Although Walter Mitty is sought to be an average, middle-aged man, he goes through periods of time escaping reality through fantasies. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber creates Walter as an insecure husband who is degraded by his own wife. Whenever Walter feels mortified and like a failure, he falls into deep fantasies where he is portrayed as a hero who always ends up saving the day. Through the depiction of elaborate fantasies, Thurber reveals how escaping reality allows Mitty to combat the adequacy he feels in his real life. One of the major reasons Walter Mitty has severe daydreams is because his wife degrades everything he does. An example of this is: “We’ve been all through that. You’re not a young man anymore. Why don’t you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?” (Thurber, 4). Whether it be telling him what he needs to get done or telling him what to do, she treats him like a child and not her husband. Because of this, Walter has daydreams about major occupations, such as being a surgeon or hero saving people’s lives. He wants …show more content…
In order for him to be confident in himself, he has daydreams about saving lives, being a person people look up to or even dying a legend. Additionally, Walter forgets things easily, cannot handle simple tasks and is not a very good driver. This causes him to have fantasies of his weaknesses being his strengths. For example, his wife always criticizes his driving, so he dreams about being a Navy hydroplane pilot during a storm, along with commanding and flying a plane during war. “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!” said Mrs. Mitty. “What are you driving so fast for? You were up to fifty-five. You know I don’t like going more than forty. You were going fifty-five” (Thurber, 2). He also has dreams about being a world-famous surgeon saving high-ranked individuals when he is feeling low and
As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is
At the end of the story, on page 7, Walter is waiting for his wife to finish shopping at the drugstore, he imagines being executed. " …he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful,....” This could be understood to mean that Walter is not happy with his relationship with Mrs. Mitty or his life. She does not make him happy, and he will continue to be unhappy because he is too timid to do anything about it. Mrs. Mitty makes things worse for Walter because she believes his daydreams are an illness.
Walter struggles in understanding who he needs to be for his family. He wants to take his place as the patriarch of the family, but he feels incapable of providing them with the lifestyle they deserve. This concern is always at the forefront of his mind, and it affects his attitude and outlook. The anxiety that Walter is dealing with creates confrontation with his sister. He fears that her dream will interfere with his own agenda of making a better life for his family. The severity of the tension becomes more and more apparent with Walter’s unwise investment. Walter is dealing with the burden that he has let his family down, while Beneatha is flabbergasted by the reality that her future has been snatched away from her, and she had no control over it. While reflecting on the situation, Beneatha remarks, “ I sound like a human who just had her future taken right out of my hands! While I was sleeping….things were happening in this world that directly concerned me and nobody consulted me—they just went out and did things—and changed my life” (Hansberry 3.15). Walter and Beneatha’s individual issues with the outcome of the situation cause them to find fault with one another during a time when their family needs to pull together to get through such a financial hardship. Walter is in an emotional pit; his turning to alcohol and music instead of his family for support expands the
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.
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.
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.
As Walter's dreams become bigger and bigger, he seems to neglect the 'smaller' things such as his family. "Here I am a giant surrounded by ants! Ants who can't even understand what the giant is talking about,? (Hansberry 85). Walter has big ideals, but his methods of achieving his goals and ideals are somewhat irrational. Walter can be regarded as more concerned with becoming self-employed without really thinking about the consequences, which may be imposed on his family. Later in play, Walter learns that he needs to set his dreams aside for the sake of the
Walter's frustration festers and his anger turns inward towards his family who, in Walters eyes, do not understand him. Walter's family members do understand him and they also want to amass material dreams, but Walter's family members know that it is going to take work to get there.
Everyone was excited except for Walter. They all were thinking about how they need more space and how they finally own a house. Walter was only thinking about himself and made his mom feel bad. The next example of his bad attitude towards his family is when he yelled at Beneatha to be a nurse (act one scene one Riths). Beneathas dream was to become a
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.
In the story, The Strange Life of Walter Mitty, Walter Mitty struggles with an inferiority complex that has been developed from the belief that people were looking down on him. Even though it may be implied in the story that the people that Walter Mitty had interactions with were all looking down on him it is never truely stated therefore it is believed that Walter Mitty was just paranoid and assumed this. Since his inferiority complex and character prevents him from talking back and assuming a role of dominance he copes with this reality by daydreaming. The issue with his daydreaming is that he complelety leaves reality and puts whatever task he was doing on autopilot. In the first paragraph, Walter Mitty shows us one of his secret lives — these secret lives are more of a fantasy — as a navy captain while he battles a hurricane with his crew.
Walter Mitty had an imagination like no other. His head was filled with many exciting and new adventures. In the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, Walter Mitty uses his dream worlds to escape reality. He is a very unique character with many different aspects to him.
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,
Relationships are hard, especially when the couple does not see eye to eye. Walter Mitty and his wife know exactly what that is like. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a short story written by James Thurber. The setting takes place at Waterberg, Connecticut. The two main characters in this short story are Walter Mitty and his wife, who play significant roles in making this short story come alive despite being very different in many ways. Walter is the protagonist because he is the leading character, while his wife is the antagonist since she causes friction with Walter and his imaginations. Knowing this helps develop the theme of dysfunctional marriages as seen in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” as it is portrayed through the