What Is Walter Mitty Really All About?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty: What is it really about?

Dorothy Nash Joslin

ENG 125 Introduction to Literature

Instructor Holly Ledcke

November 27, 2012

The theme is the representation of the idea behind the story; it is necessary to look beyond the plot, or what happens in a story, to find the theme which is what the story is actually about (Clugston, 2010). I went back and forth which story to choose for this assignment as I wanted to challenge myself, but also be able to thoroughly answer the questions in which we were asked. I have chosen, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber because I felt it was more of a challenge since I do not believe the theme was as evident or clear-cut as other stories; I plan on exploring the theme, examining the use of literary elements such as symbolism and character, and explaining how these elements affected the narrative theme.

The theme of success and failure is examined through Mitty’s incapability to live a rewarding and satisfying life which causes him to retreat to a life full of daydreams and images of conquest. The plot of the story is simply that Walter Mitty and his wife are driving in a car on their way to their weekly shopping trip during which he has five heroic daydream episodes. I found the story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty sad and amusing at the same time. After researching this story and reading it through a number of times, I have realized that there are multiple themes throughout the story: conflict between the individual and authority, the power of the mind or imagination, and also the contrast between a human being’s hopes for life and its actuality (Koger, 2004). These themes are conveyed through the inequality between Mitty’s gallant ability and importance in his five daydreams and his uncertainty, ineffectiveness, and submissiveness in his everyday life (Koger, 2004).

One of the literary elements used by Thurber that contribute to the theme is character. The main...