“Reality leaves a lot to the imagination” (Lennon). This is quote especially true when it comes to Mitty. Mitty is disappointed with his life and uses his dreams as a method of escape from his reality. The short story is about a meek man who uses his dull, mundane surroundings as inspiration for his exciting and heroic daydreams. Walter Mitty is a dreamer who uses his dreams to escape his monotonous life. This story was written by James Thurber in 1939. Thurber had a prolific career as an author and cartoonist. James Thurber uses Irony, Allusion, and Symbolism to express the theme of the contrast between a human being's hopes for life and its actuality.
Symbolism is a prominent literary device in this short story and it is used primarily to illustrate Walter’s weaknesses and negative traits. In the beginning of the story Walter and his wife are driving into town to run some errands when she insists that he wears overshoes. Although Walter objects to the overshoes Mrs. Mitty forces him to buy and wear them. "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." (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty). This symbolizes Mrs. Mitty’s control over her husband. By forcing Walter to buy overshoes the readers are able to see that Mrs. Mitty is in control of her husband. Throughout the story Walter is bossed around by his wife because of the way she controls him. "He indulges in a daydream in which he is a brave military commander piloting a hydroplane, but his wife interrupts by exclaiming that he is driving too fast. This pattern is repeated several times." (EBSCO) Mrs. Mitty controls every detail of Walter’s life.
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...u what you want, in order to get what one wants they must strive to succeed and accomplish their goals. Ghandi once said, "We need to be the change we wish to see in the world." This quote encapsulates the message and meaning of the story. Life is about stepping up and stepping out. We must be the change we wish to see in the world because if we are not then that change will never see the light of day. At the end of the day life comes down to choices. Many people spend their entire lives wishing and dreaming, but some take the road less travelled by. Some step up and step out and those are the people that succeed, those are the people who achieve their goals, who have what they want, and who we all should emulate. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty teaches all who read it to stop dreaming, to step up, step out, and be the change they wish to see in the world.
To read a story that deals with this theme makes us realize that it is not everyone that can accomplish what they really want in their
All humans have dreams and goals for their future that they wish to someday turn into reality. Dreams are different for every person, and some dreams are greater and grander than others, but they are all similar in that humans live for dreams because humans innately crave a better tomorrow. While many people do achieve their ultimate goals within their lifetimes, some people have unattainable dreams that are destined for failure. Two quintessential American novels, The Great Gatsby and the Catcher in the Rye, recount the stories of two hopeful young men with lofty plans, Jay Gatsby and Holden Caulfield. Both of these utopian young men possess impossible, unreachable dreams; Gatsby desires to rewind his life so that he may enjoy it with his beloved Daisy instead of losing her while at war, and Holden wishes for time to halt altogether so that he must not face the challenge of growing up and becoming an adult in a cruel society. Through the example of both of their tragic stories, it is evident that humans often rely too heavily on dreams, and when these vital dreams fail because of corrupt societies, they lose touch with reality and fall into despair and defeat.
George gave a very common reaction, which gives no originality to the character whatsoever. On the other hand, Thurber’s use of imagery allowed the reader to envision Walter Mitty’s uncommon reaction. The majority of people would be nervous or afraid when standing in front of a firing squad, but not Walter. Thurber also used compelling imagery throughout the story; Mitty showed a multitude of emotions and the reader was given plenty of insight as to what Walter is like. Meanwhile, in Harrison Bergeron all the characters seemed to be static. In actuality, none of the characters changed; they were all constant throughout the story. Thurber’s approach to imagery was much more effective and also enhanced characterization, and countless other aspects of the
... think that in this book, the author tried to convey the requirements a person needs to achieve his or her objectives. The main character in the book is a young boy named Sam Gribley. He left his home to live in the forest by himself. Sam wanted to be independent. He also wanted to survive using the resources in the woods. From my point of view, having goals makes your life worthwhile. In addition, when you know what you want, it is easier for you to find a way to reach it. When you reach something you want, you are able to realize what traits of your personality and what conditions have helped you to get there. In the end, a journey towards one’s goals is more a journey towards one’s real essence. That is why I think that all of us must set goals and try to accomplish them.
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.
Living in a poverty stricken area, Walter can only think about one of the many things he lacks, money. On the contrary, there are African Americans on the other side of Chicago who do have money and run large businesses. This pushes Walter to not only want to provide more for his family, but also dream big and become determined. The only way that he sees fit for him to make his dream come true and earn more
Another theme is the ability of a person to have some dignity even when it feels like the world is against you. These themes remain important today because it teaches us what can happen to a person if their dreams are never fulfilled. For example, Walter had a dream to open a liquor store, however this dream never came true after Willy (the person Walter gave the money too to open the store) betrayed him. He broke down and felt hopeless. It also teaches us that dignity is important, Walter also portrayed his need for dignity after he rejects the offer of Mr. Linder from the“home improvement
‘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.
James Thurber (1894-1961) ranks as one of America’s most popular humorists. He is most renowned for his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” a meek, absent-minded hen-pecked’ character who suffers the sharp-tongued ire of a dominant bossy wife.
Through analysing the relevance for Mama and Walter’s meanings of life we can see how time has functioned in changing specifically Walter’s meaning of life and realizing life is not about money, we see the different generation times and the reasons for there being different views of life’s meaning because of the different issues Mama and Walter have faced. Time has changed the generations’ views on life and what is of importance is different. Hansberry feels that the American dream will never be true for the Younger family even though the Younger’s believe that they can achieve upward mobility, the rest of the world and Hansberry are cynical about this and don’ believe it is true.
... love and happiness of one’s family. Walter changes from being self-centered to self-less. He gives up his dream of having a liquor store when Willy Harris runs away with the money. Walter does that so the Younger family can fill their lives with joy and do not have to struggle anymore. This is the biggest sacrifice that Walter makes for the family. This theme also applies to everyday life. Many people sacrifice their wishes and dreams that they have, so they could help their family through tough times and always keep a smile on their faces. Love, sacrifice, and happiness is a part of everyday life.
“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.
the quiant Mr. Martin comically dominishes the female tyrant Mrs. Barrows. "The Unicorn in the Garden" shares a common plot with "The Catbird Seat" in the the husband in the story manipulates his way into getting rid of his wife forever. Finally, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" explores one man's way of asserting his masculinity over his controlling wife. All these stories share a common motif of man's conquest to be an individual, to be held down by no one, no woman. In short, every man wants his freedom, and every man is willing to do what is neccessary to get what they want.
Through the film we follow Walter on his journey and are subject not only to the reality of the situations that he finds himself in and the experiences that he is accumulating, we are also subjected to the daydream like situations that Walter is seeing in his figment of reality in which due to the fact that out of his view of not doing anything noteworthy in his life he then projects his dreamlike and amazing fantasy form of reality out into the world for us to see and experience. For example, in one scene of the movie Walter is talking on the phone with a technical advisor for a dating site in which he is having difficulties with, and the technical advisor states to the fact that Walter had left most of his profile blank, to which he replies that he hadn’t done anything noteworthy enough in his life to fill his page with. As Walter says this we are cast out into his dreamlike subjective reality on what he thinks would be optimal for him and noteworthy as he dives off of the subway terminal and into a building and saves the dog of his romantic interest as it explodes behind him and is forced back into the “real”