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"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," focuses on Walter and his daydreams of
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Reflection on the secret life of walter mitty
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James Thurber is the author of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. He feels inferior to his wife throughout his marriage. He learns to express these feelings through writing short stories and illustrating cartoons. This is a way for him to escape his everyday life with his wife. Critics have acknowledged Mitty motif, which is used to describe his two major themes in many of his major works such as “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (Morsberger 66). “The Secret Life of Walter Witty” is one of the most well know short stories by James Thurber (Morsberger 44). His themes are evident throughout the story. Also, he is able to become alive through the story by expressing imagination. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” explores the main themes of disharmony between the sexes, males’ escaping routine, and life as a married couple.
In the Mitty motif, there are two themes, and the first is, “...the domination of the American male by the American female” (Morsberger 66). In James Thurber’s short stories the women are domineering over the men (La Blanc, Michael and Ira 40). Women no longer want to be inferior to men. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, Mitty’s wife bosses him around. This suggests she does not respect her husband. Mitty fails to meet his own idea of masculinity, which in return allows the wife to take power (“Men and Masculinity”). Prior research states that “Thurber embraces the type of masculinity that Walter idealizes in his fantasy” (“Men and Masculinity”). Walter Mitty is a poor driver, a husband who does not care, and a forgetful man (“Men and Masculinity”). He no longer puts forth effort in his marriage. People in the story treat Mitty as a grumpy older man, but he imagines himself to be no such thing, but as a great...
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...ates that, “through this story, Thurber rejects typical romantic ideals of masculinity and instead promotes the everyday sort of masculinity that Walter embodies in real life” (“Men and Masculinity”). James Thurber has condemned the foundation of marriage in this short story of Walter Mitty (“Marriage”).
In conclusion, the Mitty motifs are the themes that include: disharmony between the sexes and males escaping routine. Another theme James Thurber includes in his work is the life as a married couple. Thurber has accomplished many great short shorties in his life, but “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” his most popular work. He has learned to live his life through his short stories, expressing his feelings in his writings. Many individuals have been inspired by his writings. James Thurber has made his mark on the world and will be forever known and never forgotten.
In the story of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, Walter Mitty is a static character and in the movie Walter Mitty by Ben Stiller, Walter is made a dynamic character so that the movies is more exciting than the book. In the story Walter stays a boring character who doesn’t do much at all, while in the movie he becomes the adventurous character he has dreamed about. In the end of the story Walter was happy about “facing the firing squad”. Since Walter never had the life he wanted he just wanted to die, unlike the movie where he had done so many things that he got himself a date when he was the most happy. In the story Walter kept dreaming throughout the day being triggered by little things to go off into his own world, but in the movie Walter
In the short story, “ The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” written by James Thurber, it describes a man who while in the midst of everyday life, floats off into daydream that often cause him more trouble than it is worth. His wife, Mrs. Mitty, on the surface does not seem like a well-rounded character. It always seems her life’s mission is to demean Walter and to always use her overbearing nature to nag him. However, there may be more to this character than what meets the eye. I believe that Mrs. Mitty is actually a well-rounded character in the fact that she only acts the way she does only for her husband and his well-being.
In both The Bell Jar and Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, we often see women as being subordinate to men. For example, in "Debts", one of Grace Paley's characters is happy because she has found "a husband to serve"(Paley, Enormous Changes at the Last Minute, 11). Her life has no meaning apart from her role as wife. She is defined by her husband. The idea that women are defined by their husband is so pervasive that we even find it in the language of the stories. In "The Burdened Man" there is a newspaper article describing the shooting of a wife and her lover by her husband. The husband and the lover are called by name, Sgt. Armand Kielly and Alfred Ciaro, respectively. The wife is only referred to as Mrs. Kielly. In The Bell Jar, when Buddy Willard proposes to Esther, he asks her "How would you like to be Mrs. Buddy Willard?"(Plath, The Bell Jar, 75). In both these instances, the language used defines the women in terms of their husband. This casual indication of dominance says a great deal about the culture.
...he protagonist struggle with self esteem. In The Necklace, the protagonist is struggling with her social status, which is that, she middle class and not upper class. But at the end of the story the protagonist realizes social status is only for show and not real life. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the protagonist is struggling with self esteem, because of masculine issues. He wants to be that dominant male but is henpecked to the point that he cannot do simple errands without being nagged by his wife. Guy de Maupassant and James Thurber used the techniques of irony and conflict to explore and view marital relationships.
Have you ever wanted to learn about an interesting short story? Then I have the perfect short story for you. You could think of possibly anything and Walter Mitty would dream about it and make it seem special. The short story is called “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”by James Thurber, it is an interesting story about a guy named Walter Mitty, who has a nagging wife constantly on him, but he goes through his boring life imagining about all the cool stuff he could do. A dominant theme in James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is Imagery. He shows imagery in his short story by making his character, Walter Mitty, imagine he's in these obstacles, which he pretends he's something he's not. Throughout the story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber uses literary elements like imagery and allusion to get his theme across to the readers.
Mosse, L George. The Image of Man: The Creation of Modern Masculinity. New York: Macmillan publishers, 1996.
The movie, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller, conveys a daydreamer escaping his typical life by disappearing into a realm of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. In both the movie and the book, the title character retreats into fantasy as an escape from his mundane reality because in the real world, he is ordinary, insecure, and passive. In the short story, Walter simply retreats into his daydreams and tolerates his domineering wife, while in the movie he actively pursues finding himself. Walter Mitty, a timid, passive, henpecked husband, embarrassingly incompetent at ordinary tasks, constantly falls into daydreams in which he assumes such heroic roles as flying through a storm, shooting down German aircraft, and performing delicate surgery.
Although neither take a significant role in the novel, Jack and Leon Tallis are critical starting points to understanding the expectations of masculinity. Beginning with Jack Tallis, we are not told outright, but it seems masculinity includes being the provider for the family, even if that means long nights away from the home. Emily has come to expect the “phone call from the department to say that Mr. Tallis had to work late and had to stay up in town” (96). But, this also implies Jack Tallis is having an affair, suggesting being involved with multiple women and sexual superiority is a right of those claiming masculinity. From the example set forth by Leon, readers can also assume the “gift of avoiding responsibility” and the ability to “float free” is also bestowed upon men if they so desire it as an option (96). From this limited view of masculinity readers are shown both freedom and power as key
The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty - Character Study of Walter Mitty & nbsp; In the short story, "The secret life of Walter Mitty," a man by the Walter Mitty goes into town with his wife to get some things done. Throughout this story Walter Mitty shows that he is very forgetful and a a really stubborn man with a vivid imagination. He is constantly being distracted, and starts to day dream often. & nbsp; There are a few hints in this story that show Walter Mitty is very forgetful. Most of this is probably caused by his constant day dreaming.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” expresses the theme that satisfaction is harder for those who are not normal. With all of Walter Mitty’s daydreams in between everything that he does, it shows that his actual life is lacking something that he desires.
Walter attempts to reinvent himself through his work and relationships to try and provide for his wife and family. Walter is fighting a battle within his household because he believes that Ruth, his wife, “couldn’t be on [his] side that long for nothing,” even though she is just trying to do what is best for everyone involved (Hansberry 32). Walter cannot see past his dream to realize the impact it would have on everyone else if it failed, so he drowns his sorrows in alcohol. Although “he knows the possibility of failure is also a vital part of the American success story” Walter is not just risking his own future, he is risking his child’s, mother’s and sister’s and without a second thought to his personal relationships, he blindly makes an investment on the chance of having the wealth and house he desires for everyone (Washington 98). Walter is so focused on reinventing his work life and having money that he loses sight of his family’s values and ideas. He does not care about Ruth being pregnant and the possibility of aborting their child as long as he can achieve his goals. Walter is living in a dream where he believes that “anyone can become anything he wants to be,” and that is not true in his case with the social and racial standards that are set against him (Washington 95). Walter sees wealth as ensuring happiness and having everything he desires, which is why he is pushing his family so hard for the money, causing issues. Even though all the odds are set against him in this time period, Walter cannot see past being able to provide for his family and having the American Dream that he most
‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ is about a boring man who has a lot of daydreams. It was originally a short story by James Thurber, but was also made into a movie. The way that the story is presented in both is a key factor in either’s success, and when compared, the two are very different. For example, in the short story, Walter has little to no character development, but in the movie, nearly the entire production is him being put through a lot of situations that let us see more of the true character of Walter Mitty. This example and others is what makes the movie adaptation of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ better than that of the short story.
For instance, Lady Brett's personality demonstrates the idea of self-satisfaction. Brett’s short haircut, unladylike vocabulary, and unapologetically promiscuous behavior makes her the most traditionally "masculine" character in the novel. She effortlessly went after what she desired and it caused the men to pine after her; however, she does not commit to any man who is infatuated with her. Her refusal to commit to one man brought the insecurities of the men to the forefront. Brett’s strong sense of self ultimately emasculated them.
In this book review I represent and analyze the three themes I found the most significant in the novel.
In many literary works there has been a predilection for choosing themes such as family relationships as plots, because it seems that this type of topics go straight to the receptors’ heart, creating new connections and perceptions of life.