"Did you ever read the book Catch-22?"
Second-year resident Elliott Zaslow looks at me blankly.
"No."
I fight the urge to scold this young man for his ignorance. How can he not know about this favorite novel of my youth? A novel published over 30 years ago. I shift my hands slightly on the steering wheel. Increasingly, I am forced to recognize that the residents I teach are of a different generation from mine.
"Do you know what a catch-22 is?" I ask.
"Isn't it some kind of circular, unavoidable trap?"
At least he knows that much. I'm sure he's wondering what, if anything, this has to do with the home visit we are getting ready to make, but he remains politely silent.
"The hero of the book, Yossarian, wants out of the military in the worst way. He knows if he can be certified as crazy he can get
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
