'The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty'

Something that we as humans all do is create a false sense of who we are in order to hide our true identities. For some people, this is only a meaningless act within our heads, but for others, it becomes somewhat of a reality. In James Thurber’s adventurous short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” Walter Mitty lives half of his life in his imagination. Walter and his wife, Mrs. Mitty, are taking a trip into town. Throughout the trip, Walter is shown to be unable to complete simple tasks, such as driving correctly. However, in the world inside his mind, Walter is quite an adventurous hero. A constant theme shown by Thurber in the story is the different versions of reality. He believes that we all are two people- the person we are in our

Thurber uses two prime conflicts to produce the story’s theme throughout. The standout conflict described is that between Walter and his wife, Mrs. Mitty. The narrator states of Walter that, “he looked at his wife, in the seat beside him, with shocked astonishment. She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd” (625). Shown many times throughout the story, Walter and his wife do not have established a proper marriage filled with love for each other, instead more of hatred. They do not have a good understanding of each other, which leads Walter to describe her as a stranger. This abnormal relationship between the two causes many fights and yelling, especially from the woman. It can be inferred that Walter’s imagination is a place in which he can escape from the constant harassment from his wife. Another conflict that can be found is between Walter and himself, and between himself and society. The narrator tells that, “since then Mrs. Mitty always made him drive to a garage to have the chains taken off. The next time, he thought, I'll wear my right arm in a sling; they won't grin at me then. I'll have my right arm in a sling and they'll see I couldn't possibly take the chains off myself. He kicked at the slush on the sidewalk” (626-627). It is evident that Walter believes he is viewed poorly by others, that people are constantly mocking him everywhere he goes. This mindset of his puts him down and gives him a very negative self image. He feels very unconfident with both who he is as a person and the life he lives every day. He often wishes of a life in which he is a better, more exciting man. Similarly, critic Trudy Ring describes Walter’s imagination by stating, Walter Mitty is one of literature’s great dreamers. He spends much of his time escaping into fantasies in which he is brilliant and heroic, and his life is dramatic and