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Internal Conflict In The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

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Walter Mitty's Daydreams verse Reality

“Make your life a dream, and of a dream a reality” (“A quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry”). Famous French writer, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, wrote this quote that relates to the main protagonist's internal struggle in the story which creates a lasting conflict throughout the story that makes his life miserable. Walter Mitty, the protagonist, struggles with the internal conflict of wanting to have authority, to be looked upon as a hero, and to be in control of his own life. Unfortunately, he is seen only as ordinary by others. Throughout the short story, “ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the author James Thurber uses the juxtaposition of Walter’s daydreams verse reality to highlight the protagonist's internal conflict.
Walter Mitty’s first daydream showcases his lack of control in his relationship with his wife by showing the difference between real life and his imagination. This begins when Walter finally awakes from his daydream and his wife is yelling, “‘Not so fast! …show more content…

Then the story switches back to a daydream of him being a cool and calm army captain calling orders without a worry. In the story, Walter has ended up having to wait in the hotel for his wife to return from the hair salon because she refuses to arrive before him. The story then cuts to him being an army captain calling risky shots without worry. This is showing Walter’s lack of authority compared to his wife by him having to wait in the hotel for a long time just because of her needs. In his daydream, though, he is a very cool and collected army captain in charge of making all the shots, which is the opposite of how he is with his wife. This portion of the story is relating to his internal conflict of how he wants to be in real life and how he acts in his daydreams but shows the major difference between the

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