The short story by James Thurber provides a distinct idea on the significance of leadership in the family. However, it is not explained by merely positive coloring, but through the battlefield of family life. Starting with the title of the book, one can simply perceive the gist of the whole story. It is no wonder that Walter Mitty is out of his normal way of life. He is reduced to what everyone calls “life,” meaning the charms of family reality.
However, the tragedy of Mitty is in the fact that he encounters misunderstanding and gross indifference on the part of his wife. The way the story is narrated provides a cross-relational discourse between Mitty’s inner world of dreaming and the real essence of dying from enduring the tension from his wife. Here comes the more social character of the story as opposed to its moral side. Walter Mitty is a victim of female pretenses concerning life prospects in the marital reality.
They say that Mitty is weak in his moral background, for he cannot explain to his wife the way things go around him. He even dares not to do so, for taking over his wife, he could face a new obstacle in relationships. It is a point at which the female and male parties are contradicting each other following personal intentions. She claims with a sort of condemnation: “Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done” (Thumber 8).
This decisive moment in the story proves the assumption that women are not powerless in their relationships with men. It constitutes their forceful influence beyond physical reality but by moral provocations or just ignorance. However, Walter Mitty has found a better way to step back from the constant outside pressure on him. He dares disengage himself from the harmful effect going from his spouse. Dreams serve to be a so-called shelter for Walter’s sensitive, though steadfast, soul.
The excerpt in the book when he shouts about the fact that it is natural for him to be thinking invigorates the gist of the whole story. Engaging in fantasy is the case of Walter’s triumph over his misery in life (Mathews 28). He is sick and tired to suffer from such a monotonous life full of notations of his wife. He claims more personal freedom by letting himself know that his wife’s instructions do not apply to him. That is the way that encompasses the tragic estimation of Walter’s life. He is solely involved in the process of fantasizing and dreaming through and through. Hence, he gets no sense in shaping the reality in which he lives.
“I was thinking,” said Walter Mitty. “Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking” (Thurber 17)? This is the point that characterizes Walter as manly enough to refute the claim of his spouse to put overshoes on. To be precise, Walter cannot keep up with the essence of so controversial happiness he has at the time. His genius as well as his preferences and ability to feel are not taken into account by a person allegedly created to address such a calling of the heart.
To sum up, Walter Mitty is a victim of female authority. He has nothing to do with it, but he does not give up by dreaming and reaching out the reality he wants to shape in his life.
Works cited
Mathews, Richard. Fantasy: the liberation of imagination. London: Routledge, 2002.
Thurber, James. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Menlo Park, CA: The Creative Company, 2008.