Social Climbing
Aarfy throughout the novel tries to befriend Nately, as a means of getting in favor with his wealthy father:
- "he had already fallen truly in love with Nately's father and the prospect of working for him after the war in some executive capacity as a reward for befriending Nately."
The irony is that Nately actually sees his friends as Yossarian, Orr, Hungry Joe and Dunbar whom his parents would not be impressed with, but equally his parents would not like Aarfy whom they would see as a “climber”.
The girls upstairs and the cameo woman – protects them from the sexual advances of the officers, not for his own pleasure, but because he sees them as women connected to important men who could help him out after the war.
Read more about this topic: Captain Aardvark, Biographical Summary, Actions in "Catch-22"
Famous quotes containing the words social and/or climbing:
“The infant’s first social achievement, then, is his willingness to let the mother out of sight without undue anxiety or rage, because she has become an inner certainty as well as an outer predictability.”
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“Art thou pale for weariness
Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,
Wandering companionless
Among the stars that have a different birth,”
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