...Imagining Walter Mitty’s Secret Life Jessica Lehmkuhl October 28, 2013 Imagining Walter Mitty’s Secret Life Author of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, James Thurber really expresses his own imagination in this literary work. According to Clungston (2010), Thurber spent his life writing, he wrote for the, Columbus Dispatch, New York Evening Post, New Yorker, and a newsmagazine. Thurber was known for his cartoons, drawings, and farce works during his time writing for the New Yorker. During my literary analyses of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, I found myself asking many questions. The only question I asked myself about author James Thurber, in regards to this particular literary piece, was, whether he is reflecting on previous articles he has written over the years and expressing them through the day dreams of Walter Mitty. In my reflective analysis of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” I am going to use the formalist approach, concentrating on the development of this particular work of literature. I plan to share the questions I ask myself as I was reading and how this piece of literature stood out to me. When I began reading the first paragraph of this literary satire I assumed it was going to be a war story. So you can imagine my surprise come the end of the paragraph. By the beginning of the third paragraph Thurber had my full attention and imagination. As I was reading I began to ask my self questions about Walter Mitty and a few other characters. I first ask...
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...James Thurber By Rahul Patel/10 [pic] Rahul Patel Mr. Hurdle Composition 11 May, 2012 James Thurber Part I: “Authors of light pieces have, nobody knows why, a genius for getting into minor difficulties: they walk into the wrong apartments, they drink furniture polish for stomach bitters, they drive their cars into the prize tulip beds of haughty neighbors, they playfully slap gangsters, mistaking them for old school friends” (James Thurber). James Thurber was a cartoonist and an author. He was born on December 8th 1984 to his parents, Charles and Mary Thurber. Thurber’s father was a clerk and a minor politician, while his mother was a practical joker and very strong-minded. For example his mother would tell visiting guests that she was in love the post man and she had to be kept in the attic because of it. She would also tell people that she was a cripple and then she would suddenly stand up and tell everyone she had miraculously healed(James Thurber 1 of 5). James Thurber also had two brothers, William and Robert. When Thurber and William were little, they were playing with a bow and arrow, and William shot James in the eye. This led James to be partially blind and because of this injury he couldn’t participate in any sports or activities, but this injury developed a very creative imagination in Thurber’s mind. A neurologist at the time had a theory that he might have Charles Bonnet Syndrome, which is a condition that...
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...Theme and Narrative Elements of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty Josetta James ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Instructor: Angela di Gualco 01/10/2014 Theme and Narrative Elements of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” The theme is one of the most involved elements of a short story. The themes job is to give the readers the over-all idea that is fabricated behind a story. A short story is marked as portraying broad ideas and elements into small pieces. In short, the theme in a story reflects or serves as the presentation of its ideas. (Clugston, 2010) The objective of this essay is to reveal the ways in which the literary elements tone and character contribute to the larger narrative theme by analyzing the short story by James Thurber titled The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. James Thurber created the character of Walter Mitty whose life seems so ordinary and boring. Walter Mittys imagination (daydreams) helps him to escape his dull life. His imagination places him in heroic situations such as a commander in the Navy steering his crew though bad weather in an 8-engine Navy hydroplane, or thinks he's a famous surgeon who is asked to help a rich Englishman, who is a friend of President Roosevelt. James Thurber set the tone for Character Walter Mitty by his actions of day dreaming, escaping reality Tone is more than merely an author’s attitude toward his/her audience and characters; it is the stylistic means by which an author conveys his/her Attitudes in a work of literature...
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...Walter Mitty, a man living the life of his dreams. The author of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, James Thurber made his protagonist as an everyday man. The story encompasses around the protagonist’s interactions. His wife, Mrs. Mitty is a women who constantly badgers him. Walter Mitty usually escapes by drifting off into a more adventurous daydream. Boring events such as waiting at a hospital, or even reading a magazine may trigger a daydream, which are usually interrupted by Mrs. Mitty. Walter is described as a timid man who deals with real situations and conflicts with imaginary adventures. The amount of daydreams make me question the story because his daydreams have a masculine storyline, in which he is the center of attention. In my opinion, the themes mentioned in the short story is mostly marriage and masculinity, in which I question his life, doesn’t Walter Mitty feel manly enough? It intrigued me on how he was always daydreaming about being a character who draws all the attention to himself, such as being a pilot or even a surgeon....
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...The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Chronic Day Dreamer in a Depressed Society By: Rebecca Moore In the Great Depression of the 1930’s, there was a strong social and economical struggle that inhibited both men’s wishes and fantasies. The very idea of finding a paying career with high social status, was quite impossible to achieve and challenges the masculinity inside men, including Walter Mitty. Thurber’s short story;The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is of a man whose ultimate escape from a boring and miserable reality by making his own, depicts the hunger of excitement and success, as well as escapism that many others wanted in the Great Depression. Mitty’s desires to become more than who he is, and to be the centre of attention in his own fantasies, are the result of external and internal factors, that belittles and emasculates him. His patronizing wife, superior men, his self image, and his rather systematic life, causes him to isolate himself and escape the 1930’s time warp. Walter Mitty; there is little known about him except that fact that he is a chronic dreamer and has controlling wife whom he is submissive to. Goonetilleke’s article The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: Overview expresses Thurber’s point of view on how women have won the battle of the sexes through Mrs.Mitty who stifles Walter’s masculine role in their relationships. She patronizes him about seeing a psychiatrist, putting on his gloves, getting overshoes, all the while reminding him that “you’re not a young...
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...Abstract I have chosen to compare the two short stories “The Story of an Hour”, by Kate Chopin and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, by James Thurber. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a short story written in 1937. The main character is an older man that drives his wife to town for beauty parlor visits and weekly shopping. “The Story of an Hour” was published in 1894. The main character, Louise Mallard, thinks that she will find freedom from the death of her husband. These short stories share a common theme, gender roles within a marriage. Each of the main characters in these stories has their own ideas about the gender roles that they are supposed to play, according to society and the time that they live in. The secret life of Walter Mitty and The Story of an Hour are based on a man Mr. Walter Mitty and a woman Mrs. Louise Mallard, whom believe that they have become prisoners within their marriages. They have to abide by the society standards of their era, divorce is not an option because all marriages have issues and the wedding vows need to be honored, “Until Death due us Part”. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Versus The Story of an Hour In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Walter is an elderly American man who is retired and has nothing better to do but to follow his wife around. Walter daydreams about a life that he wishes he had. The focus of this story is to represent a fantasy world opposed to a reality. “The Story of the Hour” presents a much more dramatic...
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...about things that matter. (Clugston 2010). Literature helps the reader escape into a world where their imaginations are able to run wild; you can be who you want to be, because literature becomes your secret world of reality. Day Dreaming allows us to follow all sorts of paths and free to generate all sorts of images, feelings, and thoughts. Our daily way of being typically requires us to be quite focused, and goal oriented. Using a reader-response approach, in this paper you will connect with literature, you will find a personal link or imaginative entry in this story. The literary work of James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will show you how an ordinary man escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of imagination filled with heroism, romance and action. Walter Mitty will embark on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined. . James Thurber wrote a short story about an imaginary character who is caught up with day dreaming and thoughts and has little to do with day to day matters…….Walter Mitty behavior is the primary focus of the story. After reading the secret life of Walter Mitty you will realize that James Thurber shows that Walter Mitty is a Habitual dreamer who is so unhappy with his daily life that he uses his dreams to become the person who can change the world. (Chapter 1...
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...James Thurber’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a short story that was written in 1937. The story features an elderly man who drives his wife into town for beauty parlor visits and regular weekly shopping. Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour” was published in 1894. In this short story Kate Chopin presents her perspective of the repressive role of marriage in the lives of women. This is shown by the fact that the main character, Louise Mallard, thinks that she will find freedom in the death of her husband. Both short stories share common theme of gender roles and marriage. Gender roles are defined as the behavior and attitudes that are strengthened by the stereotypical identity of an individual. The relationships among the form, style, and content of the two stories help us to understanding the essence of gender roles and marriage in the society today and back then. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Walter Mitty is an elder American man who has retired and has nothing else to do except follow his wife around. Walter daydreams about the life he wishes he could have. The main focus of the story is to present a fantasy world rather than a realistic one. “The Story of the Hour” takes on a more dramatic effect. The story reflects an important hour for the main character, Louise Mallard. Louise experiences freedom in this hour. Just like in The Secret Life of Witty where the main focus is on the desire to escape from an ordinary life, so is the case with The Story of...
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...Throughout The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber a man named Walter Mitty vicissitudes from the fantasy of his imagination to his mundane and ordinary life. Thurber expresses Mitty’s perspective of himself by changing the diction and language used in each different fantasyof his fantasies. Atlast, Thurber conceals the theme of the story within Mitty’s commonplace reality. In Mitty’s first day dream, “the roaring of the SN202 through the worst storm in twenty years of Navy flying” (Thurber 1), Mitty is the Commander of a hydroplane in danger of being consumed by a hurricane. Thurber creates a confident and self-assured characterization for the Commander. An example of this is when Mitty’s lieutenant offers an idea out of place. Mitty...
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...about things that matter. (Clugston 2010). Literature helps the reader escape into a world where their imaginations are able to run wild; you can be who you want to be, because literature becomes your secret world of reality. Day Dreaming allows us to follow all sorts of paths and free to generate all sorts of images, feelings, and thoughts. Our daily way of being typically requires us to be quite focused, and goal oriented. Using a reader-response approach, in this paper you will connect with literature, you will find a personal link or imaginative entry in this story. The literary work of James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will show you how an ordinary man escapes his anonymous life by disappearing into a world of imagination filled with heroism, romance and action. Walter Mitty will embark on a global journey that turns into an adventure more extraordinary than anything he could have ever imagined. . James Thurber wrote a short story about an imaginary character who is caught up with day dreaming and thoughts and has little to do with day to day matters…….Walter Mitty behavior is the primary focus of the story. After reading the secret life of Walter Mitty you will realize that James Thurber shows that Walter Mitty is a Habitual dreamer who is so unhappy with his daily life that he uses his dreams to become the person who can change the world. (Chapter 1...
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...“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber is about a man named Walter Mitty,who drifts into fantasies a lot because he is just ordinary in reality with a nagging wife who loves him very much. In the fantasies, he is the hero,fearless,brave,respected and extraordinary. I believe that Mrs.Mitty’s actions are motivated by the fact that she has to protect him from himself and has his best interests at heart. When Walter Mitty is daydreaming he does not pay attention what his are actions and surroundings around him are,but Mrs. Mitty does. In the story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is about a man that daydreams many times and his wife looks out for him. One day, Mrs.Mitty told Walter to get overshoes,so he could protect his shoes from harsh weather. This quote illustrates this...
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...tone, irony, and plot are just a few that really make a story come alive. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber (b. 1939) and “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin (b. 1894) are two short stories that are written many years apart but still convey the same struggle that many people face with being married. Both stories display individuals that are having a hard time “finding themselves” or trying to go back and imagine their independence more or less by finding ways of escaping the “trapped” feeling of marriage. Both of the stories are portraits of the struggle that men and women face during a marriage. “The Story of an Hour” tells of a woman with a very weak heart condition that has been told that her husband has been killed in a railroad accident. While most people would have expressed great sadness (she did for a brief moment) in learning such horrible news, Mrs. Mallard felt more like she had received a whole new life, only later did she learn that she had been misinformed and that her husband was still very much alive. The same could be said in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. This story tells of the restrictiveness of some marriages by giving great details of the constant daydreaming of a married man, who feels like he is being held prisoner by his own lack of self-esteem and also by his wife’s overbearing nature and constant nagging. If one truly thinks about it the life experiences of an author has a great influence over what types of subject matters...
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...The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Cadina Odum ENG125 Mary Lounsbury March 17, 2013 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (Thurber, 1939) is a short story by James Thurber. The most famous of Thurber’s stories, it first appeared in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939. This short story deals with a vague and mild-mannered man who drives into Waterbury, Connecticut and his wife for their regular weekly shopping and his wife’s visit to the beauty parlor. During this time he has five heroic daydream episodes, ranging from being a pilot in the U.S. Navy flying boat to being on a secret suicide mission to bomb an ammunition dump. In the following paragraphs I will tell why this story captured my interest, describe an analytical approach and evaluate this work and the meaning of the story. This story using great detail with descriptive, imaginative wording brings the reader in and allows you to visualize what he is daydreaming. This is the type of writing that draws me in and allows me to imagine what is going on. This work is a good example of farce (a comedy; a short play, in which both subtle humor and hilarity are developed through improbable situations, exaggeration and (often) ridiculous antics) (Clugston, 2010). Selected to show how humor can be used imaginatively in a story to illustrate the need for communication in human relationships: Mitty’s immersion in extraordinary matters of his dream world blocks him from sensitivity to his wife’s...
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...reading the short story I enjoyed the most is “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber. In his writing Mr. Thurber uses lots of literary elements from third person limited to symbolism. His ability to go from the reality of life to a fantasy or dream without you even realizing is absolutely amazing. Describe what the theme of the short story is, using Chapter Seven of the text as a reference. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is all about a man that constantly day dreams. He loses touch with reality at every opportunity. Not quite sure if it is intentional or if he cannot stay in touch with what is actually going on around him. To me it seems as though it maybe intentional like he enjoys going to another life and imagining he is someone else. He sees himself like he wants to be someone that is “big” and in charge having people that answer to him. Identify at least two of the literary elements in the short story that contribute to the theme (e.g., plot, point of view, tone, setting, character, symbolism, etc.), providing an example of each element. There are many literary elements in this short story but to limit it to just two I am going to use character and setting. During this short story Mr. Thurber uses the element of the narrator’s point of view being from multiple characters that are actually just one character. Walter Mitty slips into day dreams where he is a different person each time. To start Walter is a Commander in the Navy in charge of an eight-engine...
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...The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is the work that captured me. “Once we connect, we find ourselves escaping from the routine of our ordinary lives, caught up into adventure and entertained.” (Clugston, 2010 pg 2) When reading this story, I liked how the author, James Thurber, portrays Walter Mitty as a constant, irresponsible daydreamer, who then becomes serious in nature. I can relate to all of it, I am a daydreamer who then becomes serious. I have actually said the same thing as Walter Smitty when he states “Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?” (Clugston, 2010 pg 8) With this story, it was feelings that captivated me. I was able to feel and understand what James Thurber was writing about. The feelings that James Thurber created in his writing of the story were the feelings that I was having at that moment. The connections that I made between this piece of literature and others that I have read have to do with the feelings of the author’s writing. In this story he portrays the main character, Walter Smitty, as a bumbling day dreamer and his wife as a nagger My connection to the story did actually give me new insights. It gave me the insight from the view point of others. Walter Mitty’s wife is in the position that my boyfriend finds himself in a lot with me, his having to constantly remind me of things because I often forget things. When he is talking to me while I am day dreaming and just agreeing with what he says, I do not remember...
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