NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a short story by James Thurber. "'Walter Mitty' proved to be not only Thurber's most famous tale but also one of the most frequently anthologized stories in modern American writing. People have become very formula with the story or Walter Mitty" (Long 13). ONe of the reasons for power's formularizing with this story, is that Walter Mitty represents the American middle-class man, bored to death with life (Kaufman 93). This short story is about a man, Walter Mitty, and his wife who make a trip to town, Waterbury, to run errands. Mrs. Mitty needed to stop at the hair salon and she orders her husband to drop the car off at the mechanic and go to the store to buy overshoes and some unknown object that he couldn't remember (later he remembers he was to get puppy biscuits).
During the whole trip to town, Mitty is lost in daydreams. These daydreams are the secret life of Walter Mitty. The theme of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is indirectly stated as boredom of life. Walter Mitty escapes from the humdrum of his everyday life through his daydreams. Mitty could also be described as hatting is life. "The daydreams (of Mitty) are seen not merely as momentary escapes from dull reality into exciting fantasy, but also as an index to Mitty's anger, desperation, and willingness to escape permanently into the more satisfying dream world of his imagination (Kaufman 94). " Thurber manages to express this theme with humorous situations between Mitty, his wife, Dr.
Renshow, the passerby, the traffic cop and the parking lot attendant. These people represent reality to Mitty. They scrutinize him make him feel incompetent (Kaufman 96). Because of his boredom, Mitty becomes withdrawn from the outside world like many people who are sick of their life. "It is clear even in this first fantasy that Mitty has withdrawn to the point where his return to reality is shocking, unfamiliar, and unsatisfactory; he returns to everyday life slowly and with regret" (Kaufman 97).
Mitty's daydreams start to control his life. From the first daydream until he last, Mitty gives up his control to the fantasies. "The fantasies portray, then, a progressive lack of control: from "the Old Man will get us through" (to) the last fantasy, where the only control he has left is seen in the stiff upper lip. The fantasies all have to do with loss of control and death seems to indicate his increasing withdrawl from the real world in favor of his fantasies. , and his longing for death as the ultimate escape" (Kaufman 98). "The smallest incidents of humiliation set him helplessly dreaming, and even in his dream imaginings he commits a series of blunders that destroy his authority" (Long 70). I identify with the character of Walter Mitty very much. I find myself daydreaming all the time.
Mitty feels like he wants to leave reality and live in his dreams. He is sick of being ridiculed by his wife. She and everyone else treated him as less of a person. Some times daydreaming is a good outlet for peoples imagination, but like Walter Mitty many cna lose reality.
Thurber knew this and conveyed it to his audience through this memorable short story. Bibliography: Kaufman, Anthony. "'Things Close In': Dissolution and Misanthropy in 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. '" Studies in American Fiction 22 (Spring 1994): 93 - 103. Kenney, Catherine McGehee. Thurber's Anatomy of Confusion.
Hamden, CT: Archon Book, 19984. Long, Robert Emmet. James Thurber. New York: Continuum, 1988.
Thurber, James. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. " My World and Welcome To It. By Thurber. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1943.
Free research essays on topics related to: james thurber, short story, mitty, secret life of walter mitty, everyday life
Research essay sample on The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty
