In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie and story, as well as the Ralphie Phillips Cartoon, imagination is used to cure boredom, to imagine a different reality, and sometimes they are unaware that it is happening. In the three stories, the main characters are bored with their lives and use imagination to see themselves somewhere else. They also use imagination because they are unhappy with their situation and see themselves with different and more interesting lives. In some cases, especially The Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie, the character is unaware that they are imagining. In all three works, the main characters have a very similar sense of imagination.
The characters in the three stories use imagination to cure boredom. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie, Walter leads a boring life and uses his imagination to see himself doing more interesting things. In the story, Walter has the same schedule every week and has grown bored of it, so he starts imagining himself living a fascinating life. In the Ralphie Phillips cartoon, he was sent to his room until his father comes home, which led to boredom. He then begins to imagine saving his parents and being a hero.
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In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty movie, Walter likes Cheryl Melhoff and sees himself living a brilliant life to impress her. Since he lives a boring life, he wishes he lived an interesting life so she would like him. In the story, it can be inferred that Walter is unhappy with his wife and wishes he lived a more interesting life. Through imagination, he sees himself doing amazing things and being in a completely different reality. In the Ralphie Phillips cartoon, Ralphie wishes he could save his parents and make them feel remorseful. He also imagines being a pilot and saving the earth from aliens, which is a completely different reality than what he is living
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 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, corrupted by a superficial “American dream”. Walter has no desire to find out about himself through his African American heritage. He believes he can define himself through money, money is everything to this man.
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 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.
There are great variations in the film adapted from the short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The short story Viewers rarely have any interest left for tacked-on praise on the displaced workers, the found photo’s contents and the success of Walter getting a date. However, some scenes capture ones attention. These include the periods of Mitty’s daydreams performed in a quietly moving, broadly comic and in effect driven --rambunctious.
It is in my opinion that for certain people, creating our own reality in order to cope with difficult situations is vital. For some, this is the best way to deal with difficulty. In ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, Walter has an extraordinary imagination. His imagination is what gets him through normal days of tasks and errands. It brings a spark to his boring life. I find this very relatable. It is a great way to pass time and make simple tasks more enjoyable. If not more enjoyable, at least this technique will make it will seem to go by faster. I believe that this is a great skill for people who have creative imaginations. Even for those who are not very imaginative, this is a great way to improve and expand the imagination. When it comes
‘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.
...ontrol of his personal ambitions to benefit the whole or in Walter's case the family. Certainly it would be unfair for Walter give up his aspirations. The issue is whether Walter can distinguish between a fantasy of reality and a dream deferred.
Imagination is the action of creating new ideas, scenarios, or concepts that are not present. It is the ability to form a mental image of anything that is not perceived through senses. It’s the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not exist or are not there or have never happened. “...the pleasures of the imagination exist because they hijack mental system that have evolved for real world pleasure. We enjoy imaginative experiences because at some level we don’t distinguish them from real ones.” (pg.577 parg 4, Bloom)
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.
In the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the author James Thurber, uses foreshadowing and contrast to tell the story. The story includes a middle aged man that is repeatedly told he is becoming older. He is thought to be a fool by everyone and is controlled by his wife. This unpleasant existence he holds, triggers daydreams that he experiences periodically and causes him to zone out.
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.
The concept of imagination is the world that one want to create, therefore it is up to one’s expectations. As a child, the narrator in The Little Prince expected the adults to recognize his drawing as an elephant inside a boa constrictor, but the adults recognize it as a hat. The adults replied, “Frighten? Why should anyone be frightened by a hat?” (Saint Exupéry 1) This quote signifies how the narrator’s expectations of the adults understanding of his drawing contrasts the understanding of the Little Prince. However, in “The Motive for Metaphor”, Frye illustrates the three levels of the mind and expects his readers to be aware of the concept. Frye specified, “As I can’t see my audience, I have to choose the rethorical style in the dark, and I’m taking the classroom style because an audience of students is the one I feel easiest with.” (Frye 2) This quote indicates how Frye’s expectations of students leads him into imagining that the students will understand his demonstration of the three levels of the mind. In conclusion, imagination is a huge factor in one’s perspective and expectations of