Greed for power and money in Catch-22Although Catch-22 is a novel entirely set in war, the book uses comedy to emphasize the physical and emotional pain of war. The novel shows us how people are changed by war and how their goals change through different experiences. Many of the people in the book are disgusted by their commanding officers and the conditions around them. Joseph Heller served in the war and witnessed crazy events and met strange people like the ones in the book. Reading the novel, we can see that he strongly disliked war. There are many themes in the novel, two of the main themes are greed for power and money. The greed for power is a major theme in Catch-22. There are many characters who push others aside for their own gain of power. Perhaps the best-known power-hungry character in the book is Colonel Cathcart. Colonel Cathcart desperately wants to become a major. If he gets promoted, he will have a lot more power, and power is what he wants. Cathcart constantly increases the number of missions that pilots and bombardiers must complete to be discharged. Cathcart raises missions to appeal to commanding officers. The men vehemently hate Cathcart for doing this because it changes their lives. Every time they think they are close to being free from the war, he increases the missions and ruins their plans. The problem with Cathcart is that he is competitive and only thinks about how he is doing compared to how others are doing. He knew that almost all men his age were not majors, so his only goal was to become a major at the young age of 36. He would do anything to those below him to gain major status. paper ......wire plating between men's wrists and hips. He wanted to surgically install copper cables so that the men wouldn't move their arms during the march, but he forgot about it only after realizing that the cable and the surgery would cost too much and the men couldn't fall over drunk at the end of the march . Scheisskopf viewed the men as toy soldiers that he could manipulate in any way so that he could be the greatest march coordinator ever. He wanted to manipulate them just so he could become famous and rise through the ranks to become a general. There are many themes in Catch 22, two of the main themes are greed for power and money. The greed for power and money takes control of many men in this novel. These men show up to send a clear message. Heller is saying that war is a terrible thing because it corrupts people and confuses them.