The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Essays

“ The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” analyzes the daydreams by expansion, disappointments, and wants of the main character. Thurber narrates the story through a third person point of view, limited. The life of Walter Mitty is not one to be overly fascinated about. As a matter of fact, it is exactly opposite of an interesting life that others would be impressed with. Walter has entered fantasyland! Through Foils, to make up for many failures and disappointments Walter constructs a, “secret life” in his

Perspective of Dreaming James Thurber's short story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," explores the theme of reality vs dreams and isolation through the character of Walter Mitty. Mitty's daydreams serve as a way for him to escape the monotony of his everyday life and create a more exciting reality. However, this creates a divide between his actual life and the one he imagines, leaving him isolated from the world around him. In his daydreams, Mitty is a hero, a commander, a doctor, and a daring pilot

of pleasant thoughts that distract one's attention from the present. In the book The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, by James Thurber, Walter, the main character, tries to escape reality by daydreaming about a more exciting life. The main characters in this book are Walter Mitty and his demanding wife. Throughout the story Walter is driving his wife to a hair appointment and running some errands. Walters life is stagnant and he shows this with many traits including, being unadventurous and having

of the past or present. In Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the protagonist’s life is routine and lacks vibrancy. Eventually, an arduous adventure spurs past aspirations and present commitments forwards. Through this film, Stiller demonstrates the importance for humans to integrate personal beliefs into everyday life while staying pragmatic, and maintaining balance in order to develop and understand identity through adversity. Walter Mitty begins as a one-sided character lacking the

Justin Gonska Short stories May 19, 2023 The Secret Life of Walter Mitty We have all wanted to be somewhere else in a situation where we are uncomfortable, bored, or even sad. In the short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty written by James Thurber, the main character Walter Mitty can do just that. Walter Mitty is an ordinary, boring guy who has almost all of the aspects of his life controlled by others around him, but when he daydreams he becomes an adventurous man who can do anything he

Stiller's The ‘Secret Life of Walter Mitty Walter leads double lives in dreams and reality I will be exploring how Walter's connection to dreams and reality change over time. Both versions of Walter initially rely on dreams to escape from reality but we see that Walter's confidence and self-belief are tied to the dreams he has. At the end of the film, The film version of Walter learns to make his dreams a reality, while the novel version is more content with who he is. Walter Mitty relies on his

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

In, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber uses his personal experience and symbolism to connect the historical climate at the time for the purpose of developing the conflict between man vs. society. The main character, Walter Mitty, goes through his day while battling icy waters as a lieutenant and performing surgeries on millionaire bankers with some of the best doctors in America. As he goes along, readers are able to see how technology and the war had impacted people’s lives during

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Constructed Response In the story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, Walter Mitty is a character that often daydreams of exciting adventures to occupy his very dull and ordinary life. Most times, his daydreaming gets him into trouble so his wife, Mrs. Mitty, tries to look out for him. Some may think Mrs. Mitty does not respect Walter Mitty and she is guilty of emasculating him however she is motivated to protect Mr. Mitty from himself and really

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

Mrs. Mitty is clearly the strongest supporting character in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” She is static because she doesn’t experience enlightenment into the thought process of her husband like we do. Mrs. Mitty helps us understand Mitty through her passive role in his life. Because of her low expectations, Mitty doesn’t have anyone in his life to push him towards becoming the person he desires to be, a strong, popular hero and thus remains static. The monotony of Mitty’s life, caused by his

this is a familiar situation as Walter zones in and out from reality, but these are not just loose thoughts or fantasies, these are astonishing worlds Walter ponders upon and it is similar to non-other. The secret Life of Walter by James Thurber is a perfectly depicted story by Thurber, he excellently goes in depth on the thoughts that course through Walters' head, Thurber illustrates to the audience the disparity between Walters external and internal relationships Walter has with those in his environment

short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, written by James Thurber. The short story follows a middle aged man, Walter Mitty, as he goes through fantasies which involve him in situation that are far from his reality. People use imagination to put themselves in situation where they posses certain qualities or a lifestyle which they lack in the real world. Throughout the short story, Walter escapes into event-triggered fantasies in which he can do or be anything he wants to be. Walter uses his imagination

At some point in their life, everyone wishes they could be someone or somewhere else. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, Walter Mitty often daydreams, wishing he were somewhere or someone else. He does this to make up for his average and boring life. In the story, Walter is an average husband who is treated like a child by his wife. In the movie, Walter starts as an ordinary negative asset manager for LIFE magazine but eventually lives out his daydreams. Moreover, his character

story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber and the movie based on that short story, the main character, Walter Mitty, faces daydreams to counter his boring reality. He struggles to understand the difference between who he is and what he wants to be. Both the outer world and his mind affect his personality using his relationships with others, his views along with emotions towards the world, and conflicts whether internal or external. For instance, the short story introduces Walter as a middle

Is there any way daydreaming can help with story development? In both the print and film versions of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the main character does exactly this to further the plot. In the realistic fiction film version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by Ben Stiller, it portrays a large variety of literary details such as archetypes, conflict, and character development that help to further progress the plot and understanding. However, in the short fiction print version

Analysis “To what extent has director, Ben Stiller, used film techniques to adapt John Thurber’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to appeal to a contemporary audience?” Characterisation The characterisation of Walter Mitty in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has been adapted to appeal to a contemporary audience as modern conventions have been used. To start, in both the film and short story, Walter Mitty is portrayed as a 40-year-old man with no aspirations which leads to him to daydream regularly to

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an uplifting film that follows Walter Mitty as he monotonously goes to work, daydreams about being adventurous, and tries to work up the courage to talk to a girl from work. Walter Mitty is eventually able to live his daydreams through the adventure he goes on to find Sean O'Connell and, in the end, asks Cheryl to go on a date. Walter goes on this adventure because he is being pressured by work to find the negative that has been misplaced. Walter breaks free from

2015 Escapism in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Walter Mitty, a daydreamer, imagines himself as the protagonist of his fantasies: a navy pilot commander, surgeon, marksman, bomber pilot, and a victim of the firing squad. Mitty's wife treats him like a child rather than a husband. However, Mitty does tend to provoke her behavior by participating in these daydreams. He is admonished by parking lot attendants, policemen, and his own wife for behaving in this childish manner. Mitty is a grown adult who

In the article, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, Mrs. Mitty gets perceived as a flat character, however she is quite complex. She protects her husband, Walter Mitty, from his fragile mental state and the world around him. I believe she is not constricting and depriving Walter from his manhood, but rather is forced to help him through his life. This is shown when the article states, “You were up to fifty-five she said. You know i don’t like to go more than forty. You were