Walter Mitty Character Analysis

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Recommended: "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," focuses on Walter and his daydreams of

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” as written by James Thurber is an interesting short story. Walter Mitty, the protagonist of the story, is in a constant battle with his wife, the antagonist of the story. Mr. Mitty is, simply put, a daydreamer with a creative mind. His wife does not appreciate this aspect of Mr. Mitty and is constantly nagging him and bringing him back to reality.
Mr. Mitty’s character is flat, as he is never portrayed as a deep and unknown character with some type of third dimension to his personaility. Mr. Mitty is a day dreamer, who remains calm, but does not have the passion or desire to save lives in reality as he does in his daydreams, which leaves the reader with a two dimensional understanding of the main character. …show more content…

evil or giving the reader a glimpse into Mr. Mitty’s inner demons. Simply interpreting “The Secret Life” as written in the title, suggests that Mr. Mitty lives a double life, and upon further analysis of this story, Mr. Mitty lives in two separate worlds that change between reality and fantasy without notice.
The change between reality and fantasy unfolds within the first two paragraphs of the story with Mr. Mitty at sea in charge of a Navy vessel. Mr. Mitty’s experience at sea is elaborately described until Mrs. Mitty interrupts and yells “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!” This pulls Mr. Mitty out of the creative story that developed in his mind and back to reality where he drives them both to town. His wife suggests he needs to see a doctor due to this ability to slip into a fantasy world and completely lose himself. This drifting between fantasy and reality continues throughout the course of …show more content…

Mitty’s creative imagination and the people around him who snap him back to reality, mainly his wife. These conflicts are clearly external. Mr. Mitty is causing no harm by daydreaming; however, Mrs. Mitty does not appreciate this, viewing it as absentmindedness. For example, Mrs. Mitty felt Mr. Mitty should be evaluated by a physician because he has “bad days” in her eyes. Presumably, these are the days where Mr. Mitty is coincidentally most imaginative. She acts as though he is not thinking, when in reality, his mind is working in great detail. Mr. Mitty’s imagination is far too creative for him to truly be absentminded. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the central conflict is wrapped around Walter Mitty’s elaborate imagination, while those around him, mainly his wife, seem to disrupt his thought processes because they feel he is

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