The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

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Literature is so popular because different people enjoy them for many reasons. Some people just want to be entertained, or learn something, or even feel that they are not alone in the crazy situations life takes us through. You get to see the characters how you want, have the setting look how you imagine, and then be able to relate the story back to your own agenda. It is easier in literature to not be told how to feel than any other platform. In a story like “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber or the poem “United” by Naomi Shihab Nye the themes of identity is shown. The theme of identity, how it is crafted, and who contributes to it, is a question all people can ask themselves in one-way or another. Some people are content with their image, but others have trouble finding themselves. That is where literature comes in. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “United” both discuss the theme of identity but portray it differently. …show more content…

In reality he struggles with confidence, decision-making, and self worth. To escape these traits, he comes up with these elaborate situations where all eyes are on him. As he is waiting on this wife, he dreams up a scenario where he must step in for a surgery in order to literally save a life. In some stories, he helps people, in some he saves the day, and in others he only causes attention to himself. All this while he waits on his overbearing wife, gets yelled at by random people on the street and remains quit. Which persona is the real Walter Mitty? Can his identity be how he sees himself, or is it the one society gives him? The last story in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty portrays Walter’s true feelings. No matter how the world sees him, he chooses not to care. He faces what’s ahead of him and remains “Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the

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