Analysis Of The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty By Jame Thurber

Analysis of  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by Jame ThurberNameInstitutional AffiliationDate
In the short story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by James Thurber, the author explores the theme of masculinity and heroism. Walter Mitty is a brave man who is seen as an hero due to his ability to carry out a number of complicated tasks and command the army. Qualities such as bravery,aggression,strength and determination make him to stand out in all social groups that men belong in and he is able to influence their minds. However, we later see the other side of his life. His wife does not allow him to demonstrate his heroic traits. For instance, when they are driving, she tells him, “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!”, and , “What are you driving so fast for?” CITATION Thu08 \l 1033 (Thurber, 2008). This clearly shows how Mittys wife dictates his life and doesn’t give him space for him to exercise his heroic activities.
The author also seeks to communicate how women can influence men in the society. Even though Mitty can do numerous masculine commanding roles, the main reality and circumstance that he falls in makes him subject to paying more attention to feminine jobs such as accompanying his wife to the salon. Despite Mitty being a tough commander, he always complies to whatever he is told by his wife. We do not expect this to happen given that Mitty is a respected commander who spends most of his time commanding the army. However, when he gets into his house, he is literally ‘commanded’ by the wife.
The author uses different characters to pass the message to his readers. The main character in the book is Walter Mitty and his Mrs. Mitty. At a certain point, we also realize that he uses heroism to escape from reality. He is a henpecked and meek husband who always dreams about different heroic acts so as to run away from his unhappy and mundan...