Appleby

Appleby is a fair-haired, supremely competent pilot and ping-pong player from Iowa who believes in God, Motherhood and the American Way of Life without ever thinking about any of them. He functions as Yossarian's foil: a model officer who obeys every regulation, wins every game, and never questions authority, yet whose very perfection makes him a target of Yossarian's contempt and a symbol of the military's unthinking, mechanical ideal.

Identity and Background

Appleby is introduced as a man who does everything well. He is as good at shooting crap as he is at playing ping-pong, and as good at playing ping-pong as he is at everything else. He is a fair-haired boy from Iowa, and everybody who knows him likes him. This universal likability is precisely what Yossarian cannot stand. "I hate that son of a bitch," Yossarian growls at the officers' club, a sentiment that baffles Clevinger, who points out that Appleby isn't even present. Appleby's competence extends to skeet shooting, where he never misses, while Yossarian never hits. Even when Yossarian cheats at gambling, he cannot win, because the people he cheats against—including Appleby—are always better at cheating too.

The Flies in His Eyes

Orr tells Yossarian that Appleby has flies in his eyes, which is why he cannot see things as they really are. Yossarian, taking Orr's word for it, decides to pass the information along as a good deed. "Appleby, you've got flies in your eyes," he whispers helpfully as they pass in the doorway of the parachute tent. Appleby is thrown into confusion and later asks Havermeyer to check. Havermeyer, after peering closely, reports that he sees no flies. Appleby heaves an immense sigh of relief. The episode encapsulates Appleby's literal-mindedness and his inability to grasp the metaphorical, subversive world Yossarian inhabits.

The Atabrine Insurrection and the Chain of Command

Appleby is a stickler for regulations. On the flight overseas, he orders Kraft to order Yossarian to take his Atabrine tablets after Yossarian and Appleby have stopped talking to each other. This incident, which Yossarian calls the Splendid Atabrine Insurrection, begins in Puerto Rico and ends ten days later in Pianosa when Appleby strides dutifully into the orderly room to report Yossarian for refusing his medication. The sergeant there invites him to be seated and explains the labyrinthine rules of Major Major's office—that Major Major never sees anyone while he is in his office. Appleby, confused but obedient, eventually writes down his report and leaves, wondering if perhaps Yossarian is not the only crazy officer.

Ping-Pong, Violence, and the Limits of Order

Appleby's prowess on the ping-pong table is legendary. Twenty-one serves are all it ever takes for him to disgrace another opponent. He wins every game he starts until the night Orr gets tipsy on gin and juice and smashes open Appleby's forehead with his paddle after Appleby has smashed back each of Orr's first five serves. Orr leaps onto the table and comes sailing off the other end with both feet planted squarely in Appleby's face. Pandemonium breaks loose. When Appleby disentangles himself and draws back his fist to smite Orr dead, Yossarian steps forward and takes Orr away from him. It is a night of surprises for Appleby, who is as large as Yossarian and as strong, and who swings at Yossarian as hard as he can. The punch misses its intended target but floods Chief White Halfoat with such joyous excitement that he turns and busts Colonel Moodus in the nose, an act that fills General Dreedle with mellow gratification.

Change and Ending

Late in the novel, after Yossarian has refused to fly more missions, Appleby approaches him in the dark, hiding behind a tree. He warns Yossarian that Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn are bluffing about a court-martial. He apologizes for their fist fight, admitting it was Orr's fault for hitting him with the ping-pong paddle. He confesses that he told Colonel Korn and Colonel Cathcart that he did not think they ought to make Yossarian fly any more missions, and that they said they were very disappointed in him. "I don't feel too happy about flying so many missions either now that it looks as though we've got the war won," he whispers. He hopes Yossarian gets away with it. This late moment of doubt and solidarity reveals a crack in Appleby's perfect facade, a brief, human hesitation that the system he embodies cannot tolerate.

Narrative Role and Thematic Significance

Appleby is a flat character in E. M. Forster's sense: he is built around a single idea—the perfect, unquestioning officer—and is instantly recognizable. He represents the military's ideal product: a man who obeys orders, performs flawlessly, and never asks why. Yossarian's hatred of him is not personal but ideological; Appleby is the enemy within, the man who makes the system work by never questioning it. His flies-in-the-eyes metaphor suggests that his very perfection is a form of blindness. He cannot see the absurdity, the danger, or the moral rot because his training has equipped him only to see the next order, the next game, the next regulation. His late, furtive sympathy for Yossarian is a flicker of the depressive position in Kleinian terms—a moment when the split between the good, obedient self and the bad, rebellious other begins to break down—but it comes too late and too privately to change anything. Appleby remains, to the end, a man who was always taught that he had to obey orders.