Essay On The Referential Meaning Of Walter Mitty

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

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (Thurber, 1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber’s stories, it first appeared in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939. This short story deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut and his wife for their regular weekly shopping and his wife’s visit to the beauty parlor. During this time he has five heroic daydream episodes, ranging from being a pilot in the U.S. Navy flying boat to being on a secret suicide mission to bomb an ammunition dump. In the following paragraphs I will tell why this story captured my interest,

In the movie and short story ¨The Secret LIfe of Walter Mitty¨ there was very different external conflicts, themes, and ways Walter acted.For example on the short story, walter's wife is always nagging at him for different things, but in the movie it is walter's boss and co-workers that are making his life difficult. In the short story, Walter is dull and not a very entertaining character 9 and has a very boring life, but in the movie he starts out that way but he gradually becomes a more adventurous, entertaining character with confidence. The theme of the short story was escaping reality, while one of the themes of the movie was beautiful things do not ask for attention. The differences in external conflict, ways Walter acts, and the themes between the movie and short story.

    In the movie the movie of Walter Mitty they had more places for the setting, while in the short story the setting only takes place in a city named Waterbury where all they do is run errands. It had basically explained how they were in Waterbury but different places within the city. Due to this the short story didn't have many characters. However in the movie Walter was in the office and traveled many places. He was trying to track down Sean O’Connell to set negative 25 which was the cover photo. Some of the places Walter traveled included Greenland, Iceland, and Afghanistan, while he did these things it showed him that he is an important person. Every time Walter traveled he would always have some type of daydream, an example is when he was on the way to the volcano and he fell due to a daydream he had. Therefore the daydreams that Walter has affects what he gets done and i say that the movie adds much more detail than the short story.

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.

Life is about finding yourself, each other, and being true to one’s self. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an extremely original and creative story written by James Thurber. The movie, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller, conveys a daydreamer escaping his typical life by disappearing into a realm of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. In both the movie and the book, the title character retreats into fantasy as an escape from his mundane reality because in the real world, he is ordinary, insecure, and passive. In the short story, Walter

Are you ever struck by a sudden daydream or suddenly start to zone out into your thoughts? In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” written by James Thurber, Walter experiences many thoughts and daydreams that depict his feelings and problems in life. There are also many different discussion topics such as conflicts, daydreams, and character traits.

Walter asserting his manhood against his mother’s matriarchal dominance can be seen as the principal conflict in Hansberry’s work. Walter’s mother in settled in her traditional and old schools ways and views masculinity as a life-affirming Black tradition, whereas Walter equates manhood and masculinity with how much money one has and being his family’s sole provider. When Walter’s father died his mother received $10,000 in life insurance payments. She takes a portion of the money and uses it to purchase a house in a well-established suburban white neighborhood. In terms of the remaining money, Walter wanted to invest in a liquor store. After much persuading, Mama finally gives in and gives Walter the rest of the money. When the investment goes belly up Walter loses all the money. His attempt to establish his manhood ironically made him

Because of this Walter has lost his self esteem and will to do anything to make his life better. This is important because it shows that Walter does not have a firm grasp on his own identity.

The movie version and short story version of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” are very different. The plot of the short story is bland and unclear. The last sentence of the short story, “Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing around his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.”, ends in a daydream leaving the reader feeling confused as to what should happen next. This proves how the author doesn't really give a clear ending to the short story. On the other hand, the movie had a clear ending and conclusion. The movie ends with Walter going on a date with Sherrill (which he liked), that ultimately lead him to do something adventurous which ends his terrible daydreams. As you can tell the movie has a clear ending and solution to the problem. The movie really exaggerates his bland life and boring job. For example, Walter says in the movie “I haven't really been anywhere noteworthy or mentionable.” The movie also had more action, but the movie was longer so that’s to be expected. Overall

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

Walter’s characters unravels as the story begins and continues to deepen as the story continues. He begins to have an argument with his wife “Ruth”

In James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Walter Mitty faces the every day challenges of the real world. Thurber uses surreal dreams to allow Walter Mitty to escape these challenges. The main two characters are Mr. and Mrs. Mitty. Mr.Mitty finds himself in the middle of action packed dreams until someone or something brings him back to reality. Walter Mitty escapes through his fantasies because he lacks the strength to face reality and the courage to express his real feelings and opinions.

Showing his frustration to his mother, Walter does not feel like he will ever acquire his dream because he feels like he never got the chance or opportunity to. The inability of not able to provide a better life for his household is causing him to stress, act out of character and clouding his decision making. With nowhere else to turn he thought he could use his father’s life insurance money to invest into a liquor store which turned into a scam. Walter feeling trapped from making advancements in life, he makes a huge mistake and learns from this error. In the play Walter is talking to mother describing his anger,

He is always being told what to do. In the American society before, the men were always considered superior over the women. So in this sense, they deviate from the norm. Another minor theme that is closely related to the one before would be Mitty's lack of masculinity. The fact that he does not take charge of the relationship between him and his wife is a big indicator of this. All of these support the main theme of this story – Mitty trying to escape reality through his daydreams. The masterful use of this theme was a result of the author himself, James Thurber, having a similar condition to Mitty. These daydreams are what tell us the readers what Mitty is feeling and how he views his own life. From them we can, therefore, say that Walter Mitty is indeed a person who likes to live a life in which he feels important and not just a nobody. He wants to be the one in control of the situations as shown in the four daydreams he had. Walter Mitty, being over powered by his wife in real life, would have wanted to be the man in their relationship. However, the weakness in him, made him surrender to the harsh reality that he could no longer change the present situation. Thus, his last daydream showed us his total