The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty Analysis

Life in the Shoes of Walter Mitty An active imagination is not something found in the everyday grocery market, for it is not something any human being can sell. It is an abstract idea gifted to lucky individuals. The author James Thurber follows a day in the life of one such individual in his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. A short piece of fiction written about an average man’s day, going about his tasks and occasionally being interrupted by bouts of his personal fantasies. Those with the gift of imagination are going to experience life differently than those around them, Walter Mitty certainly did. This alternative way of perceiving life caused several impacts upon Walter Mitty’s mundane life. These effects nurtured invariably by his …show more content…
One such possibility was him becoming a doctor. “ ‘I’ve read your book on streptothricosis,’ said Pritchard Mitford, shaking hands.” in this fantasy of his he was a doctor who was quite famous, having even written a few books (as shown by the preceding quote). For a few moments, Walter Mitty was able to experience what his life would have been like had he chosen to become a doctor. Walter Mitty also imagined himself as a criminal. “ ‘I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet with my left hand.’ ” in this quote Walter speaks to a judge as though he were a criminal in one of his fantasies. Although it is not exactly a positive fantasy it is a different way he could have taken his life. Apart from viewing his life different ways Walter Mitty also used his imagination to abdicate from some of the abuse he faced in his waking life. From the eyes of other people, Walter Mitty just seemed like a peculiar, possibly insane man, which can the following quote proves “A woman who was passing laughed. ‘He said ‘Puppy biscuit,’ ’ she said to her companion.”. This woman does not even know Walter, yet she