Walter Mitty Allusion

What would be the consequences of living vicariously through another person? The life of an individual who does not live every day to his or her fullest extent is a restricting one. Humorous author, James Thurber, in his short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” shares the tale of Walter Mitty, a man who lives an unhappy life in the city obeying his wife’s every wish and command, daydreams to escape the sad constricting reality of his life. In Ben Stiller’s story-based film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter Mitty takes real-life action to find love, adventure, and respect from a demeaning boss who takes the lead position of remodeling Life Magazine from a physical to an online magazine. Ben Stiller and James Thurber utilize allusion,

symbolism, and pathos to express that although the world can be unforgiving and harsh everyone must find his or her interpretation of the meaning of life.

Stiller and Thurber utilize allusion to help convey their message that humans cannot shy away from the journey to find the meaning of life. In Ben Stiller’s 2013 film, Walter Mitty works to develop film negatives for the final print cover of Life Magazine but did not receive the specific negative that Sean O’Connell, the famed photographer of these photos, requested for the cover. He embarks on a journey to escape his dreary life and find the film negative, on the way, he boards a ship to Iceland with many other men. When arriving, there was only one bicycle available as transportation and Mitty runs to take it, while running a friendly ship worker says, “stay gold Ponyboy” (Stiller). This alludes to an infamous quote from The Outsiders, a popular 1967 novel, and references the dynamic character Ponyboy who, being forced into growing up very fast, has to adapt to his surroundings. Similarly, Walter’s father’s death forced him to work and support his family from a young age, causing him to abandon his dreams while his little sister got to chase after her aspirations in life. Instead, Walter daydreams to escape the

realities of his life. In the short story, Walter daydreams himself in a role of a World War I captain. While conversing with a sergeant, Thurber writes, “Walter Mitty walked to the door of the dugout humming, ‘Auprès de Ma Blonde.’” (Thurber 5). This alludes to the popular French war song during World War I. Mitty imagines himself in a very well respected position and daydreams that he has no fear of death during a dark time. This shows Mitty’s willingness to give up on the journey of life while running away from the reality that, he must find where he belongs in life and how to be happy. He also alludes to World War I when the sergeant says, “‘it takes two men to hand that bomber and the Archies are pounding hell out of the air’” (Thurber 4). The Archies are a type of anti-aircraft weapon used during the war. And Thurber’s use of this diction implies, that even in the face of adversity, Mitty is brave. By the use of allusion, Thurber and Stiller express that the journey of life is not one to run from by escaping reality.
In the same fashion, these creators use symbolism to demonstrate to find the meaning of life one must also find who they truly are in this world and how to make his or herself happy. In the short story Mrs. Mitty takes the role of a controlling and rude wife, who is only in a relationship for her own benefit. For example, when she shouts, “‘Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!’ said Mrs. Mitty. ‘What are you driving so fast for?’” (Thurber 1). His wife is a symbol for the authority of society. His wife forces him to cater to her every need and make money at a job he does not care for, just so she can spend it. Much similarly, harsh life circumstances brought about by the authority of society forces him to fit in a box and live a normal boring life. Moreover, his family circumstances, in the film, forces him to receive the worse end of the stick and work a normal boring job to support his family while his sister finds her dreams and aspirations in the show business. By utilizing this symbolism Thurber implies that although the world is unfair everyone must persevere through this to be happy and to find his or her purpose of life. In the 2013 film, “the quintessence of life” is repeated several times as a major motif (Stiller). This also demonstrates symbolism because the word quintessence derives from Latin, meaning Quinta Essentia or the fifth essence. Therefore, the Quintessence of Life is also the fifth essence of life. In western philosophy the circle of life is made of four essences air, fire, water and air each element representing a certain idea. In the Vedic philosophy, there is a fifth element, space or sky, which represents ideas of the cosmos and the discovery of the self. Tying into spiritual ideas like those of Herman Hesse’s novella, Siddhartha. Vedic philosophers believe the world is an element of the cosmos and our journey should be to understand this cosmos. To understand the cosmos one must understand the self. Hence the quintessence is a journey to discover one’s self. Stiller utilizes the symbol of the quintessence of life to stress that one must understand him or herself to find his or her meaning of life. Symbolism, in this case, stresses one must persevere through the harsh realities of the world to find the meaning of life.
Lastly, Stiller and Thurber utilize pathos to appeal to dramatic irony in both tales of Walter Mitty.

In the short story, Walter Mitty paints himself as very prestigious characters such as a knowledgeable doctor, a brave man, a military captain, a millionaire, and “Walter Mitty the Undefeated” (Thurber 5). This demonstrates pathos because of the reality of his life is that he cannot even do simple tasks such as backing his car into a mechanic’s garage. Thurber expresses the sad ironic reality of his life which is that he paints himself as a hero in his daydreams but lives a boring and unsuccessful life. Thurber uses Walter’s characteristics to prove one must adventure and explore to find meaning and purpose in life. In the movie, Walter debates getting into a helicopter with a drunk pilot to find Sean’s film negative and continue his adventure or to give up and turn back to his unhappy life. When he daydreams his love interest, Cheryl Melhoff, singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” he decides to bravely jump into the helicopter, quite literally taking a leap of faith. Although a lyric of the song reads, “Here am I floating ‘round my tin can/ Far above the Moon/ Planet Earth is blue/ And there’s nothing I can do” (Bowie). This exemplifies irony because of the story Bowie tells of the protagonist of the song Major Tom. Major Tom embarks on a journey to outer space but communication cuts off from Earth and he realizes he will never come back to his wife and to life. This

appeals to pathos because this makes the listener sad about Major Tom’s apparent death and if this has anything to do with Walter Mitty’s future which is also ironic because this song is sung in a moment of triumph for Walter and seems to be in a celebratory tone. Walter daydreams the entire scenario of Cheryl singing which conveys that even though a song about a spaceman’s mission gone wrong, Mitty twisted the song around and used it as motivation to find his quintessence of life. Pathos and dramatic irony emphasize the message that the meaning of life is found while embarking on a journey, not while waiting for it to land on one’s doorstep.
Living vicariously through someone, expresses an individual's state of hopelessness in life, that he or she will never accomplish his or her dreams or aspirations due to the authority of society which tells us, as a part of that society, to prioritize other material things over happiness. While really, to find true meaning and purpose of life is a journey away and the key to happiness is to find where one belongs and exactly what makes him or her happy. Escaping reality is not a healthy way to avoid that journey and will only make one more miserable once he or she realizes that daydreams are not reality. Society will not hand an individual happiness; an individual must search for it.