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.