Analysis of The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty Essay

Mittyesque

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by author James Thurber is about Walter Mitty, an ordinary character that flocks his mind with fantasies in which he plays the hero who navigates through enemy territory, saves lives and faces a firing squad. The story is likely to have taken place in an ordinary town with hairdressers, hospitals and grocery stores for people to scurry about doing their everyday chores. Another important character is Walters wife who hovers, nags and controls Walter to complete frustration, which causes him to escape his mundane life into a gateway of fantasies lurking in his mind. Walter can be critically analyzed with a psychological approach, because of his impulsive imagination in comparison to his unadorned human psyche. Walter may be inept at many things like driving, simple mechanical tasks and remembering what his wife told him to do, but its Walters imagination that makes him a unique character. Mrs. Mitty questions Walter by saying, Youre tensed up againIts one of your days. I wish youd let Dr.Renshaw look you over (Thurber 1). Mrs. Mittys observation reveals that it is a common emotion for Walter to feel tense and that he has had days before where he has acted abnormal. When Mrs. Mitty wishes he would see the doctor, it shows that Walter feels he is normal and that his abnormality is caused by his wifes nagging and frustration. Also, this blatantly shows that Walter Mitty suffers psychological daydreaming during the day, which causes him to feel tense in reality. A psychological approach analyzes how Walters unconscious desires cause him to forget things in reality. Walter struggles to remember what his wife had told him before she went to the hairdresser, he thought, Kleenex, he thought, Squibbs, razor blades? No. Tooth paste, toothbrush, bicarbonate, Carborundum, initiative and referendum? He gave up (Thurber 2). The confusion and puzzlement dominating his mind causes him to feel aggravated. His daydreams are a form of a mental escape from the confusion and bitterness that his wife and his surroundings cause him. Walter is forgetful because he is always daydreaming, so anything that happens in reality tends to slip his mind because it is not as important to him as his imagination. The theme of escapism shows how Walters confinement in reality is broken like the chains of a gate, allowing him to break free into his dreams where the world revolves around him.

Language and character development are imperative themes in the story because they reflect the inner emotion of Walter Mitty through each situation he encounters. For instance, Walter speaks in an aggressive tone when he is flustered by the demanding parking-lot attendant. Walter thinks, Theyre so damn cockywalking along Main Street; they think they know everything (Thurber 2). This shows that Walter has had previous encounters with people in his past and how he has been affected emotionally the same way by them. Walter is humiliated by the grins of garage mechanics and others who cross his path, which affects him negatively and stirs resentment inside of him. Before his final daydream, Walter bursts out into frustration and prepares himself to battle his nuisance in the form of a firing squad. Walter scornfully exclaims, To hell with the handkerchiefhe took one last drag on his cigarette and snapped it away. Then, with the faint fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad (Thurber 4). The profanity in his statement symbolizes an internal rage that Walter is unable to control, which is released through language. In his last daydream, Mittys fate is to win over the battle of his routine life and break free from the captivity that reality has brought him. The author shows this through Mittys indestructible psyche and his impatience to end the ordeal that his wife and everyone else have given him.