Old Man in Rome
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The Old Man in Rome is a minor fictional character in the novel Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
He is an elderly man who runs a whorehouse in Rome, and is beloved by the girls that service soldiers from Yossarian's unit.
The old man's politics infuriate Lieutenant Nately, who believes whole-heartedly in loyalty and patriotism. The old man, however, believes whole-heartedly in whoever has power at the moment. He supported the Italians when they ran the country, the Germans when a puppet government was installed and after Italy was liberated he supported the Americans. Nately is incensed by the old man's lack of loyalty, but cannot refute the man's argument that he will outlast whoever is in power because of the way he changes loyalty so easily. The old man can be considered a model and a symbol for a successful politician, as his ideological stance is as easy to nail down as water. As such he can move with the times and exploit the situation for his good. His age, 107, can also be interpreted as how long (metaphorically) a politician's reign in office will be if he becomes as fluid as this.
The Old man reminds Nately of his father because the two were nothing at all alike, and Nately thinks he is an uncouth bum, a boor, and utterly repellent. The old man also believes that Italy will last longer than America because it keeps losing wars.
In addition to the interpretation of the old man as a metaphor for an ideal politician presented above he can also be seen as a representative of Eastern philosophy in the midst of the West. He is particularly evocative of the Daoist philosophy of Zhuangzi, who advocated a philosophy of yielding to power and reveling in weakness in many ways similar to that presented by the old man. In this interpretation the old man is not a cynical force, exploiting the beliefs of others to his advantage, but as a someone in tune with the inherently unfixed nature of the universe and the subjective nature of beliefs. When interpreted this way, the old man becomes even more of a counter-point to the youthful yet certain Nately.
This also allows a reinterpretation of Nately's association of the old man with his own father. Daoism explicitly recognizing the oneness of all things and delights in pointing out the fundamental similarities in even the most disparate principles and objects.
However, even this old cynical survivor dies when subject to Catch-22 (when the MPs raid his brothel).
The Old Man is also the one that gave Major —— de Coverly his eyepatch, due to his throwing a flower at de Coverly during the liberation parade of Rome.
