Some descriptions from the novel 'Catch-22'

[Haihao]

Hi,

Could you help me with:

[NinaZara]

Hi Haihao(genki?)

I think in number 3, "strikes" has something to do with unlucky things that have happened to somebody.

And number 4, maybe, just maybe, "drizzly glare" refers to "not so much sunlight". It is 3 o'clock in the morning. No matter where, I bet there will never be scorching sunlight at 3 in the morning.

And sorry, I can only understand the underlined sentence in number 1 and 2 halfway.

Nina

PS As always, love your questions. They wake up my sleepy eyes all the time.(Oyasumi! It's 0:27 as I'm writing this. I'm leaving for Tokyo tomorrow, maybe I'll check the new complex you told me before. BTW, I'm going to see the movie POTC 4, have you seen it?)

[Haihao]

Hi Nina,

Glad to see you again. I'm genki. How about you?

I feel your answers are quite right. They gave much insight as well. I am now trying to take a catch of 'Catch-22', a famous 1960's American novel. Welcome to Tokyo! :) Actually I haven't seen POTC 4 yet. My time is all given to 'Catch-22' these days. :(

Talk to you later.

Haihao

[Jamie (K)]

[Haihao]

Thank you so much again, Jamie! I am now so released from these interesting but difficult sentences with your help! It's really beneficial.

It's so shameful keeping forgetting baseball as a citizen of a baseball-player-output nation. :)

I checked up the long sentence again but it was what I had quoted before. Let me quote it again and make a suggestion. Could you be with me once more and help me out?

[Jamie (K)]

I have to go to work now, but your first problem is that you have mistaken the word "gut" (meaning belly) for the word "gutter". It sounds like two people are fighting on the floor, and one kicks the other in the stomach with his knee.

Somehow, the guy gets hit in the chin from down there too.

To "sandbag" means to make someone think that you can't or won't attack him, and then attacking him. Or it can mean pretending that you aren't skilled enough to win a contest, and then very easily winning it.

[Haihao]

Hi Jamie,

Thanks again. I think I am gradually catching up with this Catch-22 with your help! :) Let me give a try again to rewrite it this way:

Justice is like a knee with which one kicks the other in the stomach and on the chin from the floor at night sneakily along with a knife which is brought up from the magazine of a battleship down below thus the stomach and the chin are attacked severely or unjustly underhand in the dark without a word of warning.

Does it make a little more sense?

Thank you!

Haihao

[Jamie (K)]

Yes, that makes more sense than the original sentence.

[Haihao]

Thank you so very much!

[Pedro B.]

Hi Haihao!
I just finished this novel for the second time, it's one of my favorites, and this quote in particular I've always thought to be hilarious in it's incongruity. I think it's pointless to try to interpret this jumbled heap of nonsense spurting from Colonel Cathcart's mouth, and we're missing the point of the phrase in trying to. How could this phrase possibly describe the concept of justice? It cannot, and that's exactly the point.
You said it best, Haihao, when you said that this absurdly convoluted heap of violent images was written by Joseph Heller to shed light on Catchart's complete incompetence and stupidity, and that his notion of justice is a brutally myopic conception of the idea. Instead of a straightforward response, he blurts out a series of obscure, violent words that only help the reader to realize that Cathcart is a very brutal, very STUPID Colonel, yet, horribly, has the almost undisputed power to raise the missions the men in his squadron have to fly as many times as he deems necessary.
Remember that this novel is a rather macabre war satire, and many things should not be taken seriously. The genius of Heller's Catch-22, or at least the impact it cause on me, was the sudden, completely unexpected scenes of sheer terror and gratuitous violence in juxtaposition with moments of easy going absurdity and comedy, often separated merely with a paragraph or even a phrase. But cest la vie, non?

[Pedro B.]

I just realized how old this thread is. Sorry about that admins! I googled the quote and found this page and thought I'd write a post real quick. Sorry if I bumped this up unnecessarily!
-Pedro

[Haihao]

No problem, Pedro, I still like the novel. Its "sudden, completely unexpected scenes of sheer terror and gratuitous violence in juxtaposition with moments of easy going absurdity and comedy" may have inherited the trend of the stream of consciousness in writings around the beginning of the 20th century. If interested, you can run your eyes over more such as by Faulkner, Joyce, etc., real works of genius.
-Haihao

[Beeesneees]

Hello Haihao,

This is a pleasant surprise. Have you been lurking here, or did a notification of a response to one of your threads bring you back? Either way, it's good to 'see' an old face back on the forum.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Haihao]

Hi Bev,

It's really nice and pleasant to have your word! Actually I was quite busy working before the quake. I am fine but not without problems recently... I thought this morning that I should have at least told my friends here I was all right, and found a very old thread awaiting my response! I missed you all very much but may have to miss you still more for some time 'cause I have a lot to do... Don't worry, however, I live far away enough from those power plants, but I have things to do to help rebuild my country.

Thank you, Bev, and please tell others I am fine if needed.

All the best,

Haihao

[Beeesneees]

I'm glad to hear that you and your family were unharmed by recent events. I hope the other problems you are facing will pass soon and you'll find enough time to call in here now and again.
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Cheers m' dears!