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Themes in the secret life of walter mitty
Themes in the secret life of walter mitty
Themes in the secret life of walter mitty
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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a thought provoking tale of fantasy and reality. Walter Mitty guides the reader, though his conscious and unconscious mind that show who he is and who he wants to be. These contradictions of the real and fantasy life’s that plays out show how real life and fantasy life differ from Walter Mitty. In the secret life of Walter Mitty, the fantasies of Mitty differs from the real life Walter Mitty in three significant ways. The fantasy Mitty, and the real life Mitty differ when it comes to how they handle situations. The fantasy Mitty handles situations with confidence. When we first meet Mitty, he is in a hydroplane piloting it though a storm. His crew is nervous except one who states “the old man will get us …show more content…
Fantasy Mitty is an expert in all things. We can see this in all of Walter Mittys episodes, but one in particular is when Mitty becomes a doctor. Mitty is an expert on the anthat just so happens to break during an operation.Mitty then springs into action with his expertise on the subject and fixed the machine, then is asked to take over the operation. This contradicted by the fact in real life Mitty is inept in everything he attempts. Mitty tells of his attempt to put chains on his car tires, but when he goes to take them off he had gotten them wrapped around the axles. The fantasy Mitty and the real life Mitty differ when it comes to handling life. Fantasy Mitty makes the most out of life, though his daring feats. At the end of the secret life of Walter Mitty, we see him as a prestigious captain who heroically took on one bomber plane all by himself. This was daring because it took two planes to be able to take down that bomber. Other risks that Mitty had taken in his fantasies includes him telling the district attorney that “‘I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet away with my left hand.’”(Thurber, 70), also flying a hydro plane through a bad storm. In real life Mitty is clumsy and is cautious. Mitty is seen clumsy when he almost hits another car, when he is daydreaming while taking his car in a parking lot. He is shown cautious when he is trying to remember the name of doggie
In the story of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, Walter Mitty is a static character and in the movie Walter Mitty by Ben Stiller, Walter is made a dynamic character so that the movies is more exciting than the book. In the story Walter stays a boring character who doesn’t do much at all, while in the movie he becomes the adventurous character he has dreamed about. In the end of the story Walter was happy about “facing the firing squad”. Since Walter never had the life he wanted he just wanted to die, unlike the movie where he had done so many things that he got himself a date when he was the most happy. In the story Walter kept dreaming throughout the day being triggered by little things to go off into his own world, but in the movie Walter
Thurber, James. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” 1942. 21 Great Stories. Ed. Abraham H.Lass and Norma L. Tasman. New York: Mentor, 1969. 272-277.
In the short story, “ The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty” written by James Thurber, it describes a man who while in the midst of everyday life, floats off into daydream that often cause him more trouble than it is worth. His wife, Mrs. Mitty, on the surface does not seem like a well-rounded character. It always seems her life’s mission is to demean Walter and to always use her overbearing nature to nag him. However, there may be more to this character than what meets the eye. I believe that Mrs. Mitty is actually a well-rounded character in the fact that she only acts the way she does only for her husband and his well-being.
Unlike Walter's reality his daydreams are exciting, eventful and he is often the hero. Walter Mitty's utilization of daydreams in order to escape reality a live the life he craves solidifies the fact that he experiences maladaptive daydreaming. Lastly, when Walter daydreams he is detached from his surroundings and being unaware of your surroundings while daydreaming is also a symptom of maladaptive daydreaming. Evidence from the story that can be used to support this is when Walter was daydreaming of playing the role of Dr. Mitty in an operating room and suddenly the parking lot attendant yelled at him for almost causing an accident as he could not concentrate on driving because of his daydream. Becoming disconnected from reality as a result of daydreams is a regular occurrence for those suffering from maladaptive daydreaming proving that Walter is more than just an ordinary daydreamer. Based on the arguments above it is palpable that Walter Mitty experiences maladaptive
Friendship ends with a tragic death. The book “Of Mice and Men” helps decipher realistic events, characters from cities and lower classes, and speech patterns. The main points of this essay are to analyze the realism values presented in this book.
The movie, The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, starring Ben Stiller, conveys a daydreamer escaping his typical life by disappearing into a realm of fantasies filled with heroism, romance and action. In both the movie and the book, the title character retreats into fantasy as an escape from his mundane reality because in the real world, he is ordinary, insecure, and passive. In the short story, Walter simply retreats into his daydreams and tolerates his domineering wife, while in the movie he actively pursues finding himself. Walter Mitty, a timid, passive, henpecked husband, embarrassingly incompetent at ordinary tasks, constantly falls into daydreams in which he assumes such heroic roles as flying through a storm, shooting down German aircraft, and performing delicate surgery.
Have you ever stopped for a moment to contemplate where you are in life? If you haven’t, then take a moment right now to imagine where you are and where you would like to be. All of the actions you have taken, thoughts you have had, and the persona you convey have created the life you have lived thus far. In the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the main character Walter Mitty has a habit of daydreaming to escape his mediocre life for a more “enhanced” life where he fantasizes about a richer and more rewarding existence. Throughout the film, Walter is able to foster
& nbsp ; The story also shows that Walter Mitty is a really stubborn person. The. When he was dropping off Mrs. Mitty, Mrs. Mitty told Walter Mitty. not to forget the overshoes he was supposed to buy while he was in town.
In the short story, Walter Mitty paints himself as very prestigious characters such as a knowledgeable doctor, a brave man, a military captain, a millionaire, and “Walter Mitty the Undefeated” (Thurber 5). This demonstrates pathos because of the reality of his life is that he cannot even do simple tasks such as backing his car into a mechanic’s garage. Thurber expresses the sad ironic reality of his life which is that he paints himself as a hero in his daydreams but lives a boring and unsuccessful life. Thurber uses Walter’s characteristics to prove one must adventure and explore to find meaning and purpose in life. In the movie, Walter debates getting into a helicopter with a drunk pilot to find Sean’s film negative and continue his adventure or to give up and turn back to his unhappy life. When he daydreams his love interest, Cheryl Melhoff, singing David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” he decides to bravely jump into the helicopter, quite literally taking a leap of faith. Although a lyric of the song reads, “Here am I floating ‘round my tin can/ Far above the Moon/ Planet Earth is blue/ And there’s nothing I can do” (Bowie). This exemplifies irony because of the story Bowie tells of the protagonist of the song Major Tom. Major Tom embarks on a journey to outer space but communication cuts off from Earth and he realizes he will never come back to his wife and to life. This
While Walter does not have much determination when he’s in reality, when he fantasizes he’s determined regardless of whatever role he is in. For example, when Walter Mitty is dreaming as a navy commander, he displays a strong determination as he gives orders. Another example is when Walter doing the operation. “He began fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. “Give me a fountain pen!” he snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen.” (p.35). This proves Walter to be a determined character when he is dreaming. Similar to Greta, she also is a determined character. For example her determination to doing the everyday labour, despite the crops getting smaller every year, and her barn wearing
James Thurber's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In James Thurber's wonderful short story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", I get the feeling that he may be a victim of Attention Deficit Disorder, rather than just being a daydreamer. Throughout the story, Walter changes persona several times. He flips back and forth between reality and fantasy so much he may have a problem with his attention span.
We are introduced with Walter Mitty dreaming about being a pilot in a navy hydroplane in mist of a hurricane. Later, the setting changes to a man in a car driving his wife to salon. His wife reminds him to achieve overshoes while he runs errands. With the shoes in his hands, He forgets another errand he needed to do which could be the conflict of the story. He then daydreams of being in a court and on trial where he remembers he needs to get puppy biscuit. He goes back to the hotel with the overshoes and puppy biscuit. His wife seems to get annoying to Walter Mitty because he outbursts saying, “Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?”. Then the couple goes to a drug store because Mr. Mitty forgets to get something. Outside the drug store smoking a cigarette, Walter Mitty dreams about death by standing in front of a firing squad, still bold and strong. The two main characters involved in the story are Walter Mitty and Mrs. Mitty. Other minor characters introduced in Walter Mitty’s day dreams include: Lieutenant Berg and Dr. Remington from New York. Other characters mentioned in the story were Dr.
‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ is about a boring man who has a lot of daydreams. It was originally a short story by James Thurber, but was also made into a movie. The way that the story is presented in both is a key factor in either’s success, and when compared, the two are very different. For example, in the short story, Walter has little to no character development, but in the movie, nearly the entire production is him being put through a lot of situations that let us see more of the true character of Walter Mitty. This example and others is what makes the movie adaptation of ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ better than that of the short story.
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” expresses the theme that satisfaction is harder for those who are not normal. With all of Walter Mitty’s daydreams in between everything that he does, it shows that his actual life is lacking something that he desires.
We can see throughout the story that he daydreams about all these different scenarios, including: navy pilot commander, doctor, sharpshooter, bomber pilot, and noble victim of a firing squad. It states in the outside source, “Mitty is married to a woman who treats him more like a child than a husband. This is due to his immature tendency to escape into fantasies rather than live in the real world.” This quote is impactful because we can infer if he didn't have a nagging wife, that's constantly on him, he probably would've had a better life, instead of imaging about interesting missions.