Captain Aardvark
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Captain "Aarfy" Aardvark is a fictional character, a major
antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Catch-22 ''Catch-22'' is a satirical war novel by American author Joseph Heller. It was his debut novel. He began writing it in 1953; the novel was first published in 1961. Often cited as one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century, it ...
'' by
Joseph Heller Joseph Heller (May 1, 1923 – December 12, 1999) was an American author of novels, short stories, plays, and screenplays. His best-known work is the 1961 novel '' Catch-22'', a satire on war and bureaucracy, whose title has become a synonym for ...
. Aarfy is the plump
navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prim ...
in
Yossarian :''Also covered in this article are the characters Snowden and Yossarian's tentmates.'' Capt. John Yossarian is a fictional character, the protagonist of Joseph Heller's satirical 1961 novel ''Catch-22'' and its 1994 sequel '' Closing Time''. ...
's
B-25 The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served ...
, noted for being oblivious to incoming
flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...
, getting lost on missions, and his omnipresent
pipe Pipe(s), PIPE(S) or piping may refer to: Objects * Pipe (fluid conveyance), a hollow cylinder following certain dimension rules ** Piping, the use of pipes in industry * Smoking pipe ** Tobacco pipe * Half-pipe and quarter pipe, semi-circular ...
. His nickname "Aarfy" is an abbreviation of his surname, Aardvark.


Character sketch


Motivation

Aarfy is a social climber looking to work his way up into high society.


Goal(s)

Aarfy befriends
Nately Edward J. Nately III is a fictional character in Joseph Heller's satirical 1961 novel ''Catch-22''. Background information Nately starts off the book as a 19-year-old Lieutenant, who will be "twenty next January" and who came from a very rich and ...
because Nately's father is rich, and he hopes to work for him after the war. Aarfy perceives himself as moral and protects well-connected women from the sexual advances of other officers, looking for any possibility of self-advance within society. "Old Aarfy has never paid for it", he often says in reference to
prostitute Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-pe ...
s. He often and openly commits
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, and says he can tell which girl is "nice and clean" and which is not.


Relationships and conflict(s)

Yossarian :''Also covered in this article are the characters Snowden and Yossarian's tentmates.'' Capt. John Yossarian is a fictional character, the protagonist of Joseph Heller's satirical 1961 novel ''Catch-22'' and its 1994 sequel '' Closing Time''. ...
is constantly infuriated by Aarfy during missions, who appears to have no fear of flak and always gets in Yossarian's way when he is trying to get back to the escape hatch, away from the bombardier position in the nose. Aarfy tries to be friends with Nately, in the hope that his father will give Aarfy an important job after the war for this service. Nately realizes that Aarfy is a "climber," though, and sees the other officers more as his friends. Aarfy helps to protect women with social connections from the sexual advances of the other officers, much to their dismay, hoping that these connections will later be of use. Unlike the other officers, Aarfy is not willing to pay for sex with a prostitute, but perversely he has no regrets when he rapes and murders the innocent maid Michaela; when asked by Yossarian why he did not simply hire a prostitute, he repeats his common admonition that "Old Aarfy has never paid for it", and shows no remorse.


Epiphany

When Yossarian starts to convince Aarfy that he will have to pay for the rape and murder of Michaela, for the first time in the novel he loses his composure and shows fear. His fear is not realized, though, as when the police arrive, they instead arrest Yossarian for going
AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
and not Aarfy. His reprehensible actions are therefore vindicated and he can be satisfied that the system is there to protect him.


Biographical summary


Actions in ''Catch-22''


On mission

During dangerous missions Yossarian always shouts at Aarfy to get out of the way so he can get to the escape hatch. Aarfy always replies that he can not hear him, infuriating Yossarian even more, and no matter how loud Yossarian shouts, Aarfy never can hear him (except when he says "never mind"). On one mission Yossarian gets so upset he punches Aarfy, but to no effect as his body fat absorbs all the blows. Yossarian's frustration with Aarfy is never vented and he always gives up, leaving Aarfy to carry on regardless. He nearly gets himself and his comrades killed several times while getting lost on mission: *Over
Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...
, when Yossarian went round a second time to bomb the bridge and
Kraft Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...
and his plane's crew were killed. *On a
milk run A milk run, milk round, or milk route is the fixed route taken to pick up milk from dairy farmers, or to deliver milk to consumers, as part of a milk delivery system. In extended usage, it may be a transportation service that has many stops. Metap ...
to
Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
, where Aarfy led the planes over the city of
Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...
and Yossarian got hit in the leg by
flak Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-bas ...
. *With
Colonel Cathcart Colonel Cathcart is a character in Joseph Heller's novel '' Catch-22'' (1961) and the novel's ''de facto'' main antagonist. A full colonel, he is a group commander at a U.S. Army Air Forces base in Pianosa and is obsessed with becoming a general ...
, where the plane almost got shot down. Aarfy is so heedless of his own personal safety and the well-being of others that it always astounds him when they become angry at him.


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 Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the Anglo–Scottish border, English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and ...
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.


Fraternity life

Aarfy views women as purely a means to an end, whether it is for sex or for social connections. He advises Nately that if he wants to keep his prostitute in the apartment in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
one night, then pay for them to stay till after curfew and then they will be obliged to stay and do what ever they want. He gives an example when he has done this before in his fraternity days: :“I remember one day we tricked two dumb high-school girls from town into the fraternity house and made them put out for all the fellows there who wanted them by threatening to call up their parents and say they were putting out for us. We kept them trapped in bed for more than ten hours. We even smacked their faces a little when they started to complain. Then we took away their nickels and dimes and chewing gum and threw them out.”


Michaela

Toward the end of the novel, Aarfy rapes and murders a maid, Michaela, while on leave in Rome. This inadvertently forms the emotional center of the novel. When an aghast Yossarian tells him that he will be arrested and possibly
executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
, Aarfy laughs dismissively that no one would do that to "good old Aarfy":
:"But I only raped her once!" he explained. :Yossarian was aghast. "But you killed her, Aarfy! You killed her!" :"Oh, I had to do that after I had raped her," Aarfy replied in his most condescending manner. "I couldn't very well let her go around saying bad things about us, could I?" :"But why did you have to touch her at all, you dumb bastard?" Yossarian shouted. "Why couldn't you get yourself a girl off the street if you wanted one? The city is full of prostitutes." :"Oh, no, not me," Aarfy bragged. "I never paid for it in my life."
His insouciant view is vindicated when the police arriving on the scene show no interest in Aarfy and instead arrest Yossarian for going
AWOL Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which ...
.


Major themes


Catch-22

Yossarian's frustration with Aarfy during missions is analogous to his frustration with "Catch-22," whereby no matter how loud he shouts or hard he fights he can not affect Aarfy, who carries on regardless. Similarly one can not fight "Catch-22." Aarfy's character exemplifies the perversity of a society and culture governed by Catch-22s that ultimately serve to protect the powerful. Other, more considerate members of the squadron suffer ignominious or horrible fates while he—merely oblivious and inconsiderate for most of the novel—faces no negative consequences even when his self-absorption drives him to murder. In his reactions to flak, and to rape and murder, Aarfy demonstrates complete insanity. Hence he survives and prospers in a completely insane world.


Attitude towards women

Unlike the other officers, most notably Yossarian and Hungry Joe, Aarfy does not outwardly show any signs of lust in the novel. He generally sees women as objects of distaste (as in the prostitutes the officers pay for) or as a means for social climbing. Although he believes that he is showing them due courtesy, he is not actually respecting these women for who they are, but just using them as a means to an end.


Portrayals

In
Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Igor Mikhail Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theatre director and comedian. He worked across a range of genres and had an aptitude for getting the best out of actors regardless of ...
' 1970 film adaptation of the novel, Aarfy is played by
Charles Grodin Charles Sidney Grodin (April 21, 1935 – May 18, 2021) was an American actor, comedian, author, and television talk show host. Known for his deadpan delivery and often cast as a put-upon straight man, Grodin became familiar as a supporting acto ...
. In the 2019 Hulu miniseries, he is played by
Rafi Gavron Raphael Pichey Gavron (born 24 June 1989) is a British actor. He had supporting roles in the films ''Breaking and Entering'' (2006), '' Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist'' (2008), '' A Star Is Born'' (2018), and the series ''Life Unexpected'' (20 ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aardvark Catch-22 characters Fictional military captains Fictional navigators Fictional rapists Fictional murderers Fictional United States Air Force personnel Male literary villains Male film villains