James Thurber's The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

Reality Vs. Fantasy

Thesis: Thurber shows that Mitty's daydreams are quite different from his real personality; he is adventurous in his day dreams but extremely dependent in reality; he is a leader in fantasies and a milktoast in reality; he is confident in dreams, but he has no confidence in reality.

I. Walter Mitty chooses to create his fantasies into situations that merely would not occur at any point in his life or become a reality that he would be familiar with.

a. Walter Mitty dreams of an adventurous lifestyle because obviously he lacks of adventure in his own life.

b. Being an independent leader in his fantasies, Walter Mitty is really a hen pecked husband in reality.

c. Lacking confidence in his life, Walter Mitty is a befuddled husband who must depend on his wife's organizing his life leaving him to daydream about being a confident leader in unrealistic situations that would never occur at any point in his life.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (film)

Ben Stiller filming "The Secret Life of Walter Mit...

1966 MGB at the 2007 Walter Mitty Challenge at Roa...

II. Walter Mitty dreams of an adventurous lifestyle because obviously he lacks of adventure in his own life.

1. Walter Mitty drove on toward in silence, the roaring of the SN202 through the worst storm in twenty years of Navy flying fading in the remote, intimate airways of his mind. (Thurber 73)

2. A woman's scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely, dark haired girl was in Walter Mitty's arms. (Thurber 74)

3. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last. (Thurber 75)

III. Being an independent leader in his fantasies, Walter Mitty is really a hen pecked husband in reality.

1. "Not so fast! You're driving too fast!" said Mrs. Mitty. "What are you driving...