Examples Of Foreshadowing In The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

In the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the author James Thurber, uses foreshadowing and contrast to tell the story. The story includes a middle aged man that is repeatedly told he is becoming older. He is thought to be a fool by everyone and is controlled by his wife. This unpleasant existence he holds, triggers daydreams that he experiences periodically and causes him to zone out.
Throughout the short story, the author hints to what is coming, and refers back to what has happened. Foreshadowing is evident in several different paragraphs and connects across them such as when, “I’ll have my right arm in a sling and they’ll see…” is stated and reflected on by the next daydream. This dream includes the idea he had a sling on his right arm and that he could shoot a pistol accurately with his left non-dominant hand. Again foreshadowing can be found in the first paragraph when he says, ‘”Rev her up to 8500. We’re going through.”’, which refers to him speeding up to 55 mph while in the car, when he was going 40mph or lower prior to this line from

the story. These daydreams are not only provoked by events in real life but are inversions of these events.
As seen with the foreshadowing in the previous paragraph the events in his life affect his daydreams but are also inversions of his reality.

In the first paragraph of the story, contrast is used by saying, “The commanders voice was like thin ice breaking.”. This is in contrast with his real life where he is not in charge or the “Commander”, in fact his wife orders him to do things such as, “slow down”, because she doesn’t like to go over 40 mph. Again, he can be seen with his daydreams in contrast with his real life by thinking “The greatest pistol shot in the world thought a moment.”. This sentence refers to Mitty and his last daydream which was about him being coordinated with his hands which he is not in reality. This presents the fact that the author is using the daydreams to reflect an inverted version of Mitty’s reality that places him as the center of attention as the person with all the

power.
The author uses both of these literary devices or elements extensively throughout the story and are used to create the story. The foreshadowing is what gives the daydreams their context and meaning to the story. The contrast however, determines his position in the daydreams and how it relates to his position in real life. Lastly, without these devices in the story, the story would not be able to explain itself or completely develop Walter Mitty’s character.