Walter Mitty “The secret life of Walter Mitty” written by James Thurber is a story about a man named Walter Mitty having a hard time facing the reality of everyday life. Walter finds himself at a crossroad between reality and a secret, fantasy world he has created for himself. In the real world, Walter is an old man busy doing chores for his nagging wife. In his fantasy world, Walter is a young, successful man surrounded by people that admire him. Walter’s daydreaming is a way for him to escape his mediocre life. The central conflict of Thurber’s story is a repetitive and ordinary life versus a life full of action and success. Much of Thurber’s story conflict is generated within Walter himself. Walter Mitty switches back and forth between
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Walter is very lonely and is overwhelmed when he snaps back to his real life. He is not very good at anything like driving or remembering what his wife told him to do. This may be because these are very ordinary things and Walter seems bored with that lifestyle. When Walter daydreams, he dreams of exciting, dramatic scenarios. Mrs. Mitty is aggressive, and expects her husband to stay busy following her directions, making Walter feel useless and insignificant. The working people on the street are not nice towards him either because he cannot follow directions while he’s off in his fantasy world. However, in Walter’s daydreams the people surrounding him are admiring him and asking what to do next. In the real world Walter was a harmless, shy guy that lets people tell him what to do. This may not be what he truly feels like inside, and his daydreams are a way to escape his antisocial life. His dreams depict him as the exact opposite from his real life actions. At the end of the story Walter fantasies about facing a firing squad “undefeated” and receiving a heroic execution. Because the reader can assume that his daydreams are opposite from his actions and feelings in reality, Walter feels defeated while waiting for his wife to finish another
Walter is very lonely and is overwhelmed when he snaps back to his real life. He is not very good at anything like driving or remembering what his wife told him to do. This may be because these are very ordinary things and Walter seems bored with that lifestyle. When Walter daydreams, he dreams of exciting, dramatic scenarios. Mrs. Mitty is aggressive, and expects her husband to stay busy following her directions, making Walter feel useless and insignificant. The working people on the street are not nice towards him either because he cannot follow directions while he’s off in his fantasy world. However, in Walter’s daydreams the people surrounding him are admiring him and asking what to do next. In the real world Walter was a harmless, shy guy that lets people tell him what to do. This may not be what he truly feels like inside, and his daydreams are a way to escape his antisocial life. His dreams depict him as the exact opposite from his real life actions. At the end of the story Walter fantasies about facing a firing squad “undefeated” and receiving a heroic execution. Because the reader can assume that his daydreams are opposite from his actions and feelings in reality, Walter feels defeated while waiting for his wife to finish another