The secret Life of Walter Mitty was both an intriguing short story and film that contained symbolism all throughout. Although the short story and movie were quite different in terms of the story, the symbolism that was shown delivered the same effect. In the movie, symbolism was shown in the scenery, beards and images. While on the other hand, the short story used the Over shoes and gloves, Walters actions and sounds to direct the authors message. Walters’s imagination is the one constant in each respective piece, which helped deliver the same message in the two, but very different, stories of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
In the film the secret Life of Walter Mitty, the director uses beards, scenery and images to display different messages
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At this beginning scene, the movie portrays Walter as just a regular old guy. His hair looks grey, wrinkles are shown on his skin, and he works a regular old office job as it seems by his attire. This symbolism sets the base for what kind of man Walter is, and allows the movie to continue in the way the director intends for it to. After some time in the movie, the boss’s of Walter come in and tells all the employees that the company, Life Magazine, is moving to a more online based system. This announcement leaves Walter and many others in turmoil about the safety of their jobs. An important symbol is represented by all the men that are in superior positions over Walter and his coworkers, the presence of a beard. Throughout the movie, this symbol shows that the bearded men are confident, arrogant and in a position that is higher than that of Walters. After all of Walters’s adventures, he comes back with a …show more content…
Gloves, overshoes, Walters’s actions, and sounds were the foremost uses of symbolism in this short story. Mrs. Mitty continually reminds Walter that he needs to wear his gloves and overshoes. In a conversation between Mrs. Mitty and Walter, “Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done,” she said. “I don’t need overshoes,” said Mitty. She put her mirror back into her bag. “We’ve been all through that,” she said, getting out of the car. “You’re not a young man any longer.” I believe that she says this in order to protect him from the outside world. Mrs. Mitty doesnt think he is fit to handle the world alone. Although he makes himself seem like a brave man, he is actually the opposite. After comparing what he imagines and what he actually does, Walter is a man who is in a shell, and has no idea how to get out of it. Walter has a mindset that everyone is against him in the world. For example, he gets angry with his wife, he tries to show the garage man that he is not so dumb and has an excuse why and tries to correct what he had said on the street to the young lady. While talking about the chains on his car, the author stated “They’re so damn cocky, thought Walter Mitty, walking along Main Street; they think they know everything. Once he had tried to take his chains off, outside New Milford, and he had got them wound around the axles.” In order to make himself feel like somebody, Walter said
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
Walter complains to Mama about the way he feels about his job. I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his limousine and I say, "Yes sir no sir very good sir shall I take the drive, sir?" Walter wants to be the one sitting in the back of that limousine while someone else is doing the driving. Walter wants financial freedom, he doesn't want just enough money to provide for his family but rather he tells his mother "I want so many things." Walter is materialistic and greedy, he has been corrupted by a superficial “American dream”.
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.
Walter’s archetype can also be seen in the first film we watched Tootsie with the television producer. He is also a well-dressed man in power that manipulates the women around them, to either do what he wants or into a relationship with him.
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.
The first clear example is when the relatives, Walter and his uncles are sitting on the verandah. The director used character placement to show how the relatives and the uncles are apart. Walter however, is not in the middle; to show that he is on neither side. But instead, he is with his uncles. This was done to show that Walter is trusting his uncle. Another example is when the director used music to show how Walter feels when he is around his uncles. The happy country music shows to the audience that he has fun and he enjoys being around his
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
In two different characters, there are several traits which the two share similarities and differences. The character Walter Mitty, from the story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Greta, from the story Brooms for Sale, are two characters whose traits differ by a substantial margin. “In winter she got her own firewood with an axe in the woods.” (p. 117). Greta, who is an independent woman living with her nine-year-old son, does all the labour in her household with the cost of no one else’s support. Walter, who is a man who jumps into delusions consistently and to only be woken up back into reality through his surroundings. For example, Walter Mitty is caught off guard after dreaming he is a commander in a navy hydroplane and in actuality driving over the speed limit until woken up by his wife. This proves an unmotivated character like Walter Mitty when he’s in reality is significantly different than a character such as Greta, who is independent, persevering, and optimistic. However, Walter Mitty, as a character who has an alter-ego when he is in his delusion is a character with determination, a trait
‘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.
[A] Hope, dreams, and goals are all factors that are needed for success. [B] Of Mice and Men, written by John Steinbeck, is a story, about two men who are chasing the American dream, hitting many obstacles along the way. War Dance, directed by Sean Fine, is a documentary about life in the Ugandan war zone. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by Ben Stiller, is a movie about Walter Mitty, an average man with a vast imagination, who ventures the world seeking a man who has the missing negative for a magazine cover that he needs to prevent himself from losing his job. [C] Every character from these three stories has to thrive on their hopes, dreams, and goals, to keep themselves going and get to where they want or need to go. [D] Hopes,
Symbolism is what makes a story complete. In "The Great Gatsby" Fitzgerald cleverly uses symbolism. Virtually anything in the novel can
Walter attempts to reinvent himself through his work and relationships to try and provide for his wife and family. Walter is fighting a battle within his household because he believes that Ruth, his wife, “couldn’t be on [his] side that long for nothing,” even though she is just trying to do what is best for everyone involved (Hansberry 32). Walter cannot see past his dream to realize the impact it would have on everyone else if it failed, so he drowns his sorrows in alcohol. Although “he knows the possibility of failure is also a vital part of the American success story” Walter is not just risking his own future, he is risking his child’s, mother’s and sister’s and without a second thought to his personal relationships, he blindly makes an investment on the chance of having the wealth and house he desires for everyone (Washington 98). Walter is so focused on reinventing his work life and having money that he loses sight of his family’s values and ideas. He does not care about Ruth being pregnant and the possibility of aborting their child as long as he can achieve his goals. Walter is living in a dream where he believes that “anyone can become anything he wants to be,” and that is not true in his case with the social and racial standards that are set against him (Washington 95). Walter sees wealth as ensuring happiness and having everything he desires, which is why he is pushing his family so hard for the money, causing issues. Even though all the odds are set against him in this time period, Walter cannot see past being able to provide for his family and having the American Dream that he most
“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.
Have you ever wanted to learn about an interesting short story? Then I have the perfect short story for you. You could think of possibly anything and Walter Mitty would dream about it and make it seem special. The short story is called “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”by James Thurber, it is an interesting story about a guy named Walter Mitty, who has a nagging wife constantly on him, but he goes through his boring life imagining about all the cool stuff he could do. A dominant theme in James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is Imagery. He shows imagery in his short story by making his character, Walter Mitty, imagine he's in these obstacles, which he pretends he's something he's not. Throughout the story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber uses literary elements like imagery and allusion to get his theme across to the readers.
How dialogue, language and the use of imagery in The 'Secret Life of Walter Mitty' depicts what triggers Walter to go in and out of his state of daydream.