Analysis of Hypothetical Thought: Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Molly McHugh
MiraCosta College
Analysis of Hypothetical Thought: Secret Life of Walter Mitty Have you ever stopped for a moment to contemplate where you are in life? If you haven’t, then take a moment right now to imagine where you are and where you would like to be. All of the actions you have taken, thoughts you have had, and the persona you convey have created the life you have lived thus far. In the movie The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the main character Walter Mitty has a habit of daydreaming to escape his mediocre life for a more “enhanced” life where he fantasizes about a richer and more rewarding existence. Throughout the film, Walter is able to foster
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He has feelings for a coworker named Cheryl Melhoff, but he lacks confidence and is too timid to invite her on a date. He discovers she has an eHarmony online dating profile and this prompts him to set up his own account, so that he can hit a button to “wink” at her. Cheryl's profile states that she wishes to find a brave, adventurous, and creative male. While he sets up his account with a representative over the phone, he is asked why he skipped the “been there, done that” section. Walter states, “I haven’t really been anywhere noteworthy or mentionable.” (Stiller, 2013). Walter digs into memories of his past and cannot find one thing to mention to the representative. Since he believes he has done nothing in life worth mentioning, he now feels that he might not be adventurous enough for Cheryl. His inner language symbolizes himself as unadventurous. While still on the phone with the representative, Walter loses focus and is entranced into a daydream in order to escape from the feelings of being unworthy. He imagines himself jumping through a glass window into a burning building to save Cheryl's dog. After he rescues her dog, he states to Cheryl that he always lives by his ABC’s which stand for adventurous, brave, and creative (Stiller,2013). In this daydream his inner language hypothetically believes that he is actually everything that she wants in a man. These …show more content…
Upset and discouraged, Walter tells him he cannot find the negative. His boss then decides to fire Walter on the spot and tells him that they will make the cover themselves. That night while having dinner with his Mom, she mentions to him that a week ago Sean had visited her. He discovers that Sean has just travelled to ungoverned Afghanistan, which is a very dangerous place. The original Walter would have automatically told himself that he could not do that, but by fostering his own personal growth, he doesn’t hesitate to book a plane ticket. Flights from the United States do not land in Afghanistan, so he will have to travel through Yemen and traverse the Himalayas to get to Sean's location. After many days of mountaineering over snow covered mountains at an altitude of 20,000 feet, he finally locates Sean. Through his hypothetical thought, Walter finally becomes the adventurous man he has always wanted to be. He is able to change the symbol of his former self. He is no longer the symbol of boring and unworthy, rather he is now unafraid and noteworthy. As they sit on top of the Himalayas, Sean tells Walter the missing negative has been in his wallet the whole
Walter has long dreamed of making his family’s condition better, of giving them wealth that his low-paying job is unable to do. Nature appears to be against Walter and his family, for they are living in a poorly maintained tenement apartment while surrounded with racism. Walter understands this situation, so he decides to use the $10,000 check for an investment in order to exceed his primitive state. In mid-morning, he excitedly asks his family about the check’s arrival, “Check coming today?” (Hansberry I.i.868). The check is one of the few reasons that forces Walter to get up each morning, so he will eventually be able to obtain success and self pride. Walter views the check as the only solution to all of his problems, so once Mama receives it, Walter confronts her and begs for her “financial” support. Walter exemplifies his sudden, new-found confidence to Travis when Mama unexpectedly entrusts him with the remaining $6,500, “…your daddy’s gonna make a transaction . . . a business transaction that’s going to change our lives” (II.ii.885). Walter is finally ready to realize his dream, and he has all the possible confidence he can acquire. He foresees the significant change that awaits his family when the money is invested. Unfortunately, nature has different plans for the Youngers. Whe...
At first, Walter starts as a man who does not have many traits and characteristics that a leader in the family should has. He feels frustrated of the fact that his mother can potentially support his sister, Beneatha, in her education career. Walter complains and feels depressed about his current life when he has many aspects that not many African men had during his time. Walter has a happy family, a loving wife, and an acceptable occupation. Unfortunately, Walter wants more in his life, and he feels hopeless and depressed when something does not go in his ways. Walter starts to change when he experiences and learns Willis’s betrayal, his father’s hard work, his son’s dream of becoming a bus driver, and his mother’s explanation about the Africans’ pride. Through many difficulties, Walter becomes the man of the family, and he learns the importance of accepting and living a happy life with his family. Like Walter, many African men had to overcome the challenges and obstacles. They had to face and endure through racism. These two ideas often led to many tragic and depressed incidents such as unequal opportunities, inequality treatments, segregation, and
During the time when Walter stareded gong to high schoolm those years were hard for him, for the fact that he suffered from a speech impediment. But that minor problem didn't stop him from writing. In high school he was a good student and could read well but he had a behavioral problem. In school he had a very severe speech difficulty, and he said he arrived at
When Walter was brought home he accounted the events that had lead up to his discovery in the country side. He remembered playing in front of the home as two men in their car invited Walter and Charlie inside. The car pulled off rapidly when the children climbed inside and soon after Walter began to fuss and shout. This lead for the abductors to become frustrated, knowing the older child would bring more issues, so they ditched him on a country road and continued on without Walter.
Living in a society where the fulfillment of dreams is based upon material wealth, the Younger family strives to overcome their hardships as they search for happiness. As money has never been a way of life for the family, the insurance check's arrival brings each person to see the chance that their own dreams can become reality. Whether in taking a risk through buying a "little liquor store" as Walter wishes to do or in -"[wanting] to cure" as Beneatha dreams, the desires of the family depend upon the fate of Mama's check. In the mind of Walter Lee Younger, the check is the pinnacle of all, dominating his thoughts, as he does not wait a second before "asking about money "without" a Christian greeting." He cannot see beyond the fact that he "[wants] so many things" and that only their recently acquired money can bring them about. The idea of money and being able to hold it "in [his] hands" blinds him from the evils of society, as he cannot see that the Willy Harris's of the world will steal a person's "life" without a word to anyone. When money becomes nothing but an illusion, Walter is forced to rethink his values and his family's future, realizing that there is more to living that possessing material riches.
Walter began to use the drum as a way of positively coping with his depressive symptoms. He begins to develop coping skills and his life starts to shift into a mode of engagement, connections, and meaning. As Walter connects, he develops insight on his depressive symptoms and lack of motivation. The scene in which he tells Mauna “The truth is I haven’t done any real work in a long time” is his ability to self-identify the negative impact that his depressive symptoms had on his life including his job as a teacher. Having awareness is the first step towards
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 film The Notebook offers not only a form of entertainment but also different psychology concepts throughout the film. The Notebook is told from the point of view of an elderly man reading to a woman around his own age. He reads the story of two young lovers that come from differing backgrounds but fall in love. The young girl, Allie, is from a well-off family from the city that is visiting Seabrook Island for the summer. While the young man, Noah, is a poor country boy and that must work to make a living. They quickly fall in love but Allie’s parents disapprove of Noah due to his economic status. Once Allie leaves Seabrook, Noah writes her everyday but her mother hides the letters. The young lovers wait for one
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
Walter has a steady, but low paying job and wishes that he could do more for his family. The money he makes hardly provides enough for his family to survive. He is constantly thinking about get rich quick schemes to insure a better life. He doesn’t want to be a poor back man all of his life and wishes that he could fit in with rich whites. He doesn’t realize that people won’t give him the same opportunities, as they would if he were white (Decker). Walter feels that he needs to provide more for his family and starts to ask around on how to make some money. He gets the idea of opening up a liquor store and has his heart set on it. Because he wants to please everybody he loses his better judgment and acts without thinking of the long-term effects. He is ready for a change and feels the store will bring his family a better life (Hyzak). “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his Limousine and say, Yes, sir; no, sir; very good sir; shall I take the drive, sir? Mama, that ain’t no kind of job ... that ain’t nothing at all” ( Hansberry 1755).
No matter how hard they try, there are some people who cannot get ahead in life. Walter Lee Younger is a man who is frustrated with his current position in life, and every disappointment he has encountered thus far. Although he tries to be a loving man, sometimes he does not know how to show the idea of love, 'Sometimes...sometimes...I don't even know how to try' (Hansberry 89). His position in life can be regarded as symbolic of every black male struggling to provide for his family by any means necessary. Although Walter has a job, it seems inadequate for his survival. As a result, he has become frustrated and lacks good judgement. Throughout this play Walter searches for the key ingredient that will make his life blissful. His frustrations stem from him not being able to act as a man and provide for his family and grasp hold of his ideals to watch them manifest into a positive situation. Walter Lee Younger, a man who is vehement for his family, has many ambitions in life, and dreams of the biggest dreams out of anyone else in the play.
Initially, Walter?s sole focus on his dreams lead to impaired judgment. One way Walter portrays his impaired judgment is when he makes assorted empty promises. In the Yo...
After buying a house, Mama gives the remaining money to Walter, telling him to save some for Beneatha’s medical school, and that he can decide what the rest of the money can go to. Walter tells Travis that he is going to change their lives with the money: “One day...I’ll pull up on the driveway...just a plain black chrysler… though I’ll have to get something a little sportier for Ruth---maybe a Cadillac convertible...and I‘ll go inside...to see you sitting on the floor with the catalogues of the great in America all around you… just tell me what it is you want to be---… and I hand you the world!” (108-109). Walter fantasizes about owning classy cars and being able to pay for his son to go to any of the top-notch schools in America. His visions for the future reveal that his perception of reality is unrealistic and that wealth matters very much to him. He is very confident that he will be able to give Travis “the world”, which shows that he has excessive faith in his business deal. His delusions and excitement can hinder his ability to make calculated decisions. Without saving any money for Beneatha’s medical school, Walter gives the money to his friend, Willy, to invest in liquor stores. The next day, Walter’s other friend, Bobo, visits Walter to tell him that Willy ran off with the money. Walter melts down and yells, “Man, I put my life in your
... 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 is a short story, published on March 18, 1939 by author James Thurber. Thurber is an accomplished author, and illusionist who used humor to help Americans get through some of the very depressing times in history. With his most notable story being The Secret life of Walter Mitty, which still influences writers today. The Secret life of Walter Mitty is a story that follows a man named Walter thought his day. As the story goes on the readers are shown that he has extremely vivid daydreams that transport him deep inside his mind, on various adventures. During which he commands army’s, saves lives, and is put on trial for murder. During each dream he is rudely shocked back to reality until the next on is triggered. To me Walter is using theses Daydreams as an escape from his life. While doing so he is coping with different stressful events in his real life.