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Walter Mitty Thesis

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“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Thesis Essay

In life, change is inevitable, but some people want and need change to make their lives more interesting. Everyone handles change in a different way, but in the short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, Walter Mitty embraces change. Walter Mitty lives a boring, humdrum life. He is an old man who does not have many friends or family, besides his wife. Walter Mitty has a strange relationship with his wife. She does not understand him, treats him like a child, and calls him feverish for his thoughts. In reality, Walter Mitty does not have much control over his life. His days mostly consist of driving Mrs. Mitty around and following her orders. When he daydreams, Walter Mitty …show more content…

He is tired of living and impotent life and wants it to change. Walter Mitty is described as “inscrutable” making it harder for him to build strong relationships with the people in his life, such as his wife. In the beginning of the story, Walter Mitty is dropping his wife off to get her hair done. Mrs. Mitty tells Walter Mitty to get overshoes while he waits for her even though she knows that he doesn’t want to get them. “Walter Mitty stopped the car in front of the building where his wife went to have her hair done. ‘Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done,’ she said. ‘I don’t need overshoes,’ said Mitty. She put her mirror back into her bag. ‘We’ve been through that,’ she said getting out of the car” (1). Right after this conversation with his wife, Walter Mitty begins to daydream. In his daydream, Walter Mitty is a surgeon, a position of power and authority. This shows that feeling powerless and being treated like a child triggers Mitty to daydream.
Theme is a universal idea that can be explored throughout the story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” because Walter Mitty constantly daydreams to change his life and be in control. He is tired of being told what to do, and he is ready to die. When he daydreams, not only is Mitty in control of his life, but he is in control of his thoughts, too. Mrs. Mitty is not capable of calling him feverish or forcing him to do things that he does not want to. Everybody likes to have their way and nobody likes constantly being nagged. If someone lived a life like Walter Mitty’s, they would want change,

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