As shown in Joseph Heller's Catch-22, modern warfare is depicted as gruesome and ruinous to society. This is illustrated in the novel through the protagonist Yossarian walking through wartime Rome and witnessing the rape of a woman, the beating of a child and a dog, and several teeth scattered across the pavement (ch. 39). This depiction is similar to that shown in the Iliad in that both show the devastating effects of war on civilians. However, while Homer encourages the audience to feel pity towards defenseless non-combatants, Heller argues that war has a dehumanizing effect on civilians and causes them to become monstrously violent. Another difference is that while warriors fight for honor and glory in the Iliad, honor and glory are irrelevant in today's war ethic and soldiers of each side fight primarily to survive both the enemy and their own military bureaucracy. This is represented in Catch-22 through Yossarian's numerous attempts to get out of flying bombing missions. Heller does not show Yossarian's cowardice in a negative light; rather, Heller shows it as reasonable. It also shows Yossarian's decision to abandon his army as a noble, as shown when Nately's whore's assassination attempt fails as he begins to escape (ch. 42). This contrasts directly with the Iliad where those who do not fight are considered dishonorable, as demonstrated by Hector and Helen's condemnation of Paris for his reluctance to fight (Book 6; 325-358). Therefore, these two examples show the disparity in the perception of war between the Homeric world and the modern world: while the Homeric world sees war as glorious despite its devastating effects, the modern world sees war as a destructive plague for