Over the last week I have read several short stories. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” James Thurber was one of my favorites. Hope you enjoy it!
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, tells the story of a man with an incredible imagination. Even though it is an extremely short story, compared to other short stories, Thurber is able to put a lot of detail about this man’s life into a small package. There are two major characters in the story, as well as a few imaginary ones. Walter Mitty and his wife Mrs. Mitty are an older couple who do not seem to like each other very much. Mrs. Mitty constantly nags her husband about things that he must do and remember to do, and he does his best to escape her nagging. The setting takes place somewhere in England, several decades ago, on a rainy afternoon. This gloomy weather seems to fit Mitty’s mood perfectly. He is waiting in the car while his wife is at the beauty salon. The scenario seems to bore Walter, who escapes into his thoughts to avoid his reality.
From the very beginning I was drawn into Mitty’s fantasy life. The short story starts with an exciting imaginary situation in which he is the commander of a Navy hydroplane who saves the day when presented with an impossible task. In fact, that seems to be the motif or theme of all of the fantasies: Mitty is in charge of something very important; something drastic goes wrong, and the situation seems impossible; Mitty becomes a hero by accomplishing the impossible. In reality, the main character is driving his nagging wife to her hair appointment, then he is going to buy rain boots and dog biscuits. It is clear that he invents these daydreams to escape his boredom. The settings of his fantasies are all different: a Navy hydroplane, an operating room at a hospital, a murder trial in a courtroom, and World War II bomber airplane. I really enjoyed how Thurber created all of these different settings in one story. There are also some common elements that tie together the fantasies. One of them is the sound “pocketa-pocketa-pocketa,” which describes the cylinders in the hydroplane, a surgery machine, and the flame throwers in WWII. Also, the type of gun in the courtroom and the war fantasy are the same. Thurber’s descriptions are less about the actual settings and more about the actions that are taking place in real life and in Mitty’s head. This works well to hold the story together.
The story moves quickly from daydream to daydream, and Mitty’s pathetic life shows through in between the excitement of his imagination. I kind of felt sorry for Mitty because he seem bored, lonely, and weak. Unfortunately, the enemy in the story is his wife, but he sees others as mocking him, too, such as the store clerk and the parking attendant. I think the most exciting part of the story was Mitty’s final fantasy at the end. This time, he is facing a firing squad, but it is unclear as to what happens next because it ends so suddenly. The reader is left wondering what actually occurs. I liked this because I could think about other possible endings and as a result I kept thinking about the story long after I finished reading.
This story is very unique to me because it shifts back and forth from daydream to reality, which is something that is not common in other short stories. The short story is easy to follow even with the shifts. One thing that I found interesting is that it is really a story about how boring and horrible this man’s life is, but it is very exciting because of his imagination. The reader really begins to feel sorry for Walter Mitty and wants to see him stand up to his wife. Like myself, I think that other students will enjoy this story because of the exciting scenarios and clearness with which it is written.
Link to the short story:
http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1939/03/18/390318fi_fiction_thurber?currentPage=all
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