James Thurber's The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

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The imagination is an unbounded place where a person can escape the limitations of their own realities. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” written by James Thurber is the story of an ordinary man struggling to choose an identity within two contrasting worlds, fantasy and reality. Walter Mitty creates delusions for himself in order to satisfy his desire to be an extraordinary and heroic figure. It is through literary devices such as, diction, symbolism, and [one more] that his character is developed and illuminated. Throughout this narrative, Walter Mitty dreams of himself as different people that he would rather be. He spends a lot of his time removed from reality, contemplating lives more adventurous than his own. Walter Mitty is often distracted from his real life and therefore, seems unable to complete …show more content…

His lack of self-worth and uncertainty about himself often seeps into the third person narration that is both limited and influenced by Walter Mitty. [include better integration] “The attendant vaulted into the car, backed it up with insolent skill, and put it where it belonged” (3). The diction used within this sentence in the words “vaulted” and “insolent” helps to further establish Mitty’s character. The attendant is simply backing up the car that Walter Mitty was having trouble with. However, through his eyes, the attendant is hurdling into the car as if he were an athlete and completing the task with arrogance and disrespect towards Mitty. This then suggests that the attendant is both capable and able to take control of a situation, where Mitty cannot. Through this single sentence, it becomes apparent how deeply ingrained his sense of inferiority truly is. In all of Walter Mitty’s dreams, he is a complex and competent saviour. Often associated with this role is masculinity and the ability to take

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