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Major Major Major Major is a fictional character in the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. He has the surname Major, and at birth his father gave him the given name Major, and the middle name Major. The novel presumes this was a joke on his father's part, and notes that it is not a particularly funny one.
Inducted during World War II, he is promoted from the rank of Private to the rank of Major while still in boot camp, without any officer training. This is either through a computer error, or as the story puts it, a computer's sense of humor on par with his father's.
Throughout the novel, it is revealed that he can never be promoted or demoted, because, for dubious reasons, he must always remain Major Major Major Major.
Woefully unprepared to be an officer, he spends most of his time avoiding members of his command. He often enters and exits his office via the window. Yossarian successfully confronts him by meeting him at the window. As the novel progresses, the character develops to show he is not as helpless as it would initially appear.
His father, mentioned only briefly in the novel, is also interesting. He is one of the richest farmers in his home community, while at the same time he did not grow any crops. He earned his money from a farm subsidy granted for not growing crops — and used the money to buy up more farmland to leave fallow. He often preaches that being given money for performing no work is divinely ordained. He preaches the famous phrase, "You reap what you sow,", a very ironic phrase to use when he in fact reaped (was paid) what he did not sow (that is, alfalfa).
All told, MAJ Major M. Major and his father add to the theme, present thoughout the novel, highlighting the absurdity of a bureaucracy.
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