The+Secret+Life+of+Walter+Mitty

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"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", by James Thurber, is a short story about an older man that continuously day dreams about life (Thurber, James). When Mitty becomes bored, he puts himself in exciting situations in his dreams. These situations include being a captain of a ship, preparing to do surgery on a patient, being questioned for murder, and fighting in a war. All of these day dreams take place within about an hour time span. This could mean that either Walter Mitty is experiencing some sort of psychological disorder in which he pretends to be many different people or that his life is so boring that he gets some sort of excitement and feeling of achievement through dreaming about what life could be like. Either way Mitty has trouble distinguishing between what is real and what is cognitive (Thurber, James).

Not only does Mitty have trouble distinguishing between real and imaginary, but Thurber writes in a way that makes the two states of mind indistinguishable to the reader as well. This style of writing makes the reader question if these events were simply just dreams or experiences from the past. Leaving the reader in this state of unknown is unique. It differed from the traditional style, classifying it as a modern work. Also this breaks from tradition in the fact in these situations the characters Mitty portrayed redefined the definition of a hero. Before, the hero was either a person with beyond human characteristics or a someone extraordinary situation. In this case, Mitty is playing the roles of "everyday" heroes. Though these situations are somewhat common, Thurber increases their excitement and prestige ("Modernism in Literature: What Is Modernism?").

The uniqueness and excitement of the story certainly requires an active imagination. Thurber's active imagination could have been spurred by his loss of sight in one eye ("James Thurber at AllExperts."). His loss of sight is thought to have caused a neurological condition called Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS). CBS causes complex and vivid hallucinations ("James Thurber at AllExperts."). These hallucinations could be the idea behind the story. It seems as though Thurber may have used Walter Mitty to represent himself. Except, Mitty is not said to have a seeing problem or a hallucination problem, instead, Thurber makes Mitty seem like a normal guy with an extensive imagination. It almost seems like Thurber is creating a "better him " through literature because Mitty still has the same creative mind, but does not have some of the drawbacks Thurber has.

As it is used in this story, Thurber uses his creative mind to give his other stories some uniqueness as well. One story in particular is "The Little Girl and the Wolf" which basically duplicates "Little Red Riding-hood" until the very end. In the end, Thurber adds his own unique twist where instead of being eaten by the wolf, the little girl pulls out a gun and shoots it. Thurber then goes onto to explain that the moral of the story is that "it is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be." ("Asbestoswear by James Thurber: A Picnic Basket."). These strange/unique stories separate Thurber from any other authors; no one writes, has written, or even thinks in the same way as Thurber. He does not write entirely through emotion such as Hughes and McKay, but through rational yet creative thinking and understanding.

"Asbestoswear by James Thurber: A Picnic Basket." //Rutgers-Newark: The State University of New Jersey // . Web. 02 May 2010. .

"James Thurber at AllExperts." //Expert Archive Questions // . Web. 02 May 2010. .

"Modernism in Literature: What Is Modernism?" //<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">Find Health, Education, Science & Technology Articles, Reviews, How-To and Tech Tips At Bright Hub - Apply To Be A Writer Today! // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 32px;"> Web. 27 Apr. 2010. <http://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/29453.aspx>.

Thurber, James. "James Thurber Short Story." <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 32px;">//<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 80%;">Jim Carrey Online // <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 32px;">. Web. 02 May 2010. <http://www.jimcarreyonline.com/movies/thurber.html>.

media type="custom" key="6184781"<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px; line-height: 32px;"> Quenten <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Modernism is a literary period with multiple traits. Some of these traits include abrupt changes in setting and the end of the story left unknown (Keane). These two characteristics are what leave the reader confused throughout the story (Hann). “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber is similar to any other Modernism short story.

Thurber’s short story is merely a series of imaginations mixed into reality. The main character Walter Mitty has a series of five vivid imaginations; during normal and everyday activities (Thurber). These imaginations seem so real to Walter Mitty, that the reader has no other option than to consider him mentally ill. Mrs. Mitty even says to Walter "You're tensed up again; It's one of your days. I wish you'd let Dr. Renshaw look you over." (Thurber). This quote only verifies the reader’s thoughts on the mental state of Walter Mitty.

This short story relates to Modernism in many ways. There are at least five changes in setting throughout “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (Thurber). One example of a quick setting change is when Walter Mitty is driving past the hospital (Thurber). The scene is described by Thurber as when “A door opened down a long, cool corridor and Dr. Renshaw came out. He looked distraught and haggard. "Hello, Mitty," he said. "We're having the devil's own time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt. Obstreosis of the ductal tract. Tertiary. Wish you'd take a look at him." "Glad to," said Mitty.” (Thurber). This scene obviously does not happen, but the setting of the story changes quickly from the road to an operating room. This is just one scene that qualifies this short story into the Modernism category. The ending by Thurber is also completely cut off. As Mrs. Mitty walks back into a story to retrieve a lost item, Walter Mitty lets his imagination run wild(Thurber). Thurber describes the final scene by saying “fleeting smile playing about his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last.” (Thurber). Was Mr. Mitty killed? Did he once again come back to reality? These are just some of the many questions the reader is faced with. This open ended final scene also qualifies “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” into the Modernism category.

Many events and people in Thurber’s life affected his short stories. As a child, Thurber was struck with an arrow in the eye (Liukkonen). This caused Thurber to eventually become completely blind (Liukkonen). Since Thurber could not play sports, his imagination quickly developed (Liukkonen). This tragic event in Thurber’s life is what some believe to be the cause for his out of the ordinary writing style. After finding information on Thurber’s childhood, it is easy to compare Thurber to Walter Mitty (Thurber). The amazing imagination of the young James Thurber could be the basis for the adult Walter Mitty. There was also one person that greatly affected Thurber’s works. Mary Thurber (James Thurber’s mother) was considered to be a practical joker (Liukkonen). She once pretended to be crippled only to jump up and consider herself healed (Liukkonen). This unstable acting by Thurber’s mother is yet another reason why James Thurber is considered to have a unique writing style.

Compared to his other works, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” maintains the same writing style. The writing style of Walter Mitty is somewhat unexplained. It is unpredictable, which could be why Thurber became so popular (Liukkonen, Thurber). Throughout his stories, Thurber always kept a logical thought pattern (Liukkonen). There would almost always be one point that was clearly proved. Thurber also liked to show different symbols in his short stories. Usually this symbol was imagery (Thurber). The reader hears the sound Pocketa-Pocketa-Pocketa, while Mitty imagines it’s the “pounding of the cylinders” (Thurber). So Thurber maintains a similar theme and symbols throughout his stories.

Even though there are many writers in the Modernism period, there are few that share traits with Thurber. None of which were John Crowe Ransom or Langston Hughes (Jackson, Liukkonen, and Quinlan). The closest similarity between the authors was the logical thought pattern between the three authors. Each author made sure to get their point across to the reader at some point in the story (Jackson, Liukkonen, and Quinlan). Thurber just has too many unique qualities to compare him to other authors. This is why some consider him to be among the best authors of all time.

In conclusion “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is a series of hallucinations of the main character. There are multiple setting changes that qualify this short story as a work of Modernism. James Thurber had a very interesting childhood, which most likely shaped him into the great author he was (Liukkonen). Compared to his other works, Thurber maintained a consistent writing style. This is a writing style that put Thurber into a new category of Modernism. So James Thurber was a unique individual to say the least, and his stories will not be forgotten in the years to follow.

Works Cited Hann, Kellie T. "EDSITEment - Lesson Plan." //EDSITEment - The Best of the Humanities on the Web//. Academy of American Poets, 14 Jan. 2005. Web. 02 May 2010. < [] >

Jackson, Andrew P. "Langston Hughes." //The Red Hot Jazz Archive//. 1987. Web. 04 May 2010. <http://www.redhotjazz.com/hughes.html>.

Keane, Melba C. "Modernism." //University of Toronto Scarborough//. 2000. Web. 03 May 2010. <http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~mcuddy/ENGB02Y/Modernism.html>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Liukkonen, Petri. "James Thurber." //Www.kirjasto.sci.fi//. 2000. Web. 04 May 2010. <http://kirjasto.sci.fi/thurber.htm>. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Quinlan, Kieran. "John Crowe Ransom's Life and Career." Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois. American Council of Learned Societies, 1999. Web. 03 May 2010. <http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/ransom/life.htm>.

Thurber, James. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." //Zoetrope: All-Story//. Coppola Co., 2001. Web. 03 May 2010. <http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?action=show_story&story_id=100>.