James Thurber was born on December 8, 1894, in Columbus, Ohio ("J. Thurber"). At the age of six, he was shot in the left eye with an arrow while playing a game of William Tell with his brother (Morsberger, "J.T." 602). As a result of this injury, he became blind in one eye, and the blindness made Thurber feel inadequate at sports (602). As a result he became an observer and was driven into a fantasy world, making him appear shy, withdrawn, and lonely (602, 605). All throughout grade school he was the teacher's pet, which did not make him popular among his classmates (605). Despite his seclusion throughout grade school, Thurber eventually overcame his social isolation and was president of his senior class (606).

Thurber established himself as a journalist before he became a fictional writer (Gale 1803). In 1920 he returned to Columbus, Ohio and worked as a reporter for the Columbus Dispatch (Morsberger, J.T. 13). In 1922 he married Althea Adams, a very domineering and strongly willed woman (Gale 1804). Though he was a journalist, Thurber dreamed of being a creative writer (Morsberger, "J.T." 606). He expressed many of his creative thoughts in his Sunday column for the Columbus Dispatch called "Credos and Curios" (Morsberger, "J.T." 606). In the summer of 1924, he resigned from working at the Columbus Dispatch, wanting to become a creative writer (606). The first short story he was paid for was "Josephine Has Her Day" (Gale 1804). It was first published in the Kansas City Star Sunday Magazine in 1926 (1804). In the spring of 1925, he went to France to complete a novel about his college life but was not successful in finishing it (Morsberger, "J.T." 606). In September 1925 he b!

and nervousness (602). Despite his blindness, Thurber's career continued almost until his death from pneumonia on November 2, 1961, in New York, New York ("J. Thurber").

As Thurber developed as a writer, major events in the world also influenced him. During the late 1930s and 1940s he wrote many fables, which was a new style of writing for Thurber ("J. Thurber"). "In the late 1930s, Thurber was convinced that the real menace came neither from Communism nor from capitalism, but from fascism" (Morsberger, "J.T." 610). Thurber attacked fascism through his fables and parables (Morsberger, "J.T" 610). In 1940 Thurber published The Last Flower, a picture book fable for adults that depicts the events of World War XII and the three sole survivors: a man, woman, and a single flower, and how these things relive history from a family to civilization to war again ("J. Thurber"). Thurber's message in this story is people continuously make the same mistakes and are horribly inhumane to other humans ("J. Thurber"). That year he also published Fables of Our Time, in which "The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble" and "The Owl Who Was God" appeared (Morsb!

erger, "J.T." 610). "The Rabbits Who Caused All the Trouble" is an allegory that deals with the Nazis and their anti-Jewish beliefs (610). "The Owl Who Was God" deals with the blind following and devotion to a blind leader (610). Typically the heroes in Thurber's fair tales are not the warrior-type but rather toy makers, poets, jesters, and musicians (606).

ecame a rewrite man for the Paris edition of the Chicago Tribune (Gale 1804). In 1926 he retuned to New York and had an unsuccessful attempt at selling stories and his book Why We Behave Like Microbe Hunters (Morsberger, "J.T." 606). Later that year he became a reporter for the New York Evening Post (606).

Events during his childhood and early adulthood greatly influenced his writing. In addition to his creativity being stimulated by his eye injury, his role as the teacher's pet influenced his writing "Teacher's Pet" (Morsberger, "J.T." 605). "Teacher's Pet," published in 1949, is the story of Willber Kelby, a middle-aged student who has always been picked on for being the teacher's pet (605). Kelby is still bothered by the abuse some 37 years later (605). He meets a woman at a cocktail party who asks why he is moping (605). In his reply he tells her about the day he was slapped by a bully while other boys made fun of him (605). When asked what Kelby did to receive this treatment he replies, " '...There is a type of man that wants to destroy the weaker, the more sensitive, the more intelligent.'"(Morsberger, "J.T." 605). The woman talks about her son Elbert who has a similar problem (605). A couple of days later, Kelby sees Elbert being harassed and he steps in to help (60!

"James Thurber." Contemporary Authors Online. 1999. Gale Literary Database. 8 Feb. 2000 .

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Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)