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the secret life of walter mitty analyze
the secret life of walter mitty analyze
the secret life of walter mitty analyze
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Meagan Cone Period 4 Walter Mitty Essay Final
We all have daydreams, but which is better? Action packed, dramatic ones, or ones where you’re famous and everybody loves you? It mainly depends on the life someone is living outside the daydream. Walter Mitty, a character from The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, has both action packed and dramatic ones in his movie. But in his short story daydreams, he’s witty and famous. His life is very different in each, though, leading one to be better than the other because of the differences between the themes, daydreams, and characters. And which one has the better of those? The movie. First off, Walter Mitty had more daydreams that the audience could better enjoy in the movie than in the
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One theme from The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty is that your mind and imagination are very powerful. In the story, he dreamed of being a famous surgeon. “ ‘Coreopsis has set in,’... ‘If you would take over, Mitty?’...’If you wish.”(3). By others asking if he would take over with something difficult to treat, it shows how skilled he dreams of being. However, in reality, he is not a surgeon. In the movie, the theme is that imagining you can do something can get you to what you want to do. Walter imagined being with Cheryll and standing up to Ted, the guy who was firing everyone from Life headquarters. At the end of the movie, both of these things happened. The theme in the movie is a more inspiring theme that viewers can …show more content…
In the story, Walter’s wife is that annoying character that no one can bring themselves to like. “ ‘Wait here for me. I forgot something. I won’t be more than a minute.’ She was more than a minute.” This shows that she is demanding of Walter and expects him to do her bidding. With random characters jumbled in the story, there was no room for anyone to like any characters other than Walter. “He kicked at the slush on the sidewalk. ‘Overshoes,’ he said to himself, and began looking for a shoe store.” (4). Walter Mitty was a normal, boring character that the reader couldn’t really bring themselves to like. It’s hard to like a story when there’s really only one character and they live an ordinary, boring life. Having more characters in the movie helped to actually form a plot. “Oh, hey, welcome.. Wait, sorry, not welcome. Not an employee,” Ted Hendricks said to Mitty after he was fired. Ted was the antagonist that made the movie more exciting. It gave Mitty someone to go against, making the movie something to enjoy. Having more characters with bigger personalities and a conflict makes a movie or story more exciting and not boring. All the reasons stated above made The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty movie better than the short story. A plot is important to make something enjoyable, therefore making the movie better. Having a more inspirational theme could also lend to making
Walter needs Mrs. Mitty to keep him on track. By being a daydreamer, his head is in the clouds and this irritates her. She Reminds him to get "those overshoes while I'm having my hair done." (88) She has to nudge and prod him to actually get the pair of overshoes. Normally, this shouldn't be a problem, but with Walter, She has to double check that he bought them. Consider him having been diagnosed with A.D.D., his wife would then be a little better at understanding him when he goes off on one of his "spells." For example, him buying the overshoes, but not wearing them in the slushy weather. Mrs. Mitty should take a little more active role with his condition. She would go with him to the store to pick up his overshoes so that she knows it was taken care of properly.
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
...neration to understand and brought utter disrespect to James Thurber because it had hardly any similarities to his book. The short story ended with Walter picking up his wife and completing the tasks that she had asked and still being him and no more. The movie ended with Walter fulfilling the last picture which was found in the Wallet that Sean O’Connell sent to him in the lab and then he gave it to his boss and told him to print it and he never looked at the picture to it was printed. One thing that should’ve gotten done differently is making the movie portray to the book. By portraying to the book, what should’ve gotten done are the prolong of the driving experience and the prolong of his in city experiences. The movie should’ve stayed in somewhat coordinate of the book so that people are able to actual compare the book and movie more than just a couple of ways.
In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," James Thurber tells the story of a henpecked old man who escapes his monotonous life with frequent excursions to fantasy. In the real world, he is a forgetful old man who must obey his wife's every whim. But, in his fantasies, Walter Mitty is intelligent, brave, and the epitome of manliness. He makes up for the characteristics he lacks in the real world through the heroic characters he embodies in his fantasies. Eventually, the story leads to Walter's death-a brave, heroic death in his fantasy world.
James Thurber and Ambrose Bierce both show identical connections with their short stories. In the short story, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Peyton Farquhar is on the railroad bridge about to be hanged with northern soldiers around. Right before he dies, he starts to think about his wife and kids, and why is he there. He uses his imagination thoroughly in the story and we find out that it was all a dream and he died in the end. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Walter also uses his imagination to be better in life. Daydreaming helps ease the minds of both of these main characters. In these two stories, the protagonist’s show how dreaming can help get out of the real life as well as boosting self-esteem. Being happy is what the main
In both the short story and the movie, the main character, Walter Mitty, constantly fantasizes about wild adventures that are very different
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber (1939) is a story about a daydreamer named Walter Mitty going about town on an ordinary day tasked with simple errands by his imperious wife. Through the power of imagination, Walter transports himself into alternate, exciting realities where he is a fighter pilot or a world distinguished surgeon - he gets drawn into these daydreams so much he disregards his responsibilities and reality. (+ Thesis Statement)
In the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ben Stiller, the director, shows us the long process of a man's life going into change. While working as a Negative Assets manager for Life magazine, (played by Ben Stiller) Walter struggles to find his meaning in the world. As he's going on a quest trying to find negative twenty-five, a picture for his company, he also begins the journey of discovering his value in life. In this film there is transfiguration and revelation to one man who strived and accomplished to live a life beyond what was expected of him.
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.
“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.
In conclusion, I believe that if Walter Mitty didn't have a nagging wife, then he would've had a way better life. As we see throughout the story, we can tell he was on those missions because of his wife and he wanted to get away from her. The short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” was a good short story to read and it taught me a lot about how his life went and what he did to change it. It had a lot of different elements of literature, but the best one I saw was
‘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.
Life is about finding yourself, each other, and being true to one’s self. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an extremely original and creative story written by James Thurber. 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.
In conclusion, the Mitty motifs are the themes that include: disharmony between the sexes and males escaping routine. Another theme James Thurber includes in his work is the life as a married couple. Thurber has accomplished many great short shorties in his life, but “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” his most popular work. He has learned to live his life through his short stories, expressing his feelings in his writings. Many individuals have been inspired by his writings. James Thurber has made his mark on the world and will be forever known and never forgotten.