In the story of “The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” the character Walter deals with the problem of facing reality. When first meeting Walter he is a commander and a hero on a warplane. When he awakes from his daydream he is driving in his car with his wife as she points out he’s going too fast. The character has several more daydreams, after his wife wants him to get some overshoes. Walter had become a race car driver and a doctor in his daydreams and remembers later that his wife wanted him to get “Overshoes,” he said to himself”(Thurber). “Why do you have to hide in this old chair?”(Thurber) Mrs. Mitty would ask Walter. With Mrs. Mitty Walter will always face reality sooner or
” The 18-year-old girl dreams of attending college, and in her family, “no one in her family goes to college (“Where Dreams Come From”, stanza 2, line 7).” She wants to have a proper education and become a figure in the real world. Her family is sitting on the sidelines of civilization and she is sick of that fact. That household is aware of this; nonetheless, she still is not allowed to leave. Walter Mitty is no different. His wife is domineering and infuriating, as she constantly admonishes him and tells him he is doing everything incorrect. For instance, when Mitty accidentally speed up his Buick, his wife screeched at him that, “he was driving too fast (“Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, page 1, paragraph 2),” when he “was up to fifty-five km/hr. while knowing her comfort-level was forty-five km/hr.” She prohibits this poor soul from living his life by controlling his every-being than he does of his own body. He cannot accomplish his dream. His desire is not similar to the girl’s. He yearns of being heroic and the center of attention. However, he is the exact opposite and his wife frequently pushes him off the cliff of confidence, where his spirit is shattered. Not only that, he often questions her, “ If it ever occurs to her that he is sometimes thinking.” And she rubs it
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a fun adventure movie about a man who wants to be brave
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.
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.
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
What appears in your mind when you hear the word “dream”? According to Oxford Dictionaries, the first meaning of dream is “A series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep” (dream). Is dreaming limited with only this definition? In my opinion, dreaming is something unlimited. It has lots of meanings. It is the the source of happiness for life. Fantasy, goal, wish, vision, unreality, extraordinary are some of the synonyms of dream according to Thesaurus.com. These words show me that dreaming can create several impressions in different people’s minds. All of these synonyms have a similar connotation. All of them are used in a positive way in daily life by the great majority of people all around the world. Does dream have a positive connotation all the time? As I was looking at the synonyms of dream, another word attracted my attention: daydream. The difference of the word “daydream” from the other synonyms of dream is its connotation. Even though the words “dream” and “daydream” sound really similar and have the same origin, dream
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
Both “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “Lamb to the Slaughter” analyze human’s ways of achieving self- acceptance. Walter Mitty’s persona is not considered ‘appropriate’ by people around him, so as a result, he daydreams to accept his true character. On the contrary, Mary Maloney’s self- love is built upon the presence of her husband, so when he decided to leave, her whole world shattered.
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.
“Walter’s” problems are not a laughing matter. James Ellis is right to say that James Thurber’s story—“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”—is still popular. I cannot explain why the story is still popular. However, I do not believe the story is popular because it makes jokes about serious
Mann, A. (1982). TAKING CARE OF WALTER MITTY. Studies in Short Fiction, 19(4), 351. Retrieved from
Walter Mitty’s fantasies give him self confidence. Critics show how Walters heroic lifestyles and how he handles situations give him something to be proud of (Leidy 1259). Walter is awed by the dreams that he falls into. Whenever he needs a confidence boost he finds himself in one if these action packed fantasies. Walters dreams give him a feeling of accomplishment and a sense of pride. Prinsky explains how these dreams give Walter a feeling of triumph, the feeling that he is on top of the world in these fantasies(3585). Walter feels like no one can bring him down; he feels like he is an undefeated champion of the world. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, Walter finds himself commanding a hydroplane that he is in control of (Thurber 44). Controlling the Hydroplane gives Walter a sense of accomplishment. Ferguson tells us that Walter is very dependent on his dreams to bring him a since a satisfaction while blaming all problems on others such as his wife (434). Walter is so dependent on his dreams that he does not even realize that he is drifting into
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