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About the author of the secret life of walter mitty
The secret life of walter mitty analyze
Walter mitty character analysis
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“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a uniquely structured short story that does not incorporate a climax, yet exhibits the use of a resolution. Throughout the story, Walter Mitty has numerous daydream-fantasies, and they can all be contrasted to his mundane experiences in his dull life, such as when Walter waits outside of a drugstore for his wife and fantasizes into a world where he dies being known as “the Undefeated”.(37) The main underlying conflict is that Walter is sickened by his dull lifestyle and mentally escapes to fantasize into a world beyond life’s parameters, and his imagination is not hindered by any aspects of reality. This is displayed through his fantasies, especially the two where he is powering/controlling a Navy hydroplane,
and him heroically dying (from a firing squad). The tendencies of his daydream-fantasies are related to something Walter does in reality, such as when he picks up a Liberty magazine and reads “Can Germany Conquer the World Through the Air?” (Thurber, 36), his daydream-fantasy revolves around war against Germans. There is no climax of this story as there is no true evidence that Walter has overcome his dull lifestyle or abstained from fantasy and has a brighter reality. There is, however, a resolution present in his last fantasy where “he faced the firing squad...proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty...inscrutable to the last.” (37) Since this story begins and ends with Walter’s fantasies, it can be inferred that the shooting squad illusion may symbolize that he is undefeated in reality and fantasy because his testament of daydreaming to escape from the mundane detriments of reality remains.
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.
Walter is a struggling father. He wishes for only the best in his family. He dislikes being a chauffeur because he feels as if he is a servant in a century of freedom. The only thing keeping him together is his dream of the riches he will amount to once the insurance money comes. Once the check comes, he can only think of investing th...
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.
At first, Walter starts as a man who does not have many traits and characteristics that a leader in the family should has. He feels frustrated of the fact that his mother can potentially support his sister, Beneatha, in her education career. Walter complains and feels depressed about his current life when he has many aspects that not many African men had during his time. Walter has a happy family, a loving wife, and an acceptable occupation. Unfortunately, Walter wants more in his life, and he feels hopeless and depressed when something does not go in his ways. Walter starts to change when he experiences and learns Willis’s betrayal, his father’s hard work, his son’s dream of becoming a bus driver, and his mother’s explanation about the Africans’ pride. Through many difficulties, Walter becomes the man of the family, and he learns the importance of accepting and living a happy life with his family. Like Walter, many African men had to overcome the challenges and obstacles. They had to face and endure through racism. These two ideas often led to many tragic and depressed incidents such as unequal opportunities, inequality treatments, segregation, and
Many stories have the standard beginning, middle, and end structure that can be become very dull and predictable, diminishing the value and quality of a story. However, Anton Chekhov’s short stories brought upon a new era for literature when he introduced short stories with “zero ending” or “non ending” conclusions. Through this concept he can pull off bottom less endings, where the reader is assumed to ponder and wonder what will happen to the characters after the story ends. This paper will discuss this concept by comparing and contrasting Chekhov’s “The Lady With the Little Dog” and “Sleepy” to “The Beggarwoman of Locarno” by Heinrich Von Kleist, a short story with a more traditional standard structure.
As Forrest Gump would say “life is a box of chocolates you never know what you’re going to get”. This happens in Mitty’s life as well; Walter Mitty may have not known his life was going to change that instantly. He was the same until certain events occurred. In Ben Stiller’s courageous film the secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter changes from lifeless to adventurous illustrating that one who is always following by a routine may not discover the true term “life”.
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.
Ultimately, Walter does a wonderful job of bringing together multiple different stories and making them intertwine in various ways. It shows readers that even though one does have their own story, other stories of others lives, show up and interview with theirs. No one is ever, truly, alone. This idea is painted beautifully throughout the novel and shows that even though you may believe that your life is a ruin and you are all alone, something or someone can come into your life and, for just a moment, make it beautiful again.
“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.
Another theme is the ability of a person to have some dignity even when it feels like the world is against you. These themes remain important today because it teaches us what can happen to a person if their dreams are never fulfilled. For example, Walter had a dream to open a liquor store, however this dream never came true after Willy (the person Walter gave the money too to open the store) betrayed him. He broke down and felt hopeless. It also teaches us that dignity is important, Walter also portrayed his need for dignity after he rejects the offer of Mr. Linder from the“home improvement
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
He knew he wasn't a killer. If only he could reverse time. If so, he wouldn't be holding the gun that was swinging from his hands. He pondered what he would have done differently, and that was he wouldn't have eaten the birthday cake at his daughter's birthday party. He has been diagnosed with a mental illness that is triggered by consumption of chocolate. It makes him fall into an alter ego that controls his actions. She had just turned six, and he decided to give her daughter a birthday party. Everything was going well until the cake was served. When his daughter, Lacy, wanted a chocolate cake, he was against the idea initially. However, he thought, “If I don't consume the cake, my ego will not emerge.” Finally, he permitted the idea. What he didn't know was that his daughter would want him to partake of the confection. “Daddy,” Lacy insisted, “Please eat the cake. It would make this the best birthday.” Pretty soon, the whole party was chanting, “Kevin, eat the cake. Kevin, eat the cake.” Feeling pressured, he took a bite of the cake.
Initially, Walter?s sole focus on his dreams lead to impaired judgment. One way Walter portrays his impaired judgment is when he makes assorted empty promises. In the Yo...
‘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.
Various authors. Critical Survey of Long Fiction. Volume 5. Salem Press. Englewood Cliffs, NJ. 1983.