Character Analysis : The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a fun adventure movie about a man who wants to be brave

In James Thurber's “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” the movie and short story have much different external conflicts. During the short story, Walter's wife is always nagging at him and making his life difficult, while in the movie and it Walter's boss and co-workers who are giving him a hard time.Walter experiences his wife complaining while on their way into town, ¨Not so fast! You're driving too fast...What are you driving so fast for¨ (Thurber 1). He is not paying attention because he is daydreaming about more exciting things than what is going on in his life. In the movie Walter is very busy and nervous so he messes up an assignment and he goes into a daydream. Walter was sitting in the elevator

Sometimes when you are in a relationship, you start to wonder what your life would be like if you hadn't been with the person you are with if you aren't happy. In the short story by the author James Thurber called "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", a man named Walter Mitty daydreams about having different lifestyles away from his controlling wife. The theme of the short story is that you can be whoever you want to be as long as you are yourself. Throughout the short story, the literary terms found in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" are characterization and conflict and they are explained in many forms. They both show how Walter's daydreams relate to his real life and how he wishes his real life was different.

Second, a lot of character traits are shown for each person in the film. Walter Mitty is very shy and quiet at first but then changes throughout the movie. “To see the world, things dangerous come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.” This quote can relate to Walter Mitty having a very shy, quiet, and awkward life. After going through all the action, danger, and experiencing all sorts of obstacles to find Sean, he became a person that stood up to everything he didn’t like. He was not afraid to speak up and make a move. Also, he was a braver person. Cheryl was also very quiet and turned out to be a very helpful and supportive person. She helped him

“Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?” She looked at him. “I’m going to take your temperature when I get you home,” she said(James thurber, Secret life of Walter Mitty). In the short story Walter’s wife thinks he’s sick or that something is wrong with him. He is daydreaming while driving, Walter has realized he isn’t satisfied with his life. He prefers to daydream to make his life better. Going in for a routine check up, becomes Walter dreaming about being a high profile doctor. Having lost his identity Walter is just going through the motions with his life. Getting shoes, dropping of his wife and getting a health check up has become mundane, his imagination has become the best thing about his life.

The film “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, which was converted to a movie from a short story, talks about the negative consequences of daydreaming. Walter, who is the protagonist of the movie, daydreams in his daily life frequently. He imagines extraordinary events and loses his connection with the world. This habit of Walter Mitty leads him into a couple of bad consequences. His colleagues make fun of him while Walter Mitty was daydreaming. For instance, his boss says, “Do you think, if I hit him with a paper clip, would he move?” (Stiller, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) and throws a paper clip to him. This movie showed me that people cannot think properly and their relation with the real world disappears as they daydream. That’s why, they cannot notice what is going on around them, which is a negative

Even when people do not realize it, everyone is always learning from other people. Characters in stories all have a variety of different personalities. One character from the stories desires to be daring and fearless, while the other character is both both of those qualities. Since one character desires to be something that he is not, he puts his imagination to the test and makes his own perfect scenarios.

Reaching a goal is something that people have experienced a lot with. A goal is an objective we all have, whether it is long-term or short-term in school, or out, we all had one. A Personal Legend, on the other hand, is a step deeper than the definition of a goal. A Personal Legend is a life journey one desires to accomplish. When accomplishing the Personal Legend, people commonly think about the destination, and the overall product. As a matter of fact, people gain much more from the journey took in order to be able to attain the goal. Throughout one’s journey to seek their Personal Legend, they learn and notice more about the world around them. This way, the journey is much more valuable than the destination itself. In the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter learns that it is better for him to live outside of what is his personal comfort zone. Throughout his journey he learns how to feel, and become a better person, which did also adapt his way of living and understanding. Throughout Santiago’s Personal Legend from the book, The Alchemist, he learns about the soul of the world, true love, and how the journey is much more important than his treasure. Because of this, Santiago changes his own way of living, with a deeper understanding of what is around him. Both of the characters have gained a lot of information throughout their expeditions, realizing that the outcome wasn’t as important as it seemed. Walter, for instance, gained a great deal of information

Two times in the story, Mrs. Mitty says “Walter” needs a doctor, and she is probably right. Those who read the story might wonder whether “Walter” is capable of taking care of himself and holding a job. He seems to be handicapped. That’s not a joke.

This causes him to make mental jumps when working on a case and as a result, not everything he says makes sense. Walter easily becomes obsessed with a piece of music or food or a location because he is trying to remember something that someone removed from his mind. Walter is easily irritable because of his extreme intelligence and the fact that no one quickly believes him. Once he has the solution he is adamant that he is right which he generally is, leading to him rudely arguing with Olivia and Peter until they take him seriously. Walter is relentless and loyal. In every case, he never stops searching for a solution, doing everything he can think of to try to save people. If his plan involves a dangerous role, he likely will not tell anyone and carry out that role alone. Walter is not usually very courteous towards other people. His intentions are to help people but he often overlooks simple common

Walter Mitty allows his wife to berate him and bring him down, holding him back from experiencing independence and adventure and danger in life, what his dreams of more than anything in life.

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a story written by James Thurber, which depicts another man who seems to be oppressed by reality. It is she who constantly complains about him not being able to remember the proper name of the biscuits that he was supposed to purchase. It looks as if she expects him to fail at everything that he does. Through out the story it appears that Mitty has given up on reality because he feels that his life is designed in such a way that he is constantly being made into an underachiever. He feels that he would much rather avoid reality all together rather than attempt doing things himself and being ridiculed by his wife. When he wanted to change the winter chains on his tires he was too embarrassed to go to the mechanic looking like a healthy, and able man so he was looking for a way to get out of it . He explained:

Mann, A. (1982). TAKING CARE OF WALTER MITTY. Studies in Short Fiction, 19(4), 351. Retrieved from

Walter Mitty’s fantasies give him self confidence. Critics show how Walters heroic lifestyles and how he handles situations give him something to be proud of (Leidy 1259). Walter is awed by the dreams that he falls into. Whenever he needs a confidence boost he finds himself in one if these action packed fantasies. Walters dreams give him a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of pride. Prinsky explains how these dreams give Walter a feeling of triumph, the feeling that he is on top of the world in these fantasies(3585). Walter feels like no one can bring him down; he feels like he is an undefeated champion of the world. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, Walter finds himself commanding a hydroplane that he is in control of (Thurber 44). Controlling the Hydroplane gives Walter a sense of accomplishment. Ferguson tells us that Walter is very dependent on his dreams to bring him a since a satisfaction while blaming all problems on others such as his wife (434). Walter is so dependent on his dreams that he does not even realize that he is drifting into

Why would Walter want to marry a woman like his wife in the first place? Besides the fact that they are completely different in the way they think, they process information different as well. For example, the short story tells all of Walter’s random imaginations and how he is always forgetting what people tell him. When the narrator says “Walter Mitty began to wonder what the other thing was his wife had told him to get.” (3) lets the readers see that while Walter is very creative and never forgets what he imagines, he is forgetful of the world around him. On the other hand, Mrs. Mitty is aggravated about everything when she talks to Walter. One can conclude this due to her aging and being married to Walter for so long or some may even say long enough. Mrs. Mitty is worried and thinks that there is something seriously wrong with Walter. The Reader can see