James Grove Thurber Analysis

JAMES THURBER AND HIS LIFE James Grove Thurber was an American writer, humorist and a cartoonist. During 1901, in his childhood,
Thurber was permanently blinded in left eye after being shot with an arrow while playing with his elder brother. Sight in his other eye continued to fail throughout his adult life. He spent the last decade of his life in complete blindness. ”My Life and Hard
Times”, ”My World and Welcome to It ” and “The Secret life of Walter Mitty” are his notable works. He received Tony
Award for “A Thurber Carnival” (1960s)
“MY LIFE AND HARD TIMES” This renowned work is the 1933
Autobiography of James Thurber. Russell Baker, known for his satirical commentary and Self-critical prose, wrote “possibly the shortest

He was one of the foremost American humorists of the 20th century. In his essay “University Days” shares the painful experience that led him to his unfinished degree at Ohio State
University. It makes the reader interesting and amusing.
TORMENTING BOTANY CLASSES James Thurber starts this essay by explaining the difficulties in passing the subject, Botany. He passed all the other subjects except Botany. The reason is that all botany students should spend several hours in laboratory seeing through a microscope at plant cells. Everybody could, but not Thurber because of his eye condition. His instructor would help him in every way that he could. But Thurber’s answer would be “I can’t see anything”. Thurber used to complain that the microscope took away the beauty of flowers. The instructor would readjust the microscope only for him. “I see what looks like a lot of milk” he would answer. Finally he took a deferred pass. Then too he could see only “a nebulous milky substance”. This made the professor to go out of his temper. Thurber, humorously compares the professor with Lionel Barrymore. Ohio

As he went to this class straight from the botany class, he used to mix things up. But he satisfies himself by saying that he was good enough when compared to a sports student,
Bolenciecwcz. He says about Bolenciecwcz, that he was “not dumber than an ox he was not any smarter”. Bolenciecwcz was one of the outstanding football stars. So Prof.Bassum asked him a very easy question. “Name any means of transportation” was the question. But he couldn’t answer even for this simple question. The professor and students helped him by giving husky voices to the sound of the train. But he shows no improvement. Atlast with lots of clues, he answers. Thurbershares this point to show us about the condition of Ohio State
University. It helps a dumb student only because he is a sports star but not Thurber, who is partially blind.
FRUSTRATING GYMNASIUM For Thurber, gymnasium work was worse than botany and economics. He says “They wouldn’t let you play games or join in the exercises with your glasses on and I couldn’t see with mine off”. He didn’t like to swim but he managed to pass it with the help of another student. They give importance to gymnasium number than his name. And they