The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty Rhetorical Devices

Ishan Datt November 23, 2014

Ms. Panousis Period 6

An Unknown World

In the novel, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber, an average man, Walter Mitty, dreams of the vast mysteries of life and imagines great stories of himself as a commander, surgeon and defendant in a court case. The story uses several rhetorical strategies such as juxtaposition, imagery and dramatic irony in order to exemplify the theme of the innate nature for better understanding oneself and living life to the fullest.

The story begins with a vibrant scene in which Walter Mitty imagines himself commanding a Navy hydroplane, attempting to overcome the harsh stormy conditions. The actual setting of the story includes Walter Mitty and his wife going to the hairdresser’s and walking into the drugstore. The scene is shown to be very mundane and lifeless, as Walter is shown to be inept at driving as well as other simple routine activities. However, this is drastically juxtaposed with

Thurber, through his diction and syntax, creates a conversational and common voice for his short story. The diction and syntax of the monotonous parts of the story are reminiscent of a conversation, with their exceedingly dry language and content-focused sentences, for instance: “When he came out into the street again, with the overshoes in a box under his arm, Walter Mitty began to wonder what the other thing was his wife had told him to get.(130)” The adventures use a much more dramatic tone in order to show how different they are from his everyday life, “There is no one in the East who knows how to fix it!” “Quiet, man!” said Mitty, in a low, cool voice.(129)” This makes Walter’s story understandable to the everyday person as it describes common activities. More importantly however, it perpetuates the conception of Walter Mitty as representative of the average