Nately

Nately is a sensitive, rich, good-looking young bombardier in the 256th Squadron, barely nineteen years old, whose trusting eyes and gentle nature mark him as an innocent in the savage world of Pianosa. He comes from a family of immense old money—his mother is a Daughter of the American Revolution, his father a Son of a Bitch—and has been raised to detest climbers and pushers, though he has never learned how, having never been permitted near them. His childhood was pleasant and disciplined; he got on well with his brothers and sisters and did not hate his mother and father, even though they had both been very good to him. This untroubled background makes him, in Yossarian's estimation, proof of just how crazy he really is.

Life and Plot Trajectory

Nately's life in the squadron is defined by two consuming passions: his love for a bored, indifferent Roman prostitute and his earnest, increasingly desperate patriotism. He first sees her sitting naked from the waist down in the enlisted men's apartment, ignored by the card players, and is deeply moved by her heroic poise. He slips out behind her, and from that moment he is hopelessly in love. He spends his pay—and the lucrative allowance from his wealthy father—at twenty dollars an hour just to be with her, and when he runs out of money, he borrows from Yossarian, Dunbar, and Hungry Joe. His courtship is a long, heartbreaking ordeal of rejection, until she finally falls in love with him after a good night's sleep. He then becomes a romantic idiot, wanting them all to fall in love and get married, forbidding her to go streetwalking, and trying to reform the entire brothel.

His patriotism is equally intense. He argues passionately with the cynical old man in the brothel, insisting that America will win the war and that it is better to die on one's feet than live on one's knees. The old man mocks him, pointing out that Italy has been losing wars for centuries and doing splendidly, and that the real trick lies in knowing which wars can be lost. Nately is appalled by this logic but cannot refute it. When Colonel Cathcart raises the number of missions to seventy, Nately, who has already finished his tour, volunteers to fly more rather than be sent home and separated from his whore. Colonel Korn tells him he must fly more missions or be sent home, and Nately, with a crooked smile, agrees, saying he doesn't want to go home until he can take her back with him.

Key Actions and Objectives

Nately's central objective is to stay overseas with the woman he loves, and this single-minded devotion makes him a tool for Colonel Cathcart and Colonel Korn. When Milo Minderbinder, seeking to avoid flying his own missions, tells Colonel Cathcart that Nately will do anything to remain overseas, Cathcart seizes on the opportunity. He raises the missions to eighty, knowing Nately will follow. Nately's willingness to fly is not courage but a form of desperate love, and it is exploited ruthlessly. He also tries to protect his friends, restraining Yossarian from attacking Colonel Korn at the officers' club and running after him on Thanksgiving night to stop him from seeking revenge on the men firing a machine gun as a prank. It is during this chase that Yossarian, in a blind rage, punches Nately in the face, breaking his nose and sending him to the hospital.

Relationships and Conflict

Nately's primary relationship is with his whore, a tall, firm, voluptuous girl who is initially bored and indifferent. He worships her, and she eventually returns his love, but their relationship is fraught with conflict. She refuses to obey his commands to keep her clothes on or stop hustling, and she is furious when he tries to forbid her from speaking to the old man. Her kid sister, a precocious twelve-year-old, is a constant, jealous intruder. Nately also clashes with the cynical old man, who reminds him of his father and whose unpatriotic views he finds deeply offensive. Among his fellow airmen, he is a loyal friend, especially to Yossarian, though his naivety often exasperates them. He is also the target of Captain Black, who deliberately buys Nately's whore just to torment him.

Change and Ending

Nately's death is sudden and meaningless. On the mission to La Spezia, his plane is involved in a mid-air collision with Dobbs's plane, which chews off its tail and drops like a rock. There are no parachutes. Nately is killed instantly. His death triggers a chain of consequences: his whore, upon hearing the news, tries to kill Yossarian, whom she blames; the chaplain is devastated; and Yossarian, who had already refused to fly more missions, is driven further toward his final break with the system. Nately's death is the final proof that the system consumes the innocent as readily as the cynical.

Narrative Role and Evaluation

Nately functions as a foil to Yossarian's survival instinct and as a tragic illustration of how the military-industrial complex exploits idealism. He is a flat character in Forster's sense—built around a single idea of romantic love and patriotic duty—but his fate is central to the novel's moral argument. His death is not heroic but wasteful, a direct result of Colonel Cathcart's ambition and his own inability to see that the system he trusts is using him. The novel mourns him not as a fallen hero but as a good kid who never had a chance. His loss is one of the final blows that convinces Yossarian that the only sane response is to run.