadron hospital, on the island of Pianosa, during the latter stages of World War II. Yossarian has a temperature of 101 degrees and complains of liver pains. The doctors suspect that he suffers from jaundice, but because they can't establish that, they treat Yossarian for constipation. If they are able, hospitalized officers are required to devote a certain amount of time to censoring enlisted men's letters home, a boring task that Yossarian makes more interesting in inventive ways. The author uses these first chapters to introduce some of the characters, most notably Yossarian, Chaplain Tappman, the "soldier in white," the Texan, Dunbar, Clevinger, and Appleby.