Chapter 39 "The Eternal City" Summary

Yossarian wants to find the kid sister. Milo flies an AWOL Yossarian back to Rome, berating him all the while for shirking his duty. Rome is in ruins. In the smashed remains of the brothel, Yossarian speaks to a despairing, solitary old woman. She tells Yossarian that the military police came, smashed everything, turned all the girls out into the cold, and wouldn't even allow them to take their coats. When Yossarian asks why this has happened, the old woman responds with "Catch-22. Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing" (416).

Hearing the now-familiar axiom, Yossarian is both horrified and embittered. Hoping to find the kid sister, Yossarian momentarily enlists the aid of Milo, but, ever the capitalist, Milo soon abandons him to pursue profit in illegal tobacco...