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James Thurber Influence

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Imagine losing sight in one of your eyes and still go on to become one of America’s most famous author and illustrator . James Thurber, an American author, is most famous for his short stories that often include humor and drawings. He had many influences in his life that affected him in many different ways. His most famous stories made fun of the “little man” that was not sure of himself because of the wars. James Thurber’s personal relationships and life events strongly influenced the way he wrote and illustrated humor, descriptive characters, and told the plot of the story.
James Thurber’s humor was influenced by his own life in many different ways. One way he was influenced was from his mother, Mary Thurber. Mary Thurber was a “eccentric” …show more content…

James Thurber went to the University of Ohio and left without a degree(UXL Encyclopedia of World Biography). After he left college he moved to France to work for the army, by encrypting and decoding secret messages. While he was in France working for the army he gathered many ideas for his future works. One such idea was the “little man.” The “little man” is what Thurber described to be as a man who was in the army that was not very sure of himself, because of all of the fighting and struggle that they endured. In Thurber’s story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” the main character, Walter Mitty, was described as being the “little man.” In the story Walter Mitty daydreamed to distract himself from his daily boring, average life. Everything that Walter Mitty daydreamed was about WWII. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was also influenced by men being controlled by their wife. In the short story Walter Mitty’s wife made him run chores the whole day while driving her around, so that she can shop. Thurber was influenced to include that in the story because of how his wife was like in real life. The way Thurber described his characters were mainly influenced by historic events, but his plot was mainly form personal …show more content…

White(Biography). Thurber’s first short story made while working for The New Yorker was with collaboration with E.B. White. The short story that they both worked on together was “Is Sex Necessary”(Thurber House). “Is Sex Necessary” is a great example of a short story that includes Thurber’s illustration and humor. Since E.B. White helped James Thurber with his first short story it influenced his writing style in his later works. Another influence of the plot of the story was his first wife, who he later divorced, Althea Adams. Althea Adams influenced Thurber’s plot because he used details in their marriage for short stories about controlling wives. His second wife , Helen Wismer, also influenced his plots. Helen Wismer convinced Thurber to leave his job in New York and become a freelance writer in Maine. Wismer was also his secretary and helped him write some of his short stories. Thurber was influenced by many personal events that helped his writing become what we all know and love to this

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