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Walter Mitty Theme

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Introduction: The short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is written by James Thurber and tells the story of aging Walter Mitty on his usual trip into town to run errands with his controlling wife. Throughout the day, Mitty is running errands and continuously escapes into a series of fantasises that are propertied by the reality that is going on around him. The title of this short story is significant. The title foreshadows the plot and theme of the story. The title suggests that Walter Mitty is living some sort of secret life, which he is. The secret life the title suggests is one made up of fantasises. There are two focal themes within this story. The first theme is the concept of different versions of reality. Walter Mitty fantasizes …show more content…

self-conflict within this story. Throughout the story Walter Mitty is struggling to focus on the simple tasks that were given to him by his wife because of his active imagination creating various fantasies that are propertied by the events happening around him. Within the first paragraph, Mitty’s wife indicates that Walter Mitty is “tensed up” after a vivid fantasy and states that “it’s one of [his] days” and that “[she] wish [that he] let Dr. Renshaw look [him] over” (2). This shows that these fantasies are normal. As the story continues, events that are happening arounds him elicit other fantasies, which create more internal conflicts for Walter Mitty.
Within the story, there are five different fantasises that Walter Mitty creates. In the text, they are described in depth to create allusions. In relation to the allusions that are created by the thoughtful discerptions of the setting and the plot; the tone changes depending weather if Walter Mitty is engaged in reality or if he is within a fantasy. The tone within his fantasies is very hopeful and adventurous. On the other hand, the tone in his reality is dull. The tone varies differs depending on her Walter Mitty is in the

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