James Thurber's portrayal of Walter Mitty highlights the universal theme of escapism as a coping mechanism to counter life's monotonous routine and as a way to suppress personal insecurities. By exploring the human psyche through Mitty's flights of fancy, Thurber reminds readers of the delicate balance between imagination and the limits of reality. Mitty's yearning for excitement and adventure reflects the innate human desire for meaning and significance, underscoring the importance of embracing one's true self and passions.

Beyond its individual character study, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" critiques societal norms that stifle individuality and creativity. Mitty's subjugation to his domineering wife symbolizes the oppressive forces that prevent people from exploring their full potential. The story advocates for pursuing personal dreams and aspirations and urges readers to consider their place in relation to societal expectations.

Moreover, the work resonates with audiences across generations due to its timeless themes. Mitty is undoubtedly in good company when it comes to being dissatisfied with everyday life. In a rapidly changing world, where the pressures of modernity can lead to disconnection and disengagement, Mitty's struggle serves as a reminder of the importance of maintaining a connection with one's inner self. It encourages readers to embrace their imaginations, celebrate individuality, and seek moments of respite in their busy lives.

Throughout the story, certain recurring symbols offer insights into Mitty's character and inner life. The "puppy biscuits" might symbolize his wife's control over him, as she entrusts him with a mundane task like buying dog treats. In contrast, the "hydroplane" reflects his desire for excitement and adventure. When he daydreams about being a naval commander, Mitty imagines piloting a hydroplane through dangerous weather. This represents his yearning for freedom and courage in the face of adversity.

Mitty's imaginings reflect a secret desire for a grandiose life. They are full of the same cliches and tropes someone might encounter in an adventure novel or film. As a wartime pilot, Mitty single-handedly engages the enemy. As a surgeon, he makes ingenious lifesaving decisions under pressure, all while speaking in meaningless medical jargon. In this way, the story recognizes that a person's fantasies are limited by their imagination rather than by reality.

Despite the brevity of this short story, a degree of character development still exists. Walter Mitty's character undergoes subtle changes throughout the narrative. In the beginning, he appears as a passive, forgetful man, dominated by his wife.

However, as the story progresses, his daydreams become more audacious, reflecting his inner desires for bravery and self-assertion. For example, when he envisions himself as a surgeon, he becomes authoritative and commanding. This character development highlights the power of imagination in transforming an individual's self-perception and potential.

Thurber often includes modernist elements and themes in his works. This story is no exception. Modernist literature regularly delves into characters' inner thoughts, emotions, and consciousness. Readers have intimate access to Mitty's daydreams, presenting a detailed examination of his imaginative world and desires. This introspective approach allows the audience to connect with the protagonist on a deeper level. It emphasizes the complexities of the human psyche.

Furthermore, modernist works challenge traditional linear storytelling by employing fragmented narratives. Thurber seamlessly weaves Mitty's daydreams with his uninteresting reality, blurring the boundaries between the two. This fragmented structure reflects the fractured nature of modern life, where individuals experience a constant interplay between the real and the imagined.

As in many modernist pieces, the story's ending contains some ambiguity. Readers are left wondering whether Mitty's final daydream is indeed a defiant act of bravery or a sign of resignation. It may be both. This ambiguity invites the audience to reflect on the complexities of the human condition and the uncertain nature of existence.

War Fantasies

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" was initially published in 1939, the same year World War II commenced. During this time, German forces invaded Poland, the Germans and Soviets signed a Nazi-Soviet non-aggression pact, and Germany and Italy established the Pact of Steel Alliance. As the Axis powers solidified their positions, Britain and France declared war on Germany. In response, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared U.S. neutrality, but the United States eventually joined the conflict in 1941 after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Following Albert Einstein's advice, Roosevelt initiated an American effort to develop an atomic bomb. Meanwhile, in Spain, the fascist forces of Francisco Franco captured Madrid, concluding the Spanish Civil War. Walter Mitty, a middle-aged man, fantasizes about being a captain in the First World War, a dream sparked by an article in Liberty magazine titled "Can Germany Conquer the World Through the Air?" The article featured "pictures of bombing planes and of ruined streets." In the late 1930s and early 1940s, American men like Walter Mitty had to grapple with their fears and aspirations of proving their bravery in combat.

Modernism

Thurber's use of wordplay and his exploration of the absurdity of contemporary life have been recognized for their similarities to modernist literature. Modernist writers experimented with traditional narrative structures and dialogue, aiming to capture subjective thought and experience. Thurber's narrative style has been likened to the works of William Faulkner, whose novels Absalom, Absalom! and Light in August were published in the 1930s. Thurber's playful language and themes of absurdity also
reflect the influence of poet Wallace Stevens, whose poetry collection, The Man with the Blue Guitar, was published in 1937.

Near the story's conclusion, Walter remarks that "things close in," which, according to Carl M. Lindner, symbolizes the stifling effects of modern life on "the Romantic individual." The changing world due to technological, economic, and social advancements (consider Walter's struggles with fixing his car, for instance) is mirrored in the opening of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, themed "The World of Tomorrow."

Narration

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," Thurber narrates the tale of Walter Mitty, a man who retreats into a fantasy world to escape the monotony and indignities of his daily existence. The story unfolds over a single day, during which Walter and his wife embark on their weekly shopping trip. Walter frequently drifts into his daydreams, only to be jolted back to reality when he makes an error, such as speeding or driving on the wrong side of the road.

Thurber meticulously interweaves Mitty's "secret life" with his external reality. In the first dream sequence, Walter imagines himself as a naval commander steering his hydroplane at full speed to avoid a hurricane. This dream is abruptly interrupted when his wife scolds him for driving too fast, suggesting that his daydream caused him to speed. The second dream begins when his wife comments on his tension and suggests he see a doctor. Hearing the doctor's name triggers Walter's fantasy of being a renowned surgeon saving the life of a wealthy patient named Wellington MacMillan. Each dream sequence is initiated by a mundane detail from Walter's everyday life, transforming trivial comments, sounds, or objects into significant elements of his heroic fantasies. These same details also pull him back to reality. Notably, the story begins and ends in the midst of dream sequences, highlighting their importance to Walter. The final scene, where Walter courageously faces a firing squad without a blindfold, is left for the reader to interpret. Thurber's narrative skillfully encapsulates six stories within one, with each dream sequence being a brief, inconclusive short story.

Point of View

Thurber employs an unconventional point of view in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," closely linked to his narrative style. The story is told in the third person, yet the reader gains access to Mitty's thoughts. The dream sequences add complexity to this third-person limited perspective. During these segments, readers are immersed in Walter's fantasies, witnessing his conscious thoughts and his musings about what he needs to purchase at the store. Additionally, readers experience another layer of Mitty's consciousness during the dream sequences, where his thoughts are manifested as narrative action. Thurber deftly transitions between these levels of awareness without causing confusion for the reader.

Wordplay

Thurber has been celebrated for his extravagant use of wordplay and literary references. Known mainly for his light sketches and humorous line drawings, Thurber did not receive much serious critical attention during his lifetime. However, later critics have noted his sharp political and social commentary, as well as the darker themes underlying his work. Through humor and wit, Thurber explored the conflicts and neurotic tensions of modern life. In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," Mitty's misuse of words like "coreopsis" and "obstreosis" exemplifies Thurber's effective use of language. These humorous distortions of medical terms, technological advancements, and military items make Mitty's portrayal both accurate and believable. In one of Mitty's courtroom daydreams, he is asked to identify a gun called a "Webley-Vickers 50.80." This is another example of Thurber's wordplay, enriching Mitty's character. Carl M. Lindner suggests that this distortion of a brand name (likely referencing Smith and Wesson, a well-known gun manufacturer) highlights Mitty's "ignorance of the heroic experience" while entertaining the reader. Thurber used such distortions of language and reality to effectively illustrate the absurdities of the human condition.

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" stands as one of the most renowned and beloved short stories in American literature. Upon its publication, it elicited more response than any other piece ever featured in the New Yorker. This is particularly noteworthy, given the uproar caused by Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" (1949), and considering that John Hersey's Hiroshima (1946) and Rachael Carson's The Silent Spring (1962) were also published in the magazine.

The story is a quintessential fantasy where the ordinary husband, Mitty, escapes the dullness of his everyday life by envisioning himself performing heroic acts in various thrilling scenarios, all accompanied by a "pocketa-pocketa-pocketa" sound. Thurber aimed to "treat the remarkable as commonplace" in this work. This technique, along with its reverse, forms the crux of much of his humor.

Thurber's success stemmed from addressing a universal experience that his audience could easily recognize. He only needed to establish a pattern without extending the plot too much, unlike the expanded movie adaptation or the recent retelling in the British novel Billy Liar. The fantastical nature of the story is somewhat grounded by specific recurring details, like the appearance of a Webley-Vickers automatic pistol in two of Mitty's dreams. These details add realism in two ways. Firstly, dreams often incorporate elements from the dreamer's environment (such as the ring of a telephone). Secondly, these details anchor Mitty to reality, exemplified when the word "cur" in a fantasy sequence jolts him back to the present, reminding him of an errand he has yet to complete—buying puppy biscuits.

Interestingly, as Thurber's career progressed, two significant aspects of his style evolved in different directions, yet remained interconnected. His dedication to rewriting never wavered. Although some pieces, like "File and Forget" (January 8, 1949, reprinted in Alarms and Diversions), were completed in an afternoon, these instances were not as rare as they appeared, according to Thurber. In an interview with George Plimpton and Max Steele, he explained that "File and Forget" came easily "because it was a series of letters just as one would ordinarily dictate." Nonetheless, he admitted that the final letter took him a week — "It was the end of the piece and I had to fuss over it." He also recounted that his second wife once reviewed an early draft of his work and remarked, "'Goddamn it, Thurber, that's high school stuff.' I have to tell her to wait until the seventh draft, it'll work out all right. I don't know why that should be so, that the first or second draft of everything I write reads as if it was turned out by a charwoman." Thurber spent about eight weeks and completed fifteen drafts before he was satisfied with "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," which is around four thousand words long.

There are two reasons behind Thurber's extensive rewrites. First, he has stated that "the whole purpose is to sketch out proportions. I rarely have a very clear idea of where I'm going when I start. Just people and/or a situation. Then I fool around — writing and rewriting — until the stuff jells." The second reason involves his "constant attempt . . . to make the finished version smooth, to make it seem effortless . . . With humor you have to look out for traps. You're likely to be very gleeful with what you've first put down, and you think it's fine, very funny. One reason you go over and over it is to make the piece sound less as if you were having a lot of fun with it yourself. You try to play it down."

As his vision deteriorated, Thurber depended on a secretary for the physical transcription of his work. By the time he was entirely blind, he had become so adept at rewriting and his memory was so precise that he could mentally compose a two thousand-word story at night and then edit it as he dictated it to his secretary the next morning. Thus, the loss of his sight had little impact on his ability to refine his work, although there appears to have been a decrease in the visual imagery within his stories corresponding with his declining vision.

Numerous critics have examined Thurber's style and themes. For instance, Richard C. Tobias has discussed the humorist's use of comic masks to delve into common twentieth-century American subjects in his early works. Tobias notes how Thurber later employs conventional, social, and literary archetypes, and how he innovates old comic plots. Like his contemporaries White and Perelman, Thurber had a profound affection for language—its sound and its use to convey meaning. His style hinges on precise word usage, with much of his humor stemming from the literal interpretation of words. Thurber's techniques included puns, artistic allusions, and a keen sense of timing. He also frequently used hyperbole and understatement, often highlighting a point by juxtaposing these devices. Additionally, he enjoyed employing reversal and other forms of irony.

Thurber typically set his stories in normal, conventional middle-class American environments. One of his greatest skills was his ability to take these ordinary elements and emphasize one or two minor details to create a vivid image of the situation.

In a conversation with Plimpton and Steele, Thurber said, "the act of writing is something the writer dreads or actually likes, and I actually like it. Even rewriting's fun." He did not consider himself an artist, stating that he did his cartoons "for relaxation, and . . . I do them too fast for them to be called art." Furthermore, in "The Case for Comedy," he concluded, "As brevity is the soul of wit, form, it seems to me, is the heart of humor and the salvation of comedy." He had no difficulty adhering to Ross's advice to "Use the rapier, not the bludgeon." However, in "Preface to a Life," which was included in the book version of My Life and Hard Times (1933), Thurber described himself as a typical professional writer of light pieces ranging from a thousand to two thousand words: "The notion that such persons are gay of heart and carefree is curiously untrue. They lead, as a matter of fact, an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats. Afraid of losing themselves in the larger flight of the two-volume novel, or even the one-volume novel, they stick to short accounts of their misadventures because they never get so deep into them but that they feel they can get out. This type of writing is not a joyous form of self-expression but the manifestation of a twitchiness at once cosmic and mundane."

Ross and Thurber shared a deep affection for each other, and it's undeniable that Ross's mentorship played a crucial role in shaping Thurber's precise writing style. Another significant influence on Thurber's style was E. B. White. Freed from the time constraints of newspaper writing, Thurber could benefit from White's guidance while working on segments of "The Talk of the Town." This led to the development of a simpler style. In an interview, Thurber confessed, "After the seven years I spent in newspaper writing, it was more E. B. White who taught me about writing, how to clear up sloppy journalese. He was a strong influence, and for a long time in the beginning I thought he might be too much of one. But at least he got me away from the rather curious style I was starting to perfect — tight journalese laced with heavy doses of Henry James."

Throughout his writing career, Thurber focused on the theme of societal misfits. Typically, Thurber's misfits are gentle, imaginative men trapped in a mundane world they neither fully understand nor control. This world is often too preoccupied with its own issues to have patience for such men or to recognize their true nature. Instead, it simply steamrolls over them. By exploring the role of the imaginative Little Man in society, Thurber metaphorically addresses the conflict between an artist and his society. This concept also appears in the dynamics between men and women in his stories, where practical women often dominate their timid husbands.

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" (March 18, 1939), these themes converge. Various forces, whether consciously or unconsciously, pressure Mitty to conform to their respective images of a dependable, practical member of society or a manageable spouse.

1930s: The New Yorker magazine embodies East Coast intellectualism, with numerous popular writers of the era contributing stories and articles that reflect an urban sense of sophistication and humor.

1997: Under the controversial editorship of Tina Brown, The New Yorker struggles to maintain its esteemed reputation, yet circulation has increased in recent years to 860,000.

1939: The theme of the 1939-40 New York World's Fair, "The World of Tomorrow," underscores Americans' faith in emerging science and technology as universal solutions.

Today: Forbes magazine reports that in 1994, orthopedic surgeons paid annual malpractice premiums ranging from $33,000 to $117,000. The high number of medical malpractice suits in U.S. courts indicates a growing cynicism among Americans towards medicine and technology.

1940s: During World War II, many women take on jobs left vacant by men who have joined the war effort.

Today: Although the attempt to pass an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution failed in 1982, women like Katharine Graham, publisher and CEO of the Washington Post, illustrate women's expanding roles in political, social, and cultural spheres.

As mentioned earlier, some of Thurber's later works still showcase the same refined craftsmanship and humor found in his earlier and middle periods. For example, "Midnight at Tim's Place" (November 29, 1958) is a well-crafted piece centered on a conversation in a bar. As light-hearted and well-paced as his stories from thirty years prior, this narrative involves a young couple who interrupt the narrator and his wife to draw them into a domestic dispute. Throughout the evening, the young husband recounts a recent meeting with his former philosophy professor. Seeking enlightenment while battling depression, he is taken aback to find the professor wearing two hats. When this odd detail emerges, there is a significant pause. "In his study?" the narrator asks in disbelief. The timing and absurdity of the narrator's question are quintessentially Thurber. The humor arises from either the sheer randomness and incongruity of the question or the amusing notion that wearing two hats might be acceptable, just not in the study. In either scenario, the humor centers on the narrator's reaction.

Thurber then advances the story further; the narrator's wife, in her pragmatic manner, becomes fixated on the number of hats involved. Once again, the Little Man and the Thurber Woman make their appearance. The piece also includes puns, literary references, and foreign phrases (see "Department of Correction: Re-Latin phrase in 'Midnight at Tim's Place,'" February 7, 1959) that Thurber loved to incorporate.

Thurber's 307 drawings, mostly cartoons, garnered him almost as much recognition as his writing. However, his initial attempts to get his artwork published in the New Yorker were as unpromising as his early efforts with short stories. The first Thurber line drawing formally submitted to the New Yorker wasn't even submitted by Thurber himself; White, who had long admired Thurber's sketches, secretly presented the art staff with a drawing of a seal looking at some black dots in a desolate landscape, exclaiming, "Hm, explorers!" Thurber had created the sketch in 1929, and White had inked it. A few months later, Harper's published Thurber and White's collaborative book, Is Sex Necessary? (1929), featuring Thurber's illustrations, which White had collected and insisted on including. After the book became a bestseller, Ross agreed to publish Thurber's cartoons, which gained immense popularity. Many of these cartoons reflected the themes that dominated Thurber's prose (White identified Thurber's two main themes as the "melancholy of sex" and the "implausibility of animals"). One of the most famous cartoons, published in January 1932, depicts a man and a woman in bed with a seal peering over the headboard. The woman says: "All Right, Have It Your Way — You Heard a Seal Bark!"

Thurber's playful humor is evident in a cartoon where a startled man in the witness chair next to the judge's bench is confronted by an attorney pointing at a kangaroo and shouting, "Perhaps This Will Refresh Your Memory!"

In another drawing that highlights what Thurber describes as the battle between men and women, a man is shown sitting at a table with a heavyset woman glaring at him. Across from him, a younger woman is pressing his foot with hers under the caption, "Well, What's Come Over You Suddenly?"

In a different scene, a wife, reclining on a divan and speaking on the telephone while her husband watches from a nearby chair, demands, "Well, if I Called the Wrong Number, Why Did You Answer the Phone?"

Thurber also illustrates the struggle men face in understanding women's logic, their relationship with the universe, and their emotions. For example, in one cartoon, a couple is about to be engulfed by a giant being speeding toward them from space, and the man exclaims, "You and Your Premonitions!" In another cartoon, a woman in bed angrily says, "Well, it Makes a Difference to Me!" to the man standing next to the bed, wearing pajama tops with spots and striped bottoms.

Thurber's strength lies in his unique blend of imaginative ideas, insights, and perspectives on life, all expressed through vividly clear imagery that relies on precise wordplay. As his writing was often published in magazines, his style is inherently journalistic; it excels when capturing and condensing the essence of a thought within the constraints of the short story format. Given his widespread popularity, it's no wonder there have been attempts to adapt his work for the big screen or television. However, the very qualities that define his writing often hinder successful adaptations into other media.

His most famous character, Walter Mitty, was featured in the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947), directed by Norman Z. McLeod and starring Danny Kaye, but the adaptation achieved only moderate success. On the other hand, his play The Male Animal was a Broadway hit, and perhaps because it was conceived for a visual medium, the 1942 film adaptation (directed by co-author Elliott Nugent and starring Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, and Jack Carson) was both entertaining and well-received.

A second cinematic adaptation, the lackluster musical She's Working Her Way Through College, was released in 1952, directed by H. Bruce Humberstone and starring Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan. Conversely, the 1969 television series based on My World — and Welcome to It, starring William Windom, while occasionally amusing, again highlighted that Thurber's humor couldn't be sustained over time, as the original material wasn't meant for extended sketches.

In 1947, Samuel Goldwyn Studios created a highly acclaimed film adaptation of Thurber's story, titled The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. The movie features Danny Kaye and Virginia Mayo, and it is distributed by RKO. It is also available on video.

In August 1988, Radio Yesteryear Audio released an audiobook titled The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: And You Could Look It Up.

Sources

Blair, Walter, and Hill, Hamlin. America's Humor: From Poor Richard to Doonesbury. Oxford University Press, 1978.

Mann, Ann Ferguson. "Taking Care of Walter Mitty," in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 19, Fall 1982, pp. 351-57.

Morseberger, Robert E. James Thurber. Twayne, 1988.

Tobias, Richard Clark. The Art of James Thurber. Ohio State University Press, 1969.

Yates, Norris. "James Thurber's Little Man and Liberal Citizen," in Thurber: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Charles S. Holmes, Prentice-Hall, 1974, pp. 28-36.

Further Reading

De Vries, Peter. "James Thurber: The Comic Prufrock," in Thurber: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Charles S. Holmes, Prentice-Hall, 1974.

Elias, Robert H. "James Thurber: The Primitive, the Innocent, and the Individual," in Thurber: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Charles S. Holmes, Prentice-Hall, 1974, pp. 87-100. Elias examines how Thurber's protagonists, such as Walter Mitty, maintain their individuality in a challenging world.