The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

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The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

• By James Thurber (1894-1961)

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Type of Work and Publication Dates

• "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a short
  story centering on the daydreams of a henpecked
  Connecticut husband.
• It was first published in the March 18, 1939,
  issue of The New Yorker.
• Harcourt, Brace and Company published it in
  October, 1942, in a book collection of Thurber's
  works, My World--and Welcome to It. 

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Setting

• The action takes place in the late 1930s in a car
  traveling to Waterbury, Connecticut, and in the
  city itself in the area of Main Street.
• Waterbury is in west-central Connecticut on the
  Naugatuck River.

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Characters (Real-Life)

• Walter Mitty Meek Connecticut man who retreats
  into daydreams in which he becomes a hero.
• Mrs. Mitty Mitty's domineering wife.
• Parking Attendant After Mitty pulls into the
  wrong lane in a parking lot, the attendant takes
  the wheel and parks the car.
• Policeman Officer who orders Mitty to pull away
  after a traffic signal turns from red to green.
• Pedestrians Woman and her companion who
  encounter Mitty on the street. When the woman
  notices Mitty talking to himself, she makes fun
  of him. 
• Dr. Renshaw Mitty's family doctor. Mrs. Mitty
  tells her husband to see the physician for a
  checkup. 
• Garage Man Person who removed chains from
  Mitty's tires.

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Daydream 1

• Commander Mitty Pilot of a navy hydroplane.
• Berg Lieutenant. He cautions Mitty not to fly in
  stormy weather.
• Crewmen

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Day Dream 2

• Dr. Mitty One of the world's most eminent
  surgeons. Wellington McMillan Millionaire
  patient and friend of President Franklin D.
  Roosevelt. McMillan requires immediate surgery.
• Dr. Renshaw One of the physicians attending
  McMillan. (Renshaw is Mitty's real-life
  physician.)
• Dr. Benbow One of the physicians attending
  McMillan.
• Dr. Remington Eminent New York specialist called
  in on the McMillan case.
• Dr. Pritchard-Mitford Eminent London specialist
  called in on the McMillan case.
• Nurse
• Intern

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Daydream 3

• Mitty Suspect in a murder case. He is an expert
  marksman who is on the stand answering the
  district attorney's questions. Gregory
  Fitzhurst Murder victim.  District Attorney
  Prosecutor in the murder case. Woman "Lovely,
  dark-haired girl," the narrator says, who throws
  herself into Mitty's arms. Judge

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Daydream 4

• Captain Mitty Devil-may-care World War I pilot.
  Sergeant Soldier who urges Mitty not to fly
  alone. Raleigh Shell-shocked flier. Von
  Richtman Allusion to Manfred von Richtofen,
  known as the Red Baron.

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Daydream 5

• Mitty Defiant prisoner about to be executed.
  Firing Squad

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Point of View

• Thurber tells the story in omniscient,
  third-person point of view, enabling the narrator
  to reveal the thoughts of Walter Mitty as they
  are in progress.
• However, the narration does not peep into the
  mind of Mrs. Mitty.
• Instead, it reveals what she is thinking through
  her spoken words.

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Themes

• Escapism
• Henpecked Mitty deals with his everyday
  frustrations by escaping into daydreams. 
• Boosting the Ego
• Mitty is a submissive, accommodating chap.
• But when he makes himself the hero of his
  daydreams, he becomes a veritable demigod.
• His daydreams help him sustain his ego against
  the nitpicking of his wife.
• Vicarious Adventure
• Even an ordinary man can become an extraordinary
  herowith the help of his imagination.
• And who is to say that the secret world of Walter
  Mitty is not a real world?
• After all, daydreams are part of everyday
  reality.

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Thurber's Humor

• Narration and dialogue that mock the melodrama of
  hack novels.
• " 'We're going through!' The Commander's voice
  was like thin ice breaking. He wore his
  full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided
  white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray
  eye. 'We can't make it, sir. It's spoiling for a
  hurricane, if you ask me.' 'I'm not asking you,
  Lieutenant Berg,' said the Commander. 'Throw on
  the power lights! Rev her up to 8500! We're going
  through!' "
• Or consider this passage " 'With any known make
  of gun,' " Mitty said evenly, 'I could have
  killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet
  with my left hand.' Pandemonium broke loose in
  the courtroom. A woman's scream rose above the
  bedlam and suddenly a lovely, dark-haired girl
  was in Walter Mitty's arms." 

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Thurber's Humor

• Repetition of sounds and images that fascinate
  Mitty.
• For example, Thurber uses the onomatopoeia
  pocketa-pocketa to imitate the sound of an
  aircraft engine in the first daydream, to imitate
  the sound of the anesthetizer in the second
  daydreamwith the addition of queep when the
  machine malfunctionsand to imitate the sound of
  flame throwers in the fourth daydream.
• (Flame throwers, of course, don't go
  pocketa-pocketa but instead make a whooshing
  sound. But so what. Pocketa-pocketa is more
  dramatic.)
• In addition, Thurber uses images of complicated
  dials in the first and second daydreams and of a
  gun (Webley-Vickers 50.80) in the third and
  fourth daydreams. 

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Thurber's Humor

• Oddball neologisms and malapropisms. Note, for
  example, that Wellington McMillan suffers from
  obstreosis of the ductal tract and later
  develops a condition called coreopsis. The
  former is a made-up disease and the latter is a
  genus of colorful  flowers. 

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Thurber's Humor

• Descriptions of incredible feats that the
  daydreaming Mitty performs or claims he can
  perform.
• For example, he repairs the anesthetizer with a
  fountain pen and claims that he could have killed
  Gregory Fitzhurst from 300 feet by shooting a gun
  with his left hand. (Mitty is right-handed.)

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Thurber's Humor

• Abrupt transitions from the mundane Mitty of
  everyday life to the heroic Mitty of the
  daydreams.
• For example, after Mitty slugs the district
  attorney in the courtroom dream, he remembers
  that he must buy puppy biscuits. 

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Mitty's Ineptitude

• Mrs. Mitty bullies poor Walter, but it appears
  that his obvious ineptitude and carelessness play
  no small role in inciting her nagging and the ill
  treatment he receives from others. 
• Consider, for example, the matter of the gloves.
• Next, consider the matter of the overshoes.
• Consider also the following incidents that attest
  to his ineptitude
• (1) he pulls into the Exit Only lane at the
  parking lot
• (2) when attempting to remove snow chains from
  his car tires, he ends up getting them wound
  around the axle and has to call a garage man to
  undo his bungling.
• Mitty also tends to be forgetful

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Climax

• There is no climax in the story unless one
  interprets the final daydream as a turning point
  in Mitty's life.
• .However, given the tone of the story and the
  meekness of Mitty, it is likely that he takes no
  remedial action of any kind but simply continues
  to daydream and tolerate his wife's nitpicking. 

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Symbols

• The car, the overshoes, the gloves, and the tire
  chains
• These all symbolize Mrs. Mitty's control over
  bumbling Walter.
• She orders him to buy overshoes, wear gloves, and
  slow down from 55 to 40. In addition, she
  requires him to take his car to a garage to have
  the snow chains on his tires removed. 

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Symbols

• Policeman, parking attendant, garage man
• They symbolize the control that the world exerts
  over Walter.
• Images of war and guns
• They symbolize the strong masculinity that Mitty
  lacks.

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Allusions, Names, Special Terms, and Malapropisms

• Coreopsis See Oddball Neologisms and
  Malapropisms.
• Hydroplane Seaplane plane that can take off and
  land on water.
• Liberty Weekly feature magazine published
  between 1924 and 1950.
• Obstreosis of the ductal tract See Oddball
  Neologisms and Malapropisms.
• Von Richtman's Circus Von Richtman is an
  allusion to Manfred von Richtofen (1892-1918), an
  ace World War I German pilot known as the Red
  Baron. Circus is an allusion to the Flying
  Circus, a unit of elite pilots commanded by
  Richtofen.
• Webley-Vickers 50.80 Made-up name for a gun.
  Webley and Vickers were separate British
  companies that manufactured weapons. Webley made
  service revolvers Vickers made machine guns.
  (Vickers also constructed ships and aircraft).

• Archies Anti-aircraft weapons.
• Auprès de Ma Blonde French folk song composed in
  the 1600s. The title may be translated as "Near
  My Fair-Haired Lady" or "Next to My Dear One."
  The French word blonde may also connote mistress.
  It is said that French soldiers sometimes sang
  the song when going into battle.
• Coals to Newcastle These words are often used as
  part of the phrase like carrying coals to
  Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne is a British city
  famous for the production and export of coal. To
  say that performing a certain task is like
  carrying coals to Newcastle is to say that one is
  executing a needless task.

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Study Questions

• Is Mitty's daydreaming normal? Or is it a symptom
  of a deep-seated problem?
• Make a list of your most frequent daydreams. What
  do they tell you about yourself?
• What do you believe is the main source of
  inspiration for Mitty's daydreams? Movies?
  Novels? Newspapers? Magazines? 

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