A comrade of Yossarian’s, Dunbar initially tries to prolong his life by seeking boredom (since time seems to go more slowly when you are bored). Dunbar eventually becomes disillusioned with the group’s bombing runs, especially after Cathcart demands they bomb an undefended village of civilians. Dunbar is later “disappeared” by military officials for his insubordination.
Dunbar Quotes in Catch-22
The Catch-22 quotes below are all either spoken by Dunbar or refer to Dunbar. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 4
Quotes
Chapter 34
Quotes
“They’re going to disappear him.”
“They’re what? What does that mean?”
“I don’t know. I heard them talking behind a door.”
. . .
“It doesn’t make sense. it isn’t even good grammar. What the hell does it mean when they disappear someone?”
Related Characters:
John “Yo-Yo” Yossarian (speaker), Nurses Duckett and Cramer (speaker), Dunbar
Related Symbols:
Catch-22
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Catch-22 LitChart as a printable PDF.
Dunbar Character Timeline in Catch-22
The timeline below shows where the character Dunbar appears in Catch-22. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: The Texan
Yossarian is in the hospital with Dunbar, another officer in the Army Air Force, who is attempting to lengthen his life by...
(full context)
The Texan, who has continued to be kind to everyone, so infuriates Yossarian, Dunbar, and the other patients that they all “magically” become cured (they were not really sick...
(full context)
Chapter 2: Clevinger
Yossarian and Dunbar feel happy to be free of the Texan, whose cheerfulness they find to be “sick.”...
(full context)
Chapter 4: Doc Daneeka
Dunbar and Clevinger, back in Pianosa, get into an argument about time. Dunbar says that it...
(full context)
Chapter 7: McWatt
Nately, Dunbar, and others take Yossarian’s uneaten fruit and give it to prostitutes in Rome, who sell...
(full context)
Chapter 10: Wintergreen
Dunbar gets into a discussion with another doctor, Stubbs, who is also charged with closing his...
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Dunbar is asking Stubbs for codeine, so he can give the codeine to Yossarian. Yossarian needs...
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Chapter 12: Bologna
...Chief White Halfoat shows up, drunk, driving Captain Black’s jeep, and tells Yossarian, Nately, and Dunbar to hop in—they’re going to go for a ride in the rain. Nately keeps reminding...
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Chapter 26: Aarfy
...recognize that Yossarian will survive the wound. Yossarian next wakes up in the hospital, where Dunbar is next to him, having taken the place of another wounded patient named A. Fortiori....
(full context)
Chapter 27: Nurse Duckett
Yossarian and Dunbar decide to play a practical joke on Nurse Duckett. As she is tending to him...
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...more, anxieties as the patients he is supposed to help. Yossarian recounts a dream that Dunbar had, about a fish, and the Major interrupts to complain about how lonely and difficult...
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...dreams, and when Yossarian says his fish dream is a sex dream, and is actually Dunbar’s dream, Sanderson believes that Yossarian has invented an imaginary friend name Dunbar. This excites Sanderson....
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...wound has turned out less serious than anticipated, is released back into the group with Dunbar, who has also recovered from his head injury during the Nurse Duckett incident.
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Chapter 29: Peckem
Dunbar, in particular, tells Korn, who stops by, that it would not be moral to kill...
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Chapter 30: Dunbar
Dunbar ends up dropping his bombs many yards away from the village, as does Yossarian. Dunbar...
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Chapter 33: Nately’s Whore
Nately, Yossarian, and Dunbar throw the officers’ clothing and identifying badges out the window onto the street; the officers...
(full context)
Chapter 34: Thanksgiving
Yossarian runs into Dunbar, who has also been seeking out the machine-gun culprit. Dunbar claims Sergeant Knight is responsible,...
(full context)
Nurse Duckett pulls Yossarian aside and claims that Dunbar will be “disappeared” by military authorities, perhaps because of his recent unwillingness to follow orders...
(full context)
Chapter 38: Kid Sister
...to Piltchard, Wren, Cathcart, and Korn. Cathcart suggests they disappear Yossarian, as they did with Dunbar, but Korn argues, instead, that they should send him on rest leave to Rome.
(full context)
