The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

At the end of the story, Walter waits outside for his wife and escapes into a daydream in which he faces a firing squad. This is one of many intense daydreams he uses to escape his mundane reality.

Walter Mitty's real life is different from his daydreams in that it is unhappy and mundane, while his daydreams are filled with courage, respect, and bravery.

Walter Mitty's last dream with the "firing squad" signifies his secret death wish and overall unhappiness with his life. He feels trapped in a mundane existence, dominated by his nagging wife, and...

The primary conflict in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is internal, as it is Walter against himself. Walter is dissatisfied with himself, so he daydreams about being a more daring, heroic person....

Walter Mitty is not insane. He is an introvert. He might be said to be a typical James Thurber character. Another example of such a Thurber character is Mr. Martin in “The Catbird Seat,” And...

There is an argument to be made on both sides of the question of whether Mitty is a daydreamer or is mentally ill. Mitty lives in a world in which he is not able to feel confident or heroic. He...

One might argue that Mitty's daydreams help him, because they reflect certain important elements of his real life, like when he is struggling to remember what to buy for his wife and has the...

In all of Walter Mitty's daydreams he is playing an heroic leading role. It has been pointed out that the roles and settings are the kinds that would be found in popular fiction and Hollywood...

Walter Mitty is more of a round character than a flat character.

The short story contains a climax and resolution. The climax occurs when Walter Mitty stands up to his wife; the resolution is that she contends he is ill, probably because he never acts like this,...

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...

Because Walter Mitty is so weak and hen-picked in his real life, he develops a fantasy world in which he is active and many times a hero.  Putting himself in front of a firing squad would...

James Thurber uses fantasy and structure in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" to contrast Walter's mundane reality with his vibrant inner life. Thurber alternates between Mitty's daydreams and...

The exposition in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is the information in a story that catches the reader up with what the characters know, or it can even give information that the characters don't...

Mitty is a humorous antihero because he's not actually doing anything heroic at all. He only dreams that he's heroic. His real life is uneventful, and he is constantly being nagged by his wife. In...

Walter Mitty spends most of his adult life living through his daydreams.  He feels trapped in his world, by his job that he doesn't like and by his wife that is characterized as...

In this daydream, Walter Mitty is a very famous doctor.  (The daydream is triggered when he drives by a hospital.) He is helping a couple of other famous doctors who are doing some sort of...

Walter Mitty's undefeated nature is portrayed through his vivid daydreams, where he imagines himself as a hero in various adventurous scenarios. These fantasies allow him to escape his mundane and...

Mrs. Mitty does not explicitly express her feelings towards Walter, but she demonstrates no respect for her husband, trivializing whatever he says. Moreover, she seems to treat him as though he...

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the relationship dynamics between Mr. and Mrs. Mitty reflect traditional gender roles, with Mrs. Mitty being domineering and critical, while Mr. Mitty is passive...

Mrs. Mitty's domineering and controlling personality exacerbates Walter's feelings of inadequacy and fuels his escapist daydreams. Her constant nagging and belittling lead Walter to retreat further...

Walter Mitty's wife isn't privy to his inner thoughts and therefore doesn't give his daydreams any consideration. If anything, she finds his behavior bizarre enough to warrant a medical examination.

The irony in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" lies in the contrast between Walter's mundane reality and his vivid, heroic daydreams. The title reflects this duality, emphasizing the hidden,...

In the ''Secret Life of Walter Mitty'', in what ways is Mr. Mitty's final daydream a comment on his fate of real life? In one sense, this can be seen as an indication that Mitty's fate is to lose his...

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "things close in" signifies the pressures and realities of Mitty's mundane life encroaching on his vivid daydreams. This phrase encapsulates how his imaginative...

In the operating room, Mitty calmly saves the life of a patient.  First, he repairs a complex machine by substituting his pen for a faulty piston.   Then, when the patient takes a...

In my opinion, the main conflict in James Thurber's famous story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is an internal one. Walter Mitty is a frustrated and confused little man who feels incompetent to...

Walter Mitty is exasperated by the errands that he is forced to run, and he finds these missions more taxing than the daredevil escapades he is involved with in his daydreams. The errands compound...

Newcastle is a city in England that was well-known as the center of a coal mining region.  To bring coal there means to have too many of something.  In this case, it's pointless to have...

Let us recall that the definition of irony is the gap between appearance and reality. Clearly, therefore, Walter Mitty with his repeated day dreams that occur throughout the story and then his...

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," Wellington McMillan is an invention of Mitty's imagination, someone of great wealth and political influence. His friend is Franklin Roosevelt, president of the...

I think that there is a disappointment within Walter Mitty that makes him a character of Romantic proportions.  The wording of the question is subtle, but also one that requires examination....

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," Mitty's tendency to daydream leads to scolding from his wife, a police officer, and a parking-lot attendant. His frequent lapses into fantasy cause him to...

The most overt stereotype is that of the confident hero. The first daydream portrays Walter as the commanding officer on an airplane. He and the crew are actually flying into a hurricane. Walter,...

Walter Mitty suffers from terrible boredom and a feeling that no one, including his own wife, respects him. In order to cope with this, he fantasizes about exciting scenarios in which he is highly...

The wife is not a stock character. Walter Mitty is not a stock character, and he will probably never become obsolete because there are many men who live lives like his.

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...

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," Walter performs mundane tasks such as driving his wife to the hairdresser, buying overshoes, and picking up dog biscuits. His wife, Mrs. Mitty, mostly directs...

I think that the best description would depend on whether you are Walter or if you are Mrs. Mitty. I think that Walter would say that he is henpecked.  I think he would say that his wife is a...

For Walter Mitty, the boundaries between reality and fantasy are incredibly porous.  So, in the opening paragraphs the stereotypical hen-pecked husband pretends that he is piloting a military...

Sympathy for Walter Mitty arises from his mundane and controlled life, which contrasts sharply with his vivid daydreams of heroism and adventure. This escapism highlights his dissatisfaction and...

Walter Mitty in "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is characterized by his vivid imagination and dissatisfaction with his mundane reality. He values adventure and heroism, often escaping into...

In his daydreams, Walter Mitty imagines himself as an important, successful person because in reality he is the exact opposite. Mitty is a character who fits the trope of the everyman and the...

Mrs. Mitty is a termagant. She brings Walter Mitty out of a couple of his daydreams by means of her scolding and nagging. A man who is rather inept and obviously "hen-pecked" as the expression of...

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," the main cause of Mitty's daydreams is his domineering wife, who demeans and orders him constantly:  "Remember to get those overshoes while I'm...

Mrs. Mitty breaks into her husband's fantasy as he is imagining himself the commander of "a huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane" fighting its way through a storm approaching hurricane...

I don't think you can really say the ending is tragic.  The whole firing squad thing is just another of Mitty's fantasies. I think it is kind of humorous in a bleak sort of way like the rest...

Walter Mitty is absent-minded. He lives in a world of daydreams. He is not in tune with the modern world in which he actually has to live. Like most absent-minded people he is incompetent to deal...

The story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" begins in the middle of his daydream. Readers are not introduced to Walter Mitty. We are introduced to the Commander. He is a brave and fearless leader...

I think the simple answer to your question is that Walter Mitty's daydreams transport him as far away as possible from his terrible wife and monotonous, pathetic existence, and make him become the...