In the story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, we get to experience what a normal day for the main character, Walter Mitty, is like. Walter Mitty is constantly jumping into a fantasy world where he is something that he is not in reality due to the feeling that he is a failure in life. Walter Mitty also thinks he is constantly being picked on by the people around him and also considers his wife to be a nag because she complains about everything that he does wrong. What I believe is myself is that Walter Mitty’s wife is not a nag, but just is a loving wife that has the best interests for him at heart and wants to protect him from himself. It was said in the story that Mrs. Mitty said, “Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done… Why don’t you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves” (Thurber 2)? Walter Mitty had viewed what his wife had said as nagging, but what he did not understand was that she was just looking out for Walter Mitty because it was cold and she did not want him to get sick. Mrs. Mitty …show more content…
It could be said by many critics that Mrs. Mitty is a nag to Walter Mitty due to the quote, “I’ve been looking all over this hotel for you, said Mrs. Mitty. ‘Why do you have to hid in this old chair How did you expect me to find you? Things close in, said Walter Mitty vaguely. What? Mrs. Mitty said. Did you get the what’s-its-name? The puppy biscuit? What’s in that box? Overshoes, said Mitty. Couldn’t you have put them on in the store” (Thurber 8)? But what I say is that she wanted to make sure that Walter Mitty did not forget anything, since is a very forgetful person. Mrs. Mitty is not guilty for emasculating Walter, but has good intentions and wants to protect him from himself. Though that Walter Mitty thinks that Mrs. Mitty is a nag, he does not realize what she is doing for
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a fun adventure movie about a man who wants to be brave
In his book, The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells of a story where a young woman has had an adulterous relationship with a respected priest in a Puritan community. Typical of Hawthorne's writings is the use of imagery and symbolism. In Chapter 12, The Minister's Vigil, there are several uses of imagery when Dimmesdale, the priest, is battling with confessing his sin, which has plagued him for seven years. Three evident techniques used to personify symbolism in this chapter are the use of darkness versus light, the use of inner guilt versus confession, and lastly the use of colors (black versus white).
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
The Scarlet Letter Introduction The Scarlet Letter is a classic tale of sin, punishment, and revenge. It was written in 1850 by the famous American author Nathaniel Hawthorne. It documents the lives of three tragic characters, each of whom suffer greatly because of his or her sins. Shot Plot The story begins with Hester Prynne, a resident of a small Puritan community, being led from the town jailhouse to a public scaffold where she must stand for three hours as punishment for adultery. She must also wear a scarlet A on her dress for the rest of her life as part of her punishment. As she is led to the scaffold, many of the women in the crowd complain that
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
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
The difference between Seven-billion people in the world is identity. Identity is unique and hard to understand because everybody wants to be someone and people have a hard time figuring out what that means. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter is a man who is tired of his boring life when he realizes he has not amounted to anything. This makes him realize he does not have an identity. He overcomes this in many ways, and one of them is by traveling. This is also done in Pico Iyers “Why We Travel, ”an essay about how traveling can open the mind. The Short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about an older man who is using his imagination to cope with his midlife crisis. The theme they both have in common is identity, in each
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.
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.
Walter begins to drink, stay away from home, and to constantly argue with his wife, Ruth. Walter's life is contrasted by the role of his recently widowed mother, who holds to more traditional values of acceptance of life's lot and of making the best of any situation. Walter Lee's "Mama" holds Walter's father up as an example of a man with pride and a man that, despite racial injustice in a dualistic society, worked hard to provide for his family. This adds to Walter's frustration. Walter now feels incapable and small in his mama's eyes.
Mann, A. (1982). TAKING CARE OF WALTER MITTY. Studies in Short Fiction, 19(4), 351. Retrieved from
Mrs.Mitty drives Walter insane and triggers his dreams. Walter can not stand his wife and in response ignores her through his fantasies. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, Mrs.Mitty finds Walter in the hotel lobby in a daze while reading a news paper and ask him “Why do you have to hide in this old chair?”(Thurber 47). Walter without realizing has once again found himself in a dream.
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
First, Ruth, is one of the women in the house who changes Walter’s decisions in the story. Her relationship towards him is poor. Ruth nags at the beginning, saying “Eat your eggs Walter” (Hansberry 34). This angers him because she repeats it multiple times throughout, not understanding him, showing their strained relationship. Ruth is also shown to not be on Walter’s side on multiple occasions. For example, when Walter finds out that Mama spent the money on a new house, he does not like it. Ruth however is not feeling the same way as him, and tells him “Walter honey, be glad” (Hansberry 92). Ruth tells Walter to be glad, because their views are different. Ruth thinks this was beneficial to the family, yet Walter does not. This hurts Walter throughout the story as he feels alone with no one on his side. Walter know this when he says “Cause ain’t nobody with Me! Not even my own mother!” (Hansberry 85). Since he is alone, and believes no one cares about him, he tries to fix his own mistake when he decides he will get more money saying, “That White man is going to walk in that door all to write checks for more money than we ever had.” (Hansberry 143). Ruth does not like Walter’s idea, but he does not care as no one is on his side, which disappoints Ruth.