The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Group

Question:

confused-student3208
confused-stu...
Student
High School - 10th Grade

Do the different personas who tell parts of the story tell the truth or lie? Why?

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Posted by confused-student3208 on Friday August 21, 2009 at 6:04 PM and tagged with character, mitty.

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  1. grammargator Teacher
    Middle School

    eNotes Editor

    Over the course of this classic Thurber story, the main character imagines himself as a variety of heroic characters: a medical expert called in to consult in a difficult case involving a famous patient, the pilot of a fighter plane on a desperate mission, etc. It is clear that these are fantasies, yet the reader might well ask how "real" these personas are to the man himself.

    Mitty leads a hen-pecked, humdrum life. He seems to lack the will and wherewithal to change his external circumstances, yet his rich inner life will not be denied. Rather than try to determine what is truth and what are lies in this story, it may be more productive to accept both Mitty and his alter egos as necessary to reconcile his rather ordinary life with the unrealized dreams of his youth.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/secret-life

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    Posted by grammargator on Friday August 21, 2009 at 7:33 PM