A colonel who doesn't care about the lives of his men, a man whose memory haunts every moment and a boy who dies on the first day, these are the most important features of the novel Catch-22. Yossarian, the main character of Joseph Heller's novel, the entire military life is controlled by the life and death of the men around him. In a novel loaded with characters, Captain Yossarian and the novel's plot are governed by three men. Because the novel follows Yossarian and his experiences as a bombardier in World War II, these three men influence the plot more than any other characters in the book. Mudd, Snowden, and Colonel Cathcart are crucial characters who influence Yossarian's feelings towards the war and are crucial to the development of Catch-22's plot. Mudd is the first character who is extremely significant to the plot of Catch-22, because he is the constant reminder of Yossarian's death. Every morning Yossarian remembers that there is "a dead man in [his] tent that no one can throw away [and] his name is Mudd" (169). Yossarian literally wakes up dead. He sees it every time he enters his tent, because he is continually greeted with the belongings of a dead man. Mudd was just "the replacement pilot who had been killed in combat before officially reporting for duty" (107), as such he has no lines. The only contribution Mudd makes to the plot of the novel is his death. Yossarian never meets Mudd, however, his things haunt Yossarian in a way that nothing else in the book does. Possessed objects are a constant and annoying reminder that an unknown little boy is dead and that no one really seems to care. For Yossarian, Mudd embodies “the unknown soldier who never had a chance, because that was the only thing anyone ever did… middle of paper… how it becomes the corruption that they have to overcome. Cathcart is so caught up in his worries about getting promoted that he "doesn't give a damn about men" (138). All that matters is that he seems like a competent colonel, enough to hopefully become a general. Each of the three characters influences Yossarian and advances the plot of Heller's Catch-22 in a different way. Mudd is the triggerman. Enlightens Yossarian on the reality of death in war. Mudds possessions are a daily reminder of the tragedies of war. Snowden is the wound. His death festers inside Yossarian, and is what ultimately drives Yossarian to denounce the army and become insubordinate to its commands. He begins to contemplate his own mortality and the morality of his commanding officers. Cathcart is the one left with the gun in his hand. It is the complete corruption of the military, government and war.