Topic > Imagination and Reality in the Secret Life of Walter Mitty

In "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" by James Thurber, the contrast between Mitty depicted as a courageous hero in his daydreams and Mitty as a cowardly mouse in life real suggests that his daydreams cause him to lose touch with reality, to the point that he is no longer in control of his life or his daydreams. In his "daydreams", he often imagines himself to be more powerful and skilled than he actually is, and his reality is so influenced by his wife that his imagination takes over and creates an alternate reality in which he feels more important and necessary. This alternate reality is what allows him to also deal with the stress his wife puts him through every day. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In one of his daydreams, where he is on trial for a murder charge, "Walter Mitty briefly raised his hand and the arguing lawyers were quieted. "With any known brand of gun," he said in a calm tone, " I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst with my left hand." The dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty's arms an overconfident and highly skilled man. He is the hero and main focal point of these adventures. He acts as if he could have shot Gregory from a great distance with any kind of gun, obviously making the situation worse, but it increases his esteem despite this obvious risk. He goes to the point of incriminating himself in order to be considered a heroic being, when in reality he is a coward. At the end of the daydream, a girl runs desperately into Mitty's arms, demonstrating how he is always very respected and attractive in his dreams. Mitty, in his dreams, always shows confidence and arrogance. Yet Mitty's truly passive personality allows his wife, Mrs. Mitty, to coerce and push him into doing things. In fact, she controls her life without conflict or confrontation. After Mr. Mitty was urged by his wife to use gloves while driving, "He put them on, but after she turned and went into the building and he drove over a red light, he took them off again. “Pick it up, brother!” a policeman blurted out as the light changed, and Mitty hastily put on his gloves and sprang forward” (1). he takes them off again after reaching the red light, a cop yells at Mitty to speed up, but Mitty instinctively puts on his gloves in response to the cop, even though the cop never asked him to. He does this most likely because he is not in control of his own life and his wife's authority pushes him to do what she instinctively wants. He acts as if he is a weak rabbit compared to his wife, who clearly has more power over his life In fact, his submission to his wife makes him weak and constantly nervous. Mitty, by the end of the story, becomes so overwhelmed and unable to control his life that even in his daydreams, the only place he is able to control, he feels defeated. After Mitty was forced to wait for his wife by the wall of a drugstore, “he took one last drag on his cigarette and broke it. Then, with that faint, fleeting smile playing on his lips, he faced the firing squad; erect and immobile, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last” (4). In this new daydream, Mitty addresses the platoon of.