Introduction
The story ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ by James Thurber is a narration about the life of a man who is forced to lead a life of fantasies because he is not ready to deal with the realities of life. When reading the story for the first time, it is almost impossible to understand the flow of events. One may be quick to judge the book as one that is not easy to understand because it is disjointed in terms of the flow from one event to the other. However, a critical analysis of this short story reveals that the real events taking place in the life of the main character are constantly disrupted by his fantasies. In this paper, the researcher will critically analyze this short story to bring an understanding of its storyline, the setting, themes used, and stylistic devices.
The Plot
When the story begins, we meet Walter Mitty and his wife going for their weekly shopping. Mitty’s mind is not on the road. He is daydreaming while driving. In this dream, he is a brave United States Navy pilot who is going to save his country against the aggressors despite the dangers that he may encounter due to the unfavorable weather pattern. He is brought to reality by his wife who reminds him that he is over-speeding.
Soon after dropping the wife, he gets into another fantasy. This time around he is a top surgeon who has traveled to the United States from the United Kingdom to help a millionaire friend of President Roosevelt. He is also an accomplished author of medical books and people are happy to be around him. He is a hero. The dream is temporarily interrupted by the realities of following the instructions of her wife.
However, this does not last for long as he finds himself in another fantasy, this time around as an admired assassin with supernatural skills. He causes fear upon his enemies and admiration for his friends. Mitty’s fourth fantasy comes as the United States Air Force Pilot who is ready to pilot a U.S. bomber and attack German forces. In his final daydream, Mitty is facing a firing squad, most probably the German forces, but he is brave and bullish, not thinking of the danger he is facing but the glory of saving his nation.
Setting
According to Hunt, when analyzing a piece of literature, it is important to understand the setting of the story (46). The setting helps to explain the main themes and even the stylistic devices used. In respect to time, the events in the story occur in 1939 when the Second World War was just beginning. Germany was feared by all the major powers at that time because of its military power and aggressiveness. In terms of place, the car is the first set of the story. While in the car, Mitty dreams that he is in a fighter jet. Other settings such as the hospital, courtroom, and in the military crafts are all in the dreams of the main character. Each of the fantasies comes with its settings.
In the fast fantasy of being a commander in a Navy Aircraft, the sound “ta-pockets-pocket-pocket-pocket-pocket” that he believes was coming from the aircraft was coming from his car. As he drove past a hospital and with the instructions of his wife that he should wear gloves still in his mind, he quickly becomes a top surgeon in the same hospital. It clearly shows that the environmental factors around the main character affect the flow of events in his mind.
Themes
The main theme that comes out in this short story is domination. Mrs. Mitty is a domineering woman who has power over her husband and issues instructions to him all the time. “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!” said Mrs. Mitty. “What are you driving so fast for?” (Thurber 2). This is the first time we see the domineering nature of Mrs. Mitty. She goes ahead to reprimand her husband for driving fast. In this episode, Mr. Mitty did not utter a word. He just followed the instructions of his wife.
Mrs. Mitty says, “Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done,” (Thurber 3). Mitty did not like such shoes and when he tried to tell his wife about it, she insisted and he had to obey. As she gets out of the car, she realizes that her husband is not wearing gloves. Once again she forces her husband to wear gloves. She instructs the husband to shop for several items as she goes to the salon.
The story also brings out another important theme of escape from reality. Mitty does not like being bossed around by the wife. However, he has no way of taking control. The only option that he has is to hide in daydreams to escape reality. In his first fantasy, he is a commander who issues instructions to the junior officers. In the other fantasies, we see him taking full control of the situation, even in circumstances where one is expected to develop fear.
He is a warrior whose instructions are not subject to question by junior officers. These fantasies represent what he longs for but cannot have in reality. He is a weak man who has to obey the wife at all times, even when he feels that he should do contrary to the wish of his wife.
Heroism is another important theme that comes out from this short story. As mentioned above, the historic setting of this story is the time when the Second World War was just beginning. German forces were believed to be very strong and ready for the war. In his fantasies, Mitty comes out as a hero who is ready to fight for his country. He is willing to sacrifice his own life for the sake of his country. Heroism is also brought out in the fantasy of being a top surgeon. He is ready to save the life of a millionaire and a close friend to President Roosevelt. He is also a top author whose book is helping young scholars who intend to be surgeons in the future.
Stylistic Devices
According to Hunt, authors often use various stylistic devices when telling their stories to make it more engaging and interesting to the readers (88). In this story, the author uses some stylistic devices. The first stylistic device used is a story within a story. The main story is about a journey by Mr. and Mrs. Mitty to a shopping center. However, numerous other stories come up such as that of Mr. Mitty being a brave military officer, a top doctor, and an assassin.
The author also uses a simile to help in creating an image in the mind of the readers. “The Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking,” (Thurber 1). In this sentence, he compares the voice of the commander with a sound that comes out when breaking thin ice. It helps in creating an image in the mind of the reader. The simile also enables the author to emphasize his points. This is seen when he compares his wife with a strange woman who once yelled at him in the market. The reader can visualize how strange Mrs. Mitty was to her husband when he yelled at him. For a moment, Mitty was unable to understand that this was his wife.
Alliteration is a stylistic device that is very popular among poets and songwriters (Shanafelt 28). However, authors writing stories may sometimes find it necessary to use alliteration to make their stories more appealing to the audience. In this story, there are several cases where alliteration has been used to make the story colorful. There is the statement that refers to “the building where his wife went to have her hair done,” (Thurber 6). In this sentence, the words where, wife, and went have the same initial sound and so do the words have, her, and hair. This style gives the story some form of poetic flow that makes it very interesting to the readers.
The author also uses sound effects to describe specific events happening in the story. The author uses the sound effect so well that it creates a clear image in the mind of the reader of the events that were going on. “Machine was now going pocket-pocket-queep-pockets-queep,” (Thurber 7). In this sentence, the reader can see how difficult it was for the machine to operate normally. The sound clearly shows that the machine was almost going off before heroic Dr. Mitty came and rectified the mistake with ease. The author also uses sound effects to describe the situation in the battleground. “There was the rat-tat-tatting of machine guns,” (Thurber 7). The sound from the machine gun is so clear. The reader can understand how dangerous the battlefield was given the nature of weapons and how effective they were.
Dialogue is one of the most popular stylistic devices that is often used when writing stories. According to Shanafelt, dialogue helps in breaking the monotony (41). It takes away the responsibility of telling the story from the narrator to the individual characters. From the begging, the author uses dialogue extensively, including in the events taking place in the mind of the main character. Sarcasm can also be seen in this story. We are told that Mrs. Mitty rarely forgets about items that she needs when they go shopping. The author says that she would ask, “Where’s the ‘what’s-its-name’?” (Thurber 8). If indeed she has a good memory, how come she fails to remember their names? Such devices make the story interesting.
Conclusion
The story about Walter Mitty is very interesting. It shows a man who feels powerless before his wife and the only solace he has is to have numerous fantasies where he s very powerful and revered by everyone.
Works Cited
Hunt, Patrick. Poetry in the Song of Songs: A Literary Analysis. New York: Lang, 2008. Print.
Shanafelt, Colin. Literary Analysis & Essay Writing Guide. Austin: Gatsby’s Light Publications, 2011. Print.
Thurber, James. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1939. Print.