Examples of Morale as a Weapon in Catch-22
In the novel Catch-22, Joseph Heller satirizes morale and its use as a weapon by making all of the attacks on morale come from within the allied forces, Examples of this include.
- Milo Killing Snowden
- McWatt killing Kid Sampson
- McWatt's suicide
- Poisoning food to avoid missions
- Moving the bomb line before a mission
- Consistent raising of mission numbers
- Great Loyalty Oath Brigade
- Captain Flume
- And Many More
The Deaths of Kid Sampson and McWatt
The death of Kid Sampson is caused by McWatt attempting to scare Yossarian by flying above the beach, and because of Kid Sampson jumping from a raft, he was shredded, and scattered across the beach. To everyone watching they saw someone dying in front of them which they could do nothing to stop thus undermining what the soldiers are working to do, also to exacerbate things McWatt pilots his plane into a cliff
M & M Enterprises
M&M Enterprises plays a major role in attacking the morale of Yossarian and others as shown when Milo sells information to Germany, thus killing Snowden, Taking the morphine from military first aid kits and even attempting to feed Yossarian chocolate covered cotton. Milo's greed leads him to take anything, important or not, and sell it for money.