Commentary on The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Essay

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, is a short story. It is based on a man who daydreams and fantasizes about great and heroic acts. He daydreams about being a surgeon, then a pilot and also a Navy commander. His wife, Mrs. Mitty, keeps nagging him about minor things that he should remember to do. Walter changes personae several times. He flips back and forth between reality and fantasy so much he may have a problem with his attention span.

The small town of Waterbury is the setting for this short story. It takes place during present day. The main conflict in the story is Walters mind. He cant focus on important things. There are a few hints in this story that Walter Mitty is forgetful. Most of this is probably caused by his constant day dreaming throughout this trip into town and not concentrating too hard on what hes doing. Once Walter Mitty had dropped off his wife for her hair appointment, he began to do his shopping. Walter picks up his overshoes and then he begins to wonder what the other thing was his wife had told him to get. She had told him twice before they left. Also, a little later on, there was a quote that said he was always getting something wrong. This quote would show that Walter Mitty must forget things quite often.

Walter Mitty's most obvious trait is his constant day dreaming. Throughout the whole story, Walter Mitty is being distracted easily by everyday events. I find it ironic how all of his fantasies were about him doing some great job or some heroic act, but in his last day dream is him standing in front of firing squad. I think this symbolizes his feelings about his real life. Its almost as if he has to have heroic dreams in order to make himself feel important. It seems the secret life of Walter Mitty is not such a secret after all.

I believe that the author wrote this short story simply for entertainment. James Thurber is known to be one of the foremost humorist of the twentieth century. He was a cartoonist and enjoyed using his humor to explore the conflicts of everyday life. I feel this is exactly what he accomplishes here. Most men live in a dream world to escape from the routines of everyday life. Many live in a fantasy and dream secretly of being heroic and being known for some type of heroic thing that they did. We would all like to fashion our own reality; we all are, to some extent, Walter Mittys. That is the reason that this story is so appealing to many different sorts of readers.

After completing the reading of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, I would have to say that this is my favorite of all the readings we've done in English class. I like to think that Walter Mitty is just a day dreamer with an overactive imagination. In todays world, people will read this and instantly want to diagnose this man with Attention Deficit Disorder. ADD is just a big medical word for a person with an overactive imagination. Some peoples heads are in the clouds most of the time and I think that suites Walter Mitty just fine.