Analyzing+a+Narrative+-+The+Secret+Life+of+Walter+Mitty

Setting: The short story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is set in the town of Waterbury, Connecticut, during the mid 1900s. The story unravels during Walter Mitty's day of errands, while his wife is getting her hair done. Throughout his daily activities, the main character, Walter Mitty, has a variety of strange daydreams, which all take place in different settings. His first daydream takes place upon a Navy Ship that is battling to make it through a hurricane, while he is getting yelled at by the general. In his second daydream, Mr. Mitty is a surgeon. He arrives to work in the hospital and then goes straight to the operating room. He meets four other doctors, all of whom are worse than him and ask him to do the operation. His next daydream is in a court room, Mitty imagined himself as the defendant in a murder and as hero. Mitty's fourth daydream is set in the chaos of World War I, where Mitty is featured as a pilot, who becomes the nations hero when all of the soldiers become sick or injured. At the end of the story, Mitty meets his wife at a hotel in Waterbury, after finishing all of his errands around town. Walter Mitty's life is set pretty bland, so he imagines these dreams to make it a bit worse. these setting are very dramatic and excited. Very excited. Characters: (Katie C., Lauren) The short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurb//er has few characters. The protagonist is Walter Mitty. A forgetful and distracted old man who daydreams excessively. In his daydreams he portrays himself as a strong and brave man, usually one who is the best at what he does; the one in charge. When in reality, the people around him control his life, and his wife, Mrs. Mitty, is the one who takes charge. His imagination jump starts when he starts pondering recent happenings, or the environment around him. Anothe//r important character is Mrs. Mitty. Mrs. Mitty seems very concerned for Walter Mitty. As an over protective wife, she treats Walter Mitty more like a son than like a husband. His unhappiness about his wife's obsession with his well being causes Mr. Mitty's dreams of a better life. A life where he is in charge and thought of as an important figure like the ones in his fantasies. The pilot, the doctor, and the "greatest pistol shot" all have one thing in common: Walter Mitty is in charge of the situation. The characters in daydreams are what he desires to be, someone important with a life purpose. A very minor character that shows up in the short story is a parking-lot attendant. His rude actions towards Mitty as he parks his car represent how the world views Mr. Mitty: a weak being who has already lived his life and can no longer function without assistance. Within his dreams, the characters seem to revolve around him. Mr. Mitty relies on the characters to give him a sense of being needed. He wants to be thought of as the most reliable person to turn to when there is trouble.

Plot: (Clara, Madeleine, Susannah) In the novel, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber, Walter Mitty's daydreams make up a large portion of the text as he goes back and forth between reality and dreams. His first daydream of himself as a Commander in the Navy opens to the story. This scene represents Walter's desire to be on top and to have young people admire him. As shown in all of his daydreams, he wishes that he was a great and powerful leader.The other part of the story takes place in his reality. In comparison to his daily life, his day dreams show his desires to be wanted or needed. His life has basically come to an end and he wishes there were more. He can't figure out what to do with himself since the most exciting thing he does the whole day is go to get some puppy biscuit. He has nothing to concentrate or focus on and he his life is boring, as if he no longer has a purpose. In real life his wife is constantly ordering him around: fighting with him about getting overshoes, wearing his gloves, picking up the puppy biscuit, running errands, being first to the hotel lobby; she really just treats him like a child, and because he doesn't have a purpose or anything to do besides run errands for his wife he has time to day dream. His second daydream takes place in a hospital and a very rich man and friend of Roosevelt needs an operation. Though two expert surgeons have been flown in, they both are amateurs compared to the great experienced Dr. Mitty. This daydream just accentuates his desires to be needed again. The life of the admirable nurse is abruptly ended by a shout from a valet signally Walter that he is in the wrong lane. This brings him back to reality and clearly frustrates him because he is being belittled againm but this time its worse - by a young attendant. Soon enough Walter drifts into his third day dream which he plays the role of a hero falsely accused of murder. He is on trial for murder and he boldly states that he is a clear shot with left and right hand a very manly characteristic. Additionally a young beautiful girl falls into his arms as if by the magic of a terrible soap opera. Again, though, his day dream is interrupted by his obligations to purchase puppy biscuits. He views this as an exceedingly derogatory task and is embarassed when caught whispering puppy biscuit to himself. Then he has to go pick up his wife at the hair dresser and fades away into his final day dream of the story. This day dream has Walter Mitty as a fighter pilot and he is about to die a very honorable death and his Sergeant is giving him a lot of respect. The sergeant also gives Mitty the compliment that he "holds his brandy well" which is a very manly thing and is commonly seen in old movies, men that never get drunk no matter what. The day dream goes on to Mitty about to fly his way through an air of bullets and hell when his wife wakes him out of his dream. She very rudely asks him,"Why do you have to hide in this old chair? How did you expect me to find you?" to which he nonchalantly replies, "Things close in," referring to his life, his wife, or a number of other things. In this statement he is most likely referring to his life closing in on him and coming to an end. As the story ends, Walter is drifting back into fighter pilot mode as he bravely takes on his death. Throughout the short story, the two different perspectives are tied together with the intermittant fadings of Walter's focus.

Conflict: (Arsema, Katie J., Kennan) In the "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", by James Thurber, there is an internal, man vs.self conflict. Walter Mitty is the main character who fights within himself. Walter fights with his inability to focus and begins to daydream. He imagines himself as a great hero in his daydreams, when in reality he feels unimportant and insignificant.Walter Mitty wants to feel not only purposeful but "be the best" at everything he does and this is reflected in all of the daydreams he experiences, for example when he dreamed he was a great surgeon and commander. This conflict is at its climax when Mitty states that "things close in" and feels hopeless and lost in the real world. The conflict in this short story never comes to a resolution. Mitty still daydreams and does not feel accomplished or needed in his everyday life. The story ends with Walter Mitty daydreaming about his heroic and honorful execution. This shows that Walter Mitty knows he is close to death and doesn't care about what his life has been reduced to and wants to go out heroically but in reality he will die a normal, non-dramatic death.

Theme: (Natalie, Neelie) In the short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the theme was how useless older people feel when they retire. The strict schedule that they have kept for most of their lives stops abruptly and is replaced by idle hours and long, boring days. They do not feel productive and wish they could do something more. This is shown countless times in Walter Mitty's daydreams. The daydreams are so perfect that they seem unreal. He is always a man of great importance, experience, and skill. Beautiful women surround him and other people look to him for guidance. In contrast, in real life, he cannot even park a car without assistance, let alone perform complicated surgeries or navigate a ship through a hurricane.

Symbolism: (Emily, Mary Catherine, Alyson) In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” the main character, Walter Mitty, lives an average, mundane lifestyle. After having a daydream, he says “puppy biscuit” and a woman overhears him and laughs. Walter remembers he has to buy puppy biscuits though and hurries to buy them. When he asks for “biscuits for small, young dogs,” the clerk asks him to specify what brand. Walter thinks to himself, how he could be reduced down to this? The puppy biscuits symbolizes the demeaning of Walter’s life from meaningful to boring. Walter Mitty lives a fairly simple life with an overbearring wife who prefers to try and control every aspect of her husband's life. When he drifts off into his day dreams, he also portrays himself as a very important person with many people admiring him. For example, when he becomes a surgeon he has pretty nurses and other surgeons complimenting him and admiring his successful work. Mitty also portrays himself in the Navy in a very insense and hectic situation. Again, he is doing something brave and admirable in this daydream. These daydreams that he has might symbolize life long dreams of him or resemble the type of person that he can only wish that he was. In the short story by James Thurber "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", the main character Walter mitty experiences daydreams throughout the story. In the story, these daydreams are symbolic of Mitty's wants and secret inhibitions based on the events occurring in his life. In the story Walter Mitty is an older, retired man. As with many people when they reach retirement, Mitty begins to doubt is own self importance because of the lack of activity in his day. The daydreams are projections of his want to feel needed and be of importance. In all of his daydreams, the character that Walter Mitty casts himself as in the daydreams are characters of importance and status. For example, in one daydream Walter Mitty imagines himself as a very famous and skilled doctor. In this daydream, "Doctor Walter Mitty" is the best equipped to perform a complicated surgery, which represents his want to be the best and to feel like his presence has an affect in the world.