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University of Panama

                  Faculty of Arts

                  English School

    Comparative and Contemporary Literature

                     IV Level



             Teacher Ismael Martinez

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Literary Analysis”



                     Student:

               Katherine Velásquez

                   8-847-2119



                    Deadline:

                October 3rd, 2012
The Secret life of Walter Mitty

                         By James Thurber

 Plot:
     The story starts with Walter Mitty, being a commander of the
  Marine forces. Here he goes forth, without any doubt or fear, he is
  driving an hydroplane as fast as he can, all of the sudden, he hears
  his wife saying that he is driving over 55 miles, when he doesn’t use
  to do it over 40. He looks at her in a strange way so she realizes he is
  not in his better state of mind. They are in a weekly shopping day,
  and he leaves his wife in the beauty salon. She tells him to put on his
  gloves and buy overshoes, so he put the gloves on; but takes them
  away as long as she can’t see him in a red light. When the light turns
  green a policeman tells him to move on and he passes in front of a
  hospital, looking for a garage to leave the car and get the wheels’
  chains removed. Instantly, he sees himself as a recognized and
  important doctor needed to make a surgery to a millionaire with real
  big health issues. He is the best of the doctors attending the patient
  and his name is recognized by all of them, who ask him to lead the
  intervention. Suddenly, one of the machines starts failing and he is
  the only one able to arrange it. Once he is done with that, the patient
  get worst and Dr. Mitty is in charge of saving him. Then, he is in the
  parking lot, but he places the car in the wrong lot, so the attendant
  tells him to give him the keys and he will place the car in the right
  lot. After that, Mitty leaves the place reluctantly and accidently, steps
  on a slush. There he remembers he needed overshoes and starts
  looking for a shoes store. Once he gets the overshoes, he also
  remembers he needed to buy something else, so he tries to have an
  idea of what it was. In that moment he hears a newsboy shouting
something about the Waterbury Trial, and he sees himself at a trial
  being interrogated for murdering, he carelessly accepts the charges in
  the midst of a stunned reaction of the courtroom. Abruptly, he hears
  someone saying he is a “miserable cur” and he remembers that he
  had to buy puppy biscuits. A girl listens to him saying that and thinks
  he is funny. So he gets to a shop and asks for puppy’s food. When he
  is ready with the food, he goes to the lobby and sits in a leather chair
  to wait the time passes and go meet his wife. There in the lobby he
  finds an edition of a magazine in which it talks about Germany
  ruling the world through air, it had bombing planes and ruined
  streets. Immediately he imagined himself as a brave pilot of a plane
  in middle of an endless war, in which someone has to become a hero
  for saving his country. When he was ready to get to the end, his wife
  grabbed his shoulder and asked him why was he there when he was
  supposed to be waiting for her. Then, they walked to the parking lot,
  which was two blocks away, and his wife stopped in the drugstore.
  There, Walter lighted a cigarette and rain poured over him as he saw
  in the horizon a firing squad waiting for him, the Undefeated Walter
  Mitty.


 Narrator:
     The narrator in this Thurber’s story is third person limited. It is
  because this narrator just knows Walter’s thoughts and feelings, and
  is able to sense Mrs. Mitty’s position through the way her character
  expresses herself.
 Characters
     Walter Mitty: The main character is Walter Mitty. This character
  develops different mini characters throughout the story since in each
  of his daydreams he is a different person. First, the real character is a
forgetful, not kinesthetic old man who tries to escape from the
boredom of a shopping day with his wife, by inventing stories in
which he is the hero. In this way he also compensates the lack of self
commandment because of his wife’s tendency to tell him everything
he has to do; and from other people who see him as a weird old man.
         First dream: He is brave pilot facing a snow storm at full
         speed.
         Second dream: He is a proficient surgeon attending one of
         the most important patients in the country, and he is the
         only one capable the release a successful surgery.
         Third dream: He is a skilled criminal at a trial, who accepts
         his fault without any regret.
         Fourth dream: He is a pilot once again, but this time he is a
         martyr willing to die for the sake of his honor.
         Fifth dream: Walter sees himself as a condemned man,
         going fearless to the firing squad.

   Mrs. Mitty: She is Walter Mitty’s wife. She is a commanding
woman, who shows how the marriage life is after many years. Even
though she uses to tell Walter what to do and quarrels him many
times, she is his connection to the real world, and takes care of him.

   Other characters in the story are:

      Lieutenant Berg (first dream)
      Dr. Renshaw (real Mr. Mitty Doctor, and second dream)
      Wellington Mc. Millan: Millionaire under surgery (Second
      dream)
      Doctors; Renbow, Remington, Pritchard-Mitford (Second
      dream)
Parking lot attendants
        The district attorney (third dream)
        Gregory Fitzhurst: Man killed by Walter Mitty in the third
        dream.
        The sergeant (fourth dream)
 Setting:
     The story occurs in Waterbury, Connecticut around the years
  1938-1939. It is located in a city, and the story is developed in one
  single day, may be a few hours. But the author chose special places
  in which the action took place. First, they were travelling in a car,
  and then they were in the beauty salon, after that Walter was driving
  in the streets, later, in a parking lot, in a hotel lobby, etc. And in his
  dreams he was in an airplane, an operating room, a courtroom, a
  dugout, and a wall before a firing squad.
 Figurative Language:
     In this short story, the author applies several literary devices to
  enrich the quality of the text as well as to create a deeper impression
  in the reader’s mind. Some of the literary terms found are:
     o Onomatopoeia: James Thurber uses two onomatopoeic sounds
        during the development of the tale. One of them is “ta-
        pocketa-pocketa-pocketa” which the author places for
        different elements. First, it is the sound of pounding of the
        cylinders". Later, the new anesthetizer gives way and makes
        the same sound. Finally, flame-throwers make the same noise.
        The other onomatopoeic sound is “rat-tattatting” to simulate
        the sound of guns.
     o Simile: The first literary term we can find in the story is
        simile.In the first line in which the author says: “ (…) the
        Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking.” It also stands
out in the line “ (…) She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a
   strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd.”
o Hyperbole: We can see this figurative language in the next
   line: “(. . .) I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three
   hundred feet with my left hand”
o Allusion: The author uses lots of allusions to different objects
   or happenings of that period of time. Some of them are: “A &
   P (a supermarket chain), Liberty (a magazine), Archies ( Anti-
   aircraft weapons), Auprès de Ma Blonde(French folk song
   composed in the 1600s), Coals to Newcastle ( These words are
   often used as part of the phrase like carrying coals to
   Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne is a British city famous for
   the production and export of coal. To say that performing a
   certain task is like carrying coals to Newcastle is to say that
   one is executing a needless task), Von Richtman's Circus (
   Von Richtman is an allusion to Manfred von Richtofen, an ace
   World War I German pilot known as the Red Baron. Circus is
   an allusion to the Flying Circus, a unit of elite pilots
   commanded by Richtofen) and Webley-Vickers 50.80 (Made-
   up name for a gun. Webley and Vickers were separate British
   companies that manufactured weapons.)
o Irony: In this story irony is presented, because even though
   Walter Mitty dreams of being a brave famous undefeatable
   hero, his real life is completely the opposite and he is
   commanded by his wife.
o Symbolism: The way Mrs Mitty treats Walter symbolizes the
   control she has over him, as does the way other people talk
   and act towards him.
 Themes: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” present themes such as:
       o Escapism: As Walter cannot face his reality, he decides to live
          in his daydreaming fantasy in which he can be a hero, or
          anything he is not able to be in his real life.
       o Marriage: How Walter and Mrs Mitty deals with a marriage in
          which one person is too demanding and the other person
          prefers to be abstracted.
       o Masculinity: Mitty is a man who does not present main “male”
          characteristics like being good at mechanics, a good driver, or
          a dominant husband. That’s why in his fantasies he is a skillful
          guns man, admired and respected by others.
      Summarizing, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about how we,
    as human beings, decide to face life circumstances in which our
    position is not always taken into account. For example, when we are
    under other people legislation, how do we manage the situation?
    Hiding from our responsibilities? Or trying to create a new
    atmosphere in which our thoughts and opinions can be expressed and
    understood? This story is also about our aspirations in life. What are
    we willing to get, how and when we will get it?, etc. The author
    makes emphasis at the end of the story in Walter confronting a firing
    squad, knowing that he is not going to finish well, but doing it
    proudly. Even when it is in his imagination, it gives us a glance of
    how we can improve a situation by facing what we have in front of
    us. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a story which needs to be read
    more than three times to be grasped in its whole essence, but when
    the person is able to do it, he or she will get better viewpoints of life
in all its short and complicated existence for common daydreamers
like us.

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The secret lifee of walter mitty analysis

  • 1. University of Panama Faculty of Arts English School Comparative and Contemporary Literature IV Level Teacher Ismael Martinez “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Literary Analysis” Student: Katherine Velásquez 8-847-2119 Deadline: October 3rd, 2012
  • 2. The Secret life of Walter Mitty By James Thurber  Plot: The story starts with Walter Mitty, being a commander of the Marine forces. Here he goes forth, without any doubt or fear, he is driving an hydroplane as fast as he can, all of the sudden, he hears his wife saying that he is driving over 55 miles, when he doesn’t use to do it over 40. He looks at her in a strange way so she realizes he is not in his better state of mind. They are in a weekly shopping day, and he leaves his wife in the beauty salon. She tells him to put on his gloves and buy overshoes, so he put the gloves on; but takes them away as long as she can’t see him in a red light. When the light turns green a policeman tells him to move on and he passes in front of a hospital, looking for a garage to leave the car and get the wheels’ chains removed. Instantly, he sees himself as a recognized and important doctor needed to make a surgery to a millionaire with real big health issues. He is the best of the doctors attending the patient and his name is recognized by all of them, who ask him to lead the intervention. Suddenly, one of the machines starts failing and he is the only one able to arrange it. Once he is done with that, the patient get worst and Dr. Mitty is in charge of saving him. Then, he is in the parking lot, but he places the car in the wrong lot, so the attendant tells him to give him the keys and he will place the car in the right lot. After that, Mitty leaves the place reluctantly and accidently, steps on a slush. There he remembers he needed overshoes and starts looking for a shoes store. Once he gets the overshoes, he also remembers he needed to buy something else, so he tries to have an idea of what it was. In that moment he hears a newsboy shouting
  • 3. something about the Waterbury Trial, and he sees himself at a trial being interrogated for murdering, he carelessly accepts the charges in the midst of a stunned reaction of the courtroom. Abruptly, he hears someone saying he is a “miserable cur” and he remembers that he had to buy puppy biscuits. A girl listens to him saying that and thinks he is funny. So he gets to a shop and asks for puppy’s food. When he is ready with the food, he goes to the lobby and sits in a leather chair to wait the time passes and go meet his wife. There in the lobby he finds an edition of a magazine in which it talks about Germany ruling the world through air, it had bombing planes and ruined streets. Immediately he imagined himself as a brave pilot of a plane in middle of an endless war, in which someone has to become a hero for saving his country. When he was ready to get to the end, his wife grabbed his shoulder and asked him why was he there when he was supposed to be waiting for her. Then, they walked to the parking lot, which was two blocks away, and his wife stopped in the drugstore. There, Walter lighted a cigarette and rain poured over him as he saw in the horizon a firing squad waiting for him, the Undefeated Walter Mitty.  Narrator: The narrator in this Thurber’s story is third person limited. It is because this narrator just knows Walter’s thoughts and feelings, and is able to sense Mrs. Mitty’s position through the way her character expresses herself.  Characters Walter Mitty: The main character is Walter Mitty. This character develops different mini characters throughout the story since in each of his daydreams he is a different person. First, the real character is a
  • 4. forgetful, not kinesthetic old man who tries to escape from the boredom of a shopping day with his wife, by inventing stories in which he is the hero. In this way he also compensates the lack of self commandment because of his wife’s tendency to tell him everything he has to do; and from other people who see him as a weird old man. First dream: He is brave pilot facing a snow storm at full speed. Second dream: He is a proficient surgeon attending one of the most important patients in the country, and he is the only one capable the release a successful surgery. Third dream: He is a skilled criminal at a trial, who accepts his fault without any regret. Fourth dream: He is a pilot once again, but this time he is a martyr willing to die for the sake of his honor. Fifth dream: Walter sees himself as a condemned man, going fearless to the firing squad. Mrs. Mitty: She is Walter Mitty’s wife. She is a commanding woman, who shows how the marriage life is after many years. Even though she uses to tell Walter what to do and quarrels him many times, she is his connection to the real world, and takes care of him. Other characters in the story are: Lieutenant Berg (first dream) Dr. Renshaw (real Mr. Mitty Doctor, and second dream) Wellington Mc. Millan: Millionaire under surgery (Second dream) Doctors; Renbow, Remington, Pritchard-Mitford (Second dream)
  • 5. Parking lot attendants The district attorney (third dream) Gregory Fitzhurst: Man killed by Walter Mitty in the third dream. The sergeant (fourth dream)  Setting: The story occurs in Waterbury, Connecticut around the years 1938-1939. It is located in a city, and the story is developed in one single day, may be a few hours. But the author chose special places in which the action took place. First, they were travelling in a car, and then they were in the beauty salon, after that Walter was driving in the streets, later, in a parking lot, in a hotel lobby, etc. And in his dreams he was in an airplane, an operating room, a courtroom, a dugout, and a wall before a firing squad.  Figurative Language: In this short story, the author applies several literary devices to enrich the quality of the text as well as to create a deeper impression in the reader’s mind. Some of the literary terms found are: o Onomatopoeia: James Thurber uses two onomatopoeic sounds during the development of the tale. One of them is “ta- pocketa-pocketa-pocketa” which the author places for different elements. First, it is the sound of pounding of the cylinders". Later, the new anesthetizer gives way and makes the same sound. Finally, flame-throwers make the same noise. The other onomatopoeic sound is “rat-tattatting” to simulate the sound of guns. o Simile: The first literary term we can find in the story is simile.In the first line in which the author says: “ (…) the Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking.” It also stands
  • 6. out in the line “ (…) She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd.” o Hyperbole: We can see this figurative language in the next line: “(. . .) I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet with my left hand” o Allusion: The author uses lots of allusions to different objects or happenings of that period of time. Some of them are: “A & P (a supermarket chain), Liberty (a magazine), Archies ( Anti- aircraft weapons), Auprès de Ma Blonde(French folk song composed in the 1600s), Coals to Newcastle ( These words are often used as part of the phrase like carrying coals to Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne is a British city famous for the production and export of coal. To say that performing a certain task is like carrying coals to Newcastle is to say that one is executing a needless task), Von Richtman's Circus ( Von Richtman is an allusion to Manfred von Richtofen, an ace World War I German pilot known as the Red Baron. Circus is an allusion to the Flying Circus, a unit of elite pilots commanded by Richtofen) and Webley-Vickers 50.80 (Made- up name for a gun. Webley and Vickers were separate British companies that manufactured weapons.) o Irony: In this story irony is presented, because even though Walter Mitty dreams of being a brave famous undefeatable hero, his real life is completely the opposite and he is commanded by his wife. o Symbolism: The way Mrs Mitty treats Walter symbolizes the control she has over him, as does the way other people talk and act towards him.
  • 7.  Themes: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” present themes such as: o Escapism: As Walter cannot face his reality, he decides to live in his daydreaming fantasy in which he can be a hero, or anything he is not able to be in his real life. o Marriage: How Walter and Mrs Mitty deals with a marriage in which one person is too demanding and the other person prefers to be abstracted. o Masculinity: Mitty is a man who does not present main “male” characteristics like being good at mechanics, a good driver, or a dominant husband. That’s why in his fantasies he is a skillful guns man, admired and respected by others.  Summarizing, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is about how we, as human beings, decide to face life circumstances in which our position is not always taken into account. For example, when we are under other people legislation, how do we manage the situation? Hiding from our responsibilities? Or trying to create a new atmosphere in which our thoughts and opinions can be expressed and understood? This story is also about our aspirations in life. What are we willing to get, how and when we will get it?, etc. The author makes emphasis at the end of the story in Walter confronting a firing squad, knowing that he is not going to finish well, but doing it proudly. Even when it is in his imagination, it gives us a glance of how we can improve a situation by facing what we have in front of us. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a story which needs to be read more than three times to be grasped in its whole essence, but when the person is able to do it, he or she will get better viewpoints of life
  • 8. in all its short and complicated existence for common daydreamers like us.