"Walter Mitty" Fantasy/ Reality Essay

A detailed Summary of "Walter Mitty" Fantasy/ Reality Essay

Life places a great gap between wish and reality. This is true for Walter Mitty, the main character in the story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", written by James Thurber.

The way he is in reality, really contrasts the way he is in the fantasy world. His in-abilities in the real world quickly morph into abilities in "fantasy land." However, the audience sees things he doesn't, which brings DRAMATIC IRONY into the picture...

In Walter's first daydream he is a fearless commander of a navy seaplane, who is trying to land it on ice to save the crew from death. However, Mitty always drives at moderate speed, below 55 m.p.h. and he always listens to his wife, unlike the fact that he would not take suggestions from his crew. He goes from a brave, fearless commander to just another person on this Earth.

Walter's second daydream involves him being a "know-it-all" doctor who fixes an anesthetizer piston with a ball-point

Finally his last daydream finds him in front of a firing squad, very calm, getting ready to be executed. He isn't putting up a fight or wearing a handkerchief over his eyes, he is taking it like a man. But, he isn't a brave man really. He's just a "regular-Joe." He doesn't have much to say, and there isn't much to say about him.

The following daydream sees Mitty as a commander of a bomber in the military, deciding to fly it to the other troops to drop off more ammunition. He shows he is daring and brave, going out on his own even though "the Archies were pounding the hell out of the air" and Von Richtman's circus was between there and Saulier. Once again, Mitty's imagination has taken off. He has no guts, and has no charisma and in no way, would participate in such a daring act in reality.

pen and then performs a very difficult, yet successful operation, on a millionaire banker. Once again, the imaginative min

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Approximate Word count = 620
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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