The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Group at eNotes

Exposition is simply the mode of writing to provide information. It is...

Tue, 9 Jun 2009 13:35:57 PST

Exposition is simply the mode of writing to provide information. It is the text of the story that explains the plot. In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the story opens with a description of a military flight in a storm. The episode is revealed to be a daydream that Walter enjoys while driving his wife to town. The reader quickly figures out that Walter is fantasizing about leading a more exciting life because of the narrative device of...

Walter Mitty's last daydream is of his bravely facing the firing squad....

Thu, 4 Jun 2009 15:09:15 PST

Walter Mitty's last daydream is of his bravely facing the firing squad. He scorns the blindfold, takes a last drag on his cigarette, and bears his breast to the bullets. Prior to this, Walter had been sitting in an old chair, waiting for his wife, and imagining himself a fighter pilot, bravely facing the enemy. The enemy, as always, is in some way symbolic of his wife. She finds him in the chair, after claiming to have searched all over for...

What is the exposition in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"?

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 23:11:36 PST

What is the exposition in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"?

In what way does Mitty's last daydream of an apt comment on his fate in...

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 20:29:23 PST

In what way does Mitty's last daydream of an apt comment on his fate in real life?

Walter Mitty Writing Assignment

It isn't especially ironic that poor Walter would escape momentarily...

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:22:05 PST

It isn't especially ironic that poor Walter would escape momentarily from his dull life and nagging wife in daydreams. In fact, we might expect him to do something to relieve his misery. It is ironic, however, that mousy Mr. Mitty can weave such colorful and incredibly detailed romantic adventures. For a man who shows no signs of creativity in his real life, the richness of his imagination is remarkable. It is ironic (situational irony) that...

What is the irony in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"?

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 16:49:20 PST

What is the irony in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty"?

The story starts with a daydream - Walter imagines himself to be...

Sat, 4 Apr 2009 08:43:04 PST

The story starts with a daydream - Walter imagines himself to be Lieutenant Berg, commander of an aeroplane, and plunging into the depths of a hurricane. We then switch to real life and Walter Mitty's wife telling him off for driving too fast. Then, Mitty plays an expert doctor with his name, who is just about to perform an incredibly difficult operation on a millionaire banker. When disaster hits, Mitty the doctor is able to save the day....

Mrs. Mitty throughout this short story shows that she is a nagging,...

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:19:47 PST

Mrs. Mitty throughout this short story shows that she is a nagging, dominant and overbearing wife. Our first introduction to her is when she brings Walter back to reality after his first daydream by saying "Not so fast! You're driving too fast!... What are you driving so fast for?" The repetition helps to underline the irritation of her voice and helps us to understand by Walter retreats so often in to his daydreams. This repetition in her...

The external conflict between Walter Mitty and Mrs. Mitty comes from the...

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 06:23:30 PST

The external conflict between Walter Mitty and Mrs. Mitty comes from the fact that she is domineering and controlling, and he is too timid to say anything. He daydreams to escape being yelled at by Mrs Mitty, and Mrs. Mitty yells at him because he is often too distracted to pay attention to real life. Because Mitty is incapable of being the hero in real life, he plays the hero in his fantasies. In the end, we see that there can be no real...

Examine the external conflict from the story concerning Mr. Walter Mitty...

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:26:47 PST

Examine the external conflict from the story concerning Mr. Walter Mitty and Mrs. Mitty.

Show clearly from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" that Mrs. Mitty is...

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 01:33:21 PST

Show clearly from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" that Mrs. Mitty is an overbearing wife.

Thurber does a masterful job of weaving Mitty's fantasies into his...

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:48:23 PST

Thurber does a masterful job of weaving Mitty's fantasies into his reality. His daydreams don't just appear out of nowhere. Each daydream springs from some activity that is taking place at the time in Mitty's day. For instance, the story begins with one of Mitty's daydreams in which he commands a huge, powerful hydroplane through a storm, pushing the engines to maximum power. In reality, he is driving his wife to town at a "breath-taking"...

The main conflict is found in Mitty's relationship with his wife. She...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:42:38 PST

The main conflict is found in Mitty's relationship with his wife. She hovers, nags, controls, and directs every aspect of his daily life; he resents it. We can interpret this as the main conflict for several reasons. First of all, this is the only continuing conflict in the story and the only one that is rooted in reality. It is introduced quickly into the story, and it is the conflict to which the story returns at the end. Mitty's conflict...

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," to what extent has the author...

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 23:17:42 PST

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," to what extent has the author succeeded in weaving stories within a story?

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" what is the main conflict? Why?

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:21:03 PST

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" what is the main conflict? Why?

I would give each of the incidents a dramatic name to highlight the...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:44:13 PST

I would give each of the incidents a dramatic name to highlight the excitement and adventure that Walter Mitty does not have in his own life, perhaps using cliched expressions to reinforce this - his daydreamings after all are the stuff of adventure books and films. 1. Into the tempest 2. Wielding the scalpel 3. Sharp shooter 4. Going Solo 5. Final Words Whatever titles you choose you would need to highlight the desire of Walter Mitty to be...

Give suitable title of your own to each day dreams in "The Secret Life...

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 04:01:33 PST

Give suitable title of your own to each day dreams in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" and state your reasons for picking up those titles.

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the parody lies in the characters...

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:45:49 PST

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the parody lies in the characters that Mitty creates in his daydreams. His heroes are extraordinary, skilled, super-hero type people, they are so over the top that the author seems to be mocking these type of people. Either they don't exist, or if they do, James Thurber is mocking them in this work. Mitty's alter egos in his fantasies are exceptional, they are superhuman in their abilities to confront...

What is the parody in the secret life of Walter Mitty?

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:38:29 PST

What is the parody in the secret life of Walter Mitty?