Appleby (Catch-22)

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Appleby is a character in Joseph Heller's classic novel, Catch-22.

Appleby is a young pilot from Iowa. Orr does not like him, and cryptically says that he has "flies in his eyes", perhaps a reference to Orr's opinion of Appleby's moral character or motivation. He is described as being "as good at shooting craps as he was at playing ping-pong, and he was as good at playing ping-pong as he was at everything else."

Appleby tries to report Yossarian to Major Major for not taking his anti-malarial medicine, only to find that one can not enter the Major's office until he is out. Appleby's character appears to represent those who thrive to a certain extent within a bureaucratic system and feel threatened by others who do not play along as much as they would like them to. He follows regulations without question and does everything he is supposed to do, managing to succeed at whatever he does. For example, he always wins at ping-pong without giving up a single point, and as a result none of the other fliers in the squadron like him very much, although he can never figure out why; when confronted he is bewildered that anyone would be upset with him for always beating them at ping-pong, because he understands winning as what he is "supposed" to do.

Later, once Yossarian makes his stand and refuses to fly any more missions Appleby does slip away and reconcile with Yossarian. He apologizes for getting angry over Yossarian's earlier refusal to take his anti-malarial tablets, deciding that if Yossarian wanted to catch malaria that it was his own business and it had been wrong to try to interfere. This realization stands in contrast with Appleby's earlier actions when he blindly did everything by the rules and insisted that those around him should do likewise, without regards to how they might feel about the rules.