Both of the short stories include the plot of middle aged males that have a fantasy life within their own. Both of these fantasy lives totally contrast their own life. For example 'The Poor Relation' gives the impression of being a rich, well-endowed business man whist he is really very poor and unsophisticated. This is a type of escapism from real life. Neither of the characters ever describe their lives as being particularly good and so they try to mimic their desired lives but in different ways. In 'The Poor Relation' Michael is almost permanently acting as though he were a rich business man, and 'Walter Mitty' in 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' slips in and out of fantasy when triggered by interesting things in real life. When 'The Poor Relation' talks of his real life he nearly al

The poor relation does not experience these types of extreme daydreams but simply intends to fool people in thinking that he is a rich businessman. This may be to try and fool himself as well. I think that this intended to draw suspense to the story about the how the poor relation really feels about his life.

In 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty', suspense is also present. The audiences, while reading this story, are intended to question the mental condition of Walter Mitty. The readers also consider whether Mitty will get his errands done (buy shoes, dog biscuits, etc.) before his wife gets out of the salon. Another constituent of suspense is also existent at the end of the story when Mitty stands in front of the firing squad. Does he die?

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ways speaks erroneously, for instance "I am not an attractive companion". Thi

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Approximate Word count = 606
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)