As Chapter 14 begins, it is clear that it will be discussing the topics of following the crowd vs. being independent, and of big, tyrannical government. Hitchens begins the chapter with a quote from the famous novel Catch-22 that states:
Major Danby replied indulgently with a superior smile, "But, Yosarian, what if everyone felt that way?"
"Then I'd certainly be a damned fool to feel any other way, wouldn't I?"
When I first read this, I felt sympathy towards Yosarian. Although I do believe that everyone should think for themselves, I thought that he made a point, that is, until I continued reading. Hitchens goes on to discuss that being the minority is not necessarily a bad thing, and although I do tell myself that, I have to stop being a hypocrite and follow through with it. He writes, "Those who need or want to think for themselves will always be a minority; the human race may be inherently individualistic and even narcissistic but in the mass it is quite easy to control. People have a need for reassurance and belonging." The last sentence is truly what hit me. We are all very different people with very different views and thoughts, so it is only natural that we would have many different opinions. Yet, we take such comfort in being part of a group and in having people that see things the way we do, that it sometimes brings us to alter our views. Hitchens ends the chapter with the perfect way to sum this up by saying "Joseph Heller knew how the need to belong, and the need for security, can make people accept lethal and stupid conditions, and then act as if they had imposed them on themselves."
Hitchens continues this discussion in Chapter 15. The very first paragraph stood out to me as he said, "Well, no, I don't think that the solidarity of belonging is much of a prize. I appreciate that it can bestow some pride, and that it can lead to mutual aid and even brother- and sisterhood, but it has too many suffocating qualities, and many if not most of the benefits can be acquired in other ways." As a sister in a sorority, this really made me think. I absolutely love the feeling of being in a sisterhood; of belonging to an organization bigger than myself. It does in fact give me pride to say that I am a part of it, and the bonds that I have built would not have been made if I had not joined. That being said, I understand where the author is coming from. Belonging to a mass does have some "suffocating" qualities, such as stereotyping. This is a problem our society continues to face, and it is, unfortunately, very easy to do when someone belongs to a large group. However, coming from someone who has experienced the negatives and positives of belonging to a mass, I do feel the the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, and that it does help to form relationships that you could not have otherwise formed. Overall, just like with most of this book, I am not black and white when it comes to agreeing or disagreeing with Christopher Hitchens.
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