![]() ![]() We also learn more about Aarfy's character. ![]() His philosophy is simple: Live and prosper and don't give a damn about principles. Nately's innocent devotion is sincere and in some ways admirable, but the licentious old man seems to win the argument. "And anything worth dying for," responds the sacrilegious old man, "is certainly worth living for." Nately counters that it's better to die on one's feet than live on one's knee the old man answers that it is better to live on one's feet. Anything worth living for, says Nately, is worth dying for. Nately is furious with the old man's cynicism but can offer only clichés in response. It was he, we learn, who hit Major _ de Coverley in the eye with a red rose as the Americans entered the city. The old man has welcomed the Italian Fascists, the German Nazis and now the Allies into Rome. "And Italy will win it." Italy already is doing better than the United States, the old man argues, because her soldiers are defeated and thus no longer dying. He argues that dying for one's country is a foolish enterprise. He is convinced that he is in love with a prostitute who is particularly callous except when it comes to her twelve-year-old sister, who is not yet in the profession. Nately is a sincere, innocent, thoughtful young man who has been raised with all the advantages except street smarts. One of the best known is the one between Nately and the old man at the brothel in Rome. ![]() Heller uses several debates in the novel to reveal character or to consider values. His deals with the Germans complicate life for the squadron and nearly ruin the syndicate. He marks out the swastikas and stencils in "M & M Enterprises, Fine Fruits and Produce." The "M & M" stands for Milo Minderbinder, of course but he thinks that initials make the syndicate look more widely controlled. On a typical day, he flies to England to pick up a load of Turkish halvah and returns by way of Madagascar with four Nazi bombers filled with fresh vegetables. Meanwhile, Milo's syndicate has become increasingly international. Nately and the old man discuss the nature of war and the meaning of life. Nately spends a great deal of money on the prostitute, eventually winding up at a tenement brothel with her, some of his friends, a "proliferating flow of supple young naked girls" and an "evil and debauched ugly old man" who seems to be in charge. For her part, the young woman is, at this point in the novel, indifferent toward her suitor and interested only in her profession. Lieutenant Nately is an ingenuous nineteen-year-old, from a privileged background, who is in love with a Roman prostitute whom he hopes to marry. ![]()
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