The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty Essay

Within the first story written by James Thurber titled, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the take home message at the end of this excerpt is that any individual can create their own illusion and become their own protagonist in their own story or life. This excerpt begins with Walter Mitty, the text’s main protagonist in a daydream state in which he is leading a Navy hydroplane, this daydream is brought up into his mind after his wife right beside him in their car had told him to slow down whilst driving. Mitty’s first shown daydream may make readers believe that he has an extreme imagination due to yielding the ability to create such illusions out of simple everyday mundane tasks or routines in his life. We can infer that his erratic driving, or “driving too fast” for Mrs. Mitty can be seen as Mr. Mitty being lost and caught up in his own imaginary world where he is accomplishing heroic feats such as taking over a hydroplane and leading a crew to safety instead of simply driving his wife to the hairdresser. Mr. Mitty goes on throughout the excerpt to have many daydreams that share the same concept, that concept being that he is a hero in his own world and is his own individual regardless of what his wife thinks about his behavior. One particular daydream that Mr. Mitty had that truly struck out was the one in which he had created an illusion from a small stimulant being a newsboy passing by shouting about a trial that was taking place within the town. Hearing about the trial had triggered a daydream where he was testifying in a courtroom after being accused of shooting a man although in the daydream his right arm was in a sling (something he could relate to in real life because he thought of an idea of wearing a sling to avoid awkwardness when going to a garageman), this particular daydream at the end is what aids Mitty into remembering an item his wife had told him to get at the store. We can infer that Mitty has used these tactics in order to justify many things or help him in real life, for example remembering tasks.

Walter Mitty is a fictional character in both the book and film. He can be relatable to hopeless and shy people in the book. But, Mitty can also be relatable to others that want to be heard, and have hopes and dreams. In James Thurber’s story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Walter Mitty is forgetful and easily controlled, while Mitty in the film is outgoing and optimistic. Walter is a forgetful person in the short story.

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.

Do you ever have a moment where you just sit there and daydream? If you ask me it can be pretty dangerous if you do it at the wrong time! So you should watch what you do so you won't be like Walter Mitty. In the short story of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber there are a lot of differences and very little similarities, in my opinion i say the movie was way better.

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

James Thurber illustrates the central conflict Man vs Society in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Throughout the story, Mitty seems to have a struggle with adapting to the social norms and gender roles he is meant to play. First, Walter Mitty feels society was meant to mock him. Secondly, his feelings for his marriage are indifferent, and the gender roles appear opposite. Lastly, even his daydreams seem to have a tug of war with society.

Walter Mitty’s personality is very timid. He is very absent-minded and has difficulties remembering things because of his on-going daydreams. When it comes to others he is very mindful but not with his wife. He respects her and all but doesn’t pay attention to what she says sometimes. How he is very absent-minded is by an example in the story is when his wife told him to slow because he was driving too fast. Then a second example of his character trait is he is a daydreamer like from the story he daydreams about being a world famous doctor.

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

[E] Walter Mitty had an uneventful life, but dreamed of being bold and travelling around the world and dating his coworker Cheryl Melhoff. [F] He had postponed that dream of travelling after the death of his father, and worked for Time Magazine. Walter was finally inspired to chase his dreams when the cover photo for the last issue of the magazine goes missing and he chases the mysterious photographer Sean O’Connell around the world to get a copy of the picture. [G] Mitty was motivated to find the photo by Cheryl Melhoff. Melhoff and Mitty worked together to decipher O’Connell’s location from other photos he sent the magazine. Mitty had to travel to Greenland, Iceland, and the Himalayas to hunt down the photographer and ultimately he found the lost negative. [H] Walter Mitty was able to achieve what he had wanted for so long when he was encouraged by Cheryl. [I] Walter felt his life was more fulfilled and he

For many people, floating off into a fantasy world is a talent, it shows them what they truly want; for others it is their greatest weakness or shows their greatest fear, maybe this can be stressful and maybe it just annoys others but it will always get int the way of life, like a roadblock or a lock on a door. Walter Mitty, in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Directed by Ben Stiller of Twentieth Century Fox is one of these, he lives his life in a fantasy. Auggie is a young boy with a facial deformation. Auggie is bullied at school and wishes for everybody to like him. Jekyll is a scientist with an addiction.

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.

The final point that emphasizes this character’s exclusive status in society in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” comes from the well-known psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.  It concerns our character’s mental health.  According to Freud, our desires and fears are repressed in the unconscious

The man recognizes how easy it is to surrender to the mirage of good dreams, where the richness of color and variety of detail provides a dangerous contrast to the grey monotony of both his and his son’s reality. Often, he awakens “in the black and freezing waste out of softly colored worlds of human love, the songs of birds, the sun,” (272). Those dreams are an invitation to rest in some nonexistent land. The man recognizes this as a dangerous temptation so he forces himself to wake up and face the cruel world rather than deteriorate in a world that no longer exists. His philosophy is that “the right dreams for a man in peril were dreams of peril and all else was the call of languor and of death.” (18). Only bad dreams belong in his mind because all good dreams are a reminder of valuable days that cannot be lived

Walter Mitty was a man who was not afraid to die, but he had a lot of pride. He was prepared for anything to happen; he was all dressed up in his white braided uniform. The Commander stared at the ice forming on the pilot window. Captain Mitty was the commander of an eight- engine Navy hydroplane. He told Lieutenant Berg to rev her up and put on the high-beams (paragraph 1). This is part of Walter Mitty’s secret life as shown in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber. Fantasies like this one are Mitty’s way of coping with his dull, boring life. Walter Mitty uses his fantasy life as a means to escape from his nagging wife, his dislike of getting old, and the feeling that he is stupid and useless.