# Nat Wheeler — One of Ours character guide > Nat Wheeler in One of Ours by Willa Cather. **Role:** supporting **Also known as:** Mr. Wheeler, Wheeler **First appearance:** 0004-i ## Snapshot Claude's huge, good-humored father runs the farm with an easy jocularity that masks how casually he bends his son's plans to his own convenience. ## Who they are Nat Wheeler is the county's most imperturbable man, a broad, tobacco-stained farmer who never speaks with full seriousness and treats even his own family to the same easygoing jokes. When Claude begs for the car to drive to town, his father cheerfully assigns him the reeking steer hides and the hired men instead, a joke Claude feels as humiliation. That genial, unbothered authority shapes the household Claude is trying to escape, and it quietly explains the son's hunger for a life his father would never bother to imagine. ## Relationships ### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler) _family_ Claude resents his pragmatic, domineering father who dismisses his son's intellectual and emotional needs. ### [Mahailey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/mahailey) _professional_ Mahailey serves as the Wheelers' loyal, long-term servant, and Nat Wheeler treats her with casual authority. ### [Ralph Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/ralph_wheeler) _family_ Nat Wheeler favors his younger son Ralph, who is more practical and compliant, over the restless Claude. ### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler) _family_ Claude resents his pragmatic, domineering father who dismisses his son's intellectual and emotional needs. ### [Mahailey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/mahailey) _professional_ Mahailey serves as the Wheelers' loyal, long-term servant, and Nat Wheeler treats her with casual authority. ### [Claude Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/claude_wheeler) _family_ Claude resents his pragmatic, domineering father who dismisses his son's intellectual and emotional needs. ### [Ralph Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/ralph_wheeler) _family_ Nat Wheeler favors his younger son Ralph, who is more practical and compliant, over the restless Claude. ### [Mahailey](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/mahailey) _professional_ Mahailey serves as the Wheelers' loyal, long-term servant, and Nat Wheeler treats her with casual authority. ### [Ralph Wheeler](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/ralph_wheeler) _family_ Nat Wheeler favors his younger son Ralph, who is more practical and compliant, over the restless Claude. ## In the story ### [One of Ours](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/one-of-ours) Claude's father, a farmer who embodies the rural life Claude feels trapped by. ### [Book I: On Lovely Creek](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/book-i-on-lovely-creek) Claude's father, a successful farmer who embodies the pragmatic, unreflective rural life Claude resists. ### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/i) Claude's father, a large, easygoing man who enjoys driving around the country and interacting with neighbors. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iii) Drives to see neighbor Gus Yoeder after breakfast. ### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iv) Claude's father, who is jocular and sometimes cruel; he cut down the cherry tree as a practical joke and later refers Claude's school decision to Bayliss. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/vii) Briefly greets Claude and mentions football. ### [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xii) Mr. Wheeler reveals his trade for the Colorado ranch, plans to put Ralph in charge, and assigns Claude the responsibility of running the home farm. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xiii) Nat Wheeler packs his trunk and leaves to take Tom Wested back to Maine, returning later to find Ralph's expenditures excessive but ultimately accepting them. ### [XIV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xiv) Moves to the new ranch, jocosely refers to the field as 'Claude's wheat field'. ### [XVI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xvi) Nat returns home for the holidays and talks politics with Bayliss at dinner. ### [Chapter XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xvii) Mentioned as having left for the ranch in February due to trouble with his foreman. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iii) Present at the supper table when Enid joins the family. ### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/vii) Works like a giant during harvest, decides to haul wheat to Vicount due to rising prices from war scare. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/viii) Meets Claude in the barnyard, hears the news of England's declaration of war, and comments on wheat prices. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/ix) Decides to put in six hundred acres of wheat despite the war, and joins the men in the fields for fall ploughing. ### [Building the House](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/x) Nat Wheeler expresses misgivings about Claude's choice of Enid, calling Claude a fool, but declines to interfere. ### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/iii) Stops to see Enid almost every day and takes her driving in his buckboard. ### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/vi) Sends a telegram from Wray: 'Will be home day after tomorrow. Read the papers.' His message alarms Mrs. Wheeler and Claude. ### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/viii) Supports Claude's decision to enlist, discusses farming matters, and is disturbed by Bayliss's pacifism. ### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/ix) Attends the court hearing, supports his neighbor Yoeder, and later shares news with his wife for Claude's letter. ### [Homecoming in Uniform](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/x) Drives the automobile to pick up Claude. ### [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xi) Shows Claude the farm and discusses land and business. ### [XIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/chapters/xiii) Busy with the car in the morning, rides with Claude and Ralph to Frankfort. ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters/nat_wheeler - Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se - All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/one_of_ours_se/characters