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Identity In The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

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Understanding individual identity is often reflected by commitment towards personal beliefs. These beliefs allow individuals to develop and better understand their identity but often are kept concealed due to circumstances of the past or present. In Ben Stiller’s The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the protagonist’s life is routine and lacks vibrancy. Eventually, an arduous adventure spurs past aspirations and present commitments forwards. Through this film, Stiller demonstrates the importance for humans to integrate personal beliefs into everyday life while staying pragmatic, and maintaining balance in order to develop and understand identity through adversity. Walter Mitty begins as a one-sided character lacking the qualities which protagonists generally possess. His monotone personality is depicted in the dull, monochromatic colour palette of his surroundings. This portrayal is highlighted through the application of similarly bland colours to Walter’s clothing which distinctly blend with the environment. Although his life remains static and invulnerable to change, which can be delineated from the linear characteristics of the opening camera shots; Walter portrays an element of …show more content…

Walter’s determination to discover the location of Sean O’Connell is diminished to yet another hopeless fantasy as he is fired from his job. Additionally, his commitment to Cheryl becomes obsolete after he comes face to face with her divorced husband. From this, Stiller suggests the cruciality of balancing personal commitments with life and failing to act in accordance with this results in losses for individuals. Even so, with the sacrifices made, Walter finds motivation in his mother’s words to continue looking for O’Connell. Stiller applies this to actively exhibit how failure should not confine a commitment towards an

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Walter Mitty’s life was very boring so, he likes to daydreaming about something exited. For example, he imagined that the firing squad shooted him while he was smoking in front of the drugstore. His daydreaming always been interrupted by something. For example, while he imagined that he was on the navy boat, he heard his wife voice “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!(Thurber 1939)” Mrs. Mitty was a bossy wife.

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But one night, drunk Daniel, ‘an accident waiting to happen’ (Page 34), kills two people and paralyses his cousin, Fin. The accident changes everything for the Brennan’s. For Tom to become an object of hatred and the fact that it was all caused by his brother, Daniel, whom he obeyed and followed like an idol, is tough for him to deal with. What makes it even worse is, his mum is still stuck in her own agony and is of no help.

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This shows the audience the character development that Walter Mitty ultimately went through to become more aware and enjoy life more. Colour is a new addition to the film as it cannot be seen in the short story and appeals to a contemporary audience as colour is used frequently to create an ambience where the audience may feel certain emotions. Director Ben Stiller uses colour to create a division between Walter’s life and his daydreams which contrasts as his real life is dull while his daydreams are vivid and heroic (as seen in figure 1). This allows the audience to see what his life is like versus what he dreams of it being and affects them as they may relate to this as their life may not be as great as their dreams.

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In the beginning Walter is basically perceived as a jerk-he doesn’t seem to get along with anyone, not even his own family. His character likes to turn discussions into fights, make rude comments to his wife, and act all around immature. A part that accurately shows the way Walter conducts himself is when he is arguing with Ruth and says “Man say: I got to change my life , I'm choking to death, baby! And his woman say- Your eggs is getting cold!”

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653 Words | 3 Pages

In the film, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the viewers are introduced to the main character, Walter Mitty. From the beginning, Walter’s actions and words can lead one to infer that his character is painfully shy, awkward and quiet. In combination with his awkwardness and shyness, he continually has these moments where he enters “his own world,” and fantasizes about the things he’s too timid to do or that he finds heroic. This is especially unusual to his peers and co-workers who try to converse openly with him.

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830 Words | 4 Pages

Key details in the film illustrate how the rest of the world see Walter. He is a shy dull man that is boring and maybe some might say a loner. When you watch the movie beginning to end you see his identity transform from timid to brave and courageous. He steps out of his shell and does thing he thought he would never do. Walter Mitty found his identity.

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Throughout literature the constant theme of identity has been explored, with Northrop Frye even suggesting “the story of the loss and regaining of identity is, I think, the framework for all literature.” For characters, true identity isn’t always apparent, it needs to be searched for. Sometimes the inner struggle for identity stems from ones need for belonging. Whether one finds their sense of identity within friends, family, or in a physical “home”. It’s not always a place that defines identity.

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Identities are often defined through one’s experiences in life and passions. In Through a Lens Darkly,

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Walter feels his job is more than unsatisfying, and can not make Mama understand, since her simplistic views are just like Ruths. In spite of his personal inadequacies with his job fulfillment, Walter shines in the end of the story with understanding and growth of his own fathers not so wonderful job. Walter seems to be reflecting on his own status as a

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1674 Words | 7 Pages

Comparative Essay The word belonging is defined as “hav[ing] the right personal or social qualities to be a member of a particular group” by The Oxford Pocket Dictionary. The Black Balloon and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty are two narratives that deal with the theme of belonging and acceptance. The Black Balloon is a 2008 independent Australian film directed by Elissa Down about Thomas Mollison, a teenager who, though the conflicts in the film, accepts his autistic and attention deficit disordered brother with the help of his girlfriend, Jackie. Meanwhile, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a short story depicting the life of an old man surviving his mundane life by escaping into vivid fantasies in which he is the hero. These narratives

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1179 Words | 5 Pages

He put them on, but after she had turned and gone into the building and he had driven on to a red light, he took them off again” (1). Walter listens to his wife whenever she nags him about things, but, as is shown, when she is not looking, he does the opposite. This type of behavior could be equated to something a child would do when their mother tells them what to do, and that is very much what I feel like Walter and his wife’s relationship is similar to. She is like the mother and he is the child and, perhaps, that is why Mitty’s fantasies do not once include his wife. This is significant because it shows that Mitty does not want to be treated like a child, in his fantasies and in real life.

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950 Words | 4 Pages

Walter was introduced as a man who cared about nothing other than his business. He had sacrificed his sister’s dream of becoming a doctor, and held the power to wipe out Mama’s dream for a better home. Walter sees the gender roles as boundaries keeping him from loosening up to his family. He is given the insight that men must be powerful, wealthy, and demanding for them to truly be the head of the household. However, Walter sees past these gender roles, and not only challenges these rigid roles, but he also regains his family’s trust along the

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1278 Words | 6 Pages

Anne Ferguson Mann writes that Mrs. Mitty, “is there to keep him from driving too fast, to get him to wear his gloves and overshoes, to take him to the doctor,... free him from practical responsibilities of living”. (Mann, 352). In this quote, Ann Ferguson Mann is saying that Mrs. Mitty makes everyday life decisions for Walter and does not let him take charge of his own life and be responsible for his own life. Walter lacks charge of his life in reality, so he makes up for it in his

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579 Words | 3 Pages

The identity a person holds is one of the most important aspects of their lives. Identity is what distinguishes people from others, although it leaves a negative stereotype upon people. In the short story Identities by W.D Valgardson, a middle-aged wealthy man finds himself lost in a rough neighborhood while attempting to look for something new. The author employs many elements in the story, some of the more important ones being stereotype and foreshadow. For many people, their personal identity is stereotyped by society.

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Also In the movie adaptation Walter has a job at the life office and loses a negative photo. This gives Walter another goal and this goal changes him more throughout the story. The negative makes him more courageous and risky. The Walter in the story is dry and boring. Lastly the movie gives Walter a reason to daydream.

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