The novel’s events span 1942-1944, but the narrative is nonlinear, and the story opens in 1944. Captain John Yossarian is a 28-year-old bombardier in the United States Army Air Force during World War II. While stationed in Italy, he’s admitted himself to the hospital with an invented liver problem, wanting to evade flying missions. Though he is apparently healthy, Yossarian is permitted to stay in the hospital because the confused doctors cannot disprove his sickness. Yossarian and the other officers spend their time censoring the homeward bound mail of the enlisted soldiers. Yossarian turns the censorship into a game to “break the monotony” (16), signing the letters with fake signatures and invented identities. He spends the rest of his time “cultivating boredom” (17) with his friend Dunbar and avoiding the attention of the nurses who dislike him. One day, a man from Texas is admitted to the hospital. The Texan is very patriotic (and classist), and his proclamations about politics and the war grate on the others on the ward. Yossarian and Dunbar mock his views.

One patient on the ward is a soldier, wrapped entirely in bandages, who lies completely still. This soldier seems to be the most tolerant of the Texan, as he remains quiet as the Texan yammers at him.