Lieutenant Nately - Definition

Lieutenant Nately is a character in Joseph Heller's war novel Catch-22.

He starts off the book as a 19 year old lieutenant, who came from a very rich and respected family. His family originally enlisted him to serve in the Air Corps because he would, according to their calculations, not see the war because they believed that it would be over by the time he finished his training, and during his training mingle with "gentlemen". Therefore, Nately could gain the pride of enlisting without actually having to fight. Instead, he mingled with Yossarian and Dunbar, and was sent overseas. His most notable contribution to the book is his involvement with a whore, who is for the most part uninterested in him until he gave her some time to sleep. He is often filled with American optimism, shown by his desire to marry his "whore" and send her kid sister to a respected American college. However, he is killed on a mission over La Spezia.