The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty Analysis

Life in the Shoes of Walter Mitty An active imagination is not something found in the everyday grocery market, for it is not something that can be sold. It is an abstract idea gifted to lucky individuals. The author James Thurber follows a day in the life of one such individual in his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”. A short piece of fiction written about an average man’s day, going about his tasks and occasionally being interrupted by bouts of his personal fantasies. Those with the gift of imagination are going to experience life differently than those around them, Walter Mitty certainly did. This alternative way of perceiving life caused several impacts upon Walter Mitty’s mundane life. These effects nurtured invariably by

Mr. Mitty got to see many different ways he could have lived using his imagination, he got to see many different ways his life could have gone. One such possibility was him becoming a doctor. “ ‘I’ve read your book on streptothricosis,’ said Pritchard Mitford, shaking hands.” in this fantasy of his he was a doctor who was quite famous, having even written a few books (as shown by the preceding quote). For a few moments, Walter Mitty got to experience what his life would have been like had he chosen to become a doctor. Walter Mitty also got to imagine himself as a criminal. “ ‘I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet with my left hand.’ ” in this quote Walter is speaking to a judge as though he were a criminal in one of his fantasies. Although it is not exactly a positive fantasy it is a different way he could have taken his life. Apart from viewing his life different ways Walter Mitty also used his imagination to abdicate from some of the abuse he faced in his waking life. From the eyes of other people, Walter Mitty just seemed like a peculiar, possibly insane man, which can be demonstrated by the quote “A woman who was passing laughed. ‘He said ‘Puppy biscuit,’ ’ she said to her

It was because of Mitty’s imagination that his wife had such acrimony with him. “ ‘It’s one of your days. I wish you’d let Dr. Renshaw look you over.’ ” is what Mrs. Mitty tells Walter. By telling them this what she is really saying is that she believes his imagination needs to be fixed, she thinks that his visions are an interruption to their life and nothing more than something she can send to the doctor and get fixed. Walter Mitty would most likely hear similar words from his wife every time he had a fantasy, over time this would make him start to think that it was something that needed to be fixed as well, instead of learning to love his gift. Inadvertently then Walter’s own imagination actually caused him to start thinking his imagination was a problem. It was not just Walter’s wife who thought that these visions were a botheration, in addition to Walter’s wife the general public judged him callously. One example of this occurring would be when the woman on the street starts to laugh at Walter for saying ‘puppy biscuit’. Admittedly, it would have looked pretty comical, a man standing still on the street staring looking almost like he was in a daze then suddenly snapping out of it and saying ‘puppy biscuit’ of all things.That would have looked somewhat funny. However, if this is happening to Walter all the time when he is around people then no doubt that has started to hurt him. For, no matter how strong a