Catch-22
Milo Minderbender's "M&M Enterprises" epitomizes through only slight hyperbole a corrupt multinational corporation. Milo brazenly cheats and steals to keep M&M Enterprises alive while at the same time claiming that his business practices benefit all shareholders. Milo's stamping of the international air force planes with the M&M logo exhibits clearly the extent of his greed and power. Through the example of Milo Minderbender and M&M Enterprises, Joseph Heller darkly satirizes the American Dream, which began as an idealistic pursuit of individualism and personal financial abundance but which quickly deteriorated into a reckless display of avarice.
In some ways, M&M Enterprises is an overly cynical view of the American Dream, which does not necessarily entail the type of black market enterprising that Milo engages in. Milo acts without conscience, stealing from others and lying only so that he may amass greater profits and a larger share of economic power. While many American Dream tales do follow a similar pattern, there are examples of ethical corporations in the modern world. At the heart of many of these companies rests the soul of the American Dream: the ability of one man to rise from rags to riches.
However, Catch-22 and M&M Enterprises accurately sun up the dark side of the American Dream. For example, Milo claims that all shareholders in M&M benefit from the company's actions. Similarly, Enron claimed that all shareholders would benefit from company profits. Just as M&M became a huge player in the burgeoning global economy during the early twentieth century, all corporations founded on the American Dream became dominant in the world markets. M&M is an example of how the American Dream can really entail placing profit and the accumulation of wealth above all else, including human life and moral standards. Although many have interpreted the American Dream in less sinister ways, Heller's satire comes close to exemplifying the actions of modern multinational corporations that were based on what is commonly called the American Dream.
