The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty
By James Thurber (1894-1961)
Type of Work and Publication
Dates
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"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is a short story
centering on the daydreams of a henpecked
Connecticut husband.
It was first published in the March 18, 1939,
issue of The New Yorker.
Harcourt, Brace and Company published it in
October, 1942, in a book collection of Thurber's
works, My World--and Welcome to It.
Setting
The action takes place in the late 1930s in
a car traveling to Waterbury, Connecticut,
and in the city itself in the area of Main
Street.
 Waterbury is in west-central Connecticut
on the Naugatuck River.
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Characters (Real-Life)
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Walter Mitty: Meek Connecticut man who retreats into
daydreams in which he becomes a hero.
Mrs. Mitty: Mitty's domineering wife.
Parking Attendant: After Mitty pulls into the wrong lane
in a parking lot, the attendant takes the wheel and parks
the car.
Policeman: Officer who orders Mitty to pull away after a
traffic signal turns from red to green.
Pedestrians: Woman and her companion who
encounter Mitty on the street. When the woman notices
Mitty talking to himself, she makes fun of him.
Dr. Renshaw: Mitty's family doctor. Mrs. Mitty tells her
husband to see the physician for a checkup.
Garage Man: Person who removed chains from Mitty's
tires.
Daydream 1
Commander Mitty: Pilot of a navy
hydroplane.
 Berg: Lieutenant. He cautions Mitty not to
fly in stormy weather.
 Crewmen
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Day Dream 2
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Dr. Mitty: One of the world's most eminent surgeons.
Wellington McMillan: Millionaire patient and friend of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt. McMillan requires immediate surgery.
Dr. Renshaw: One of the physicians attending McMillan. (Renshaw
is Mitty's real-life physician.)
Dr. Benbow: One of the physicians attending McMillan.
Dr. Remington: Eminent New York specialist called in on the
McMillan case.
Dr. Pritchard-Mitford: Eminent London specialist called in on the
McMillan case.
Nurse
Intern
Daydream 3
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Mitty: Suspect in a murder case. He is an expert
marksman who is on the stand answering the
district attorney's questions.
Gregory Fitzhurst: Murder victim.
District Attorney: Prosecutor in the murder
case.
Woman: "Lovely, dark-haired girl," the narrator
says, who throws herself into Mitty's arms.
Judge
Daydream 4
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Captain Mitty: Devil-may-care World War
I pilot.
Sergeant: Soldier who urges Mitty not to
fly alone.
Raleigh: Shell-shocked flier.
Von Richtman: Allusion to Manfred von
Richtofen, known as the Red Baron.
Daydream 5
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Mitty: Defiant prisoner about to be
executed.
Firing Squad
Point of View
Thurber tells the story in omniscient, thirdperson point of view, enabling the narrator
to reveal the thoughts of Walter Mitty as
they are in progress.
 However, the narration does not peep into
the mind of Mrs. Mitty.
 Instead, it reveals what she is thinking
through her spoken words.
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Themes
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Escapism
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Boosting the Ego
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Henpecked Mitty deals with his everyday frustrations by
escaping into daydreams.
Mitty is a submissive, accommodating chap.
But when he makes himself the hero of his daydreams, he
becomes a veritable demigod.
His daydreams help him sustain his ego against the nitpicking of
his wife.
Vicarious Adventure
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Even an ordinary man can become an extraordinary hero—with
the help of his imagination.
And who is to say that the secret world of Walter Mitty is not a
real world?
After all, daydreams are part of everyday reality.
Thurber's Humor
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Narration and dialogue that mock the melodrama of hack novels.
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" 'We're going through!' The Commander's voice was like thin ice
breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided
white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. 'We can't
make it, sir. It's spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me.' 'I'm not
asking you, Lieutenant Berg,' said the Commander. 'Throw on the
power lights! Rev her up to 8500! We're going through!' "
Or consider this passage: " 'With any known make of gun,' " [Mitty]
said evenly, 'I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred
feet with my left hand.' Pandemonium broke loose in the courtroom.
A woman's scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely,
dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty's arms."
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Thurber's Humor
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Repetition of sounds and images that fascinate Mitty.
For example, Thurber uses the onomatopoeia “pocketa-pocketa” to
imitate the sound of an aircraft engine in the first daydream, to
imitate the sound of the anesthetizer in the second daydream—with
the addition of “queep” when the machine malfunctions—and to
imitate the sound of flame throwers in the fourth daydream.
(Flame throwers, of course, don't go “pocketa-pocketa” but instead
make a whooshing sound. But so what. “Pocketa-pocketa” is more
dramatic.)
In addition, Thurber uses images of complicated dials in the first and
second daydreams and of a gun (Webley-Vickers 50.80) in the third
and fourth daydreams.
Thurber's Humor
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Oddball neologisms and malapropisms.
Note, for example, that Wellington
McMillan suffers from “obstreosis of the
ductal tract” and later develops a condition
called “coreopsis.” The former is a madeup disease and the latter is a genus of
colorful flowers.
Thurber's Humor
Descriptions of incredible feats that the
daydreaming Mitty performs or claims he
can perform.
 For example, he repairs the anesthetizer
with a fountain pen and claims that he
could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst from
300 feet by shooting a gun with his left
hand. (Mitty is right-handed.)
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Thurber's Humor
Abrupt transitions from the mundane Mitty
of everyday life to the heroic Mitty of the
daydreams.
 For example, after Mitty slugs the district
attorney in the courtroom dream, he
remembers that he must buy puppy
biscuits.
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Mitty's Ineptitude
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Mrs. Mitty bullies poor Walter, but it appears that his
obvious ineptitude and carelessness play no small role in
inciting her nagging and the ill treatment he receives
from others.
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Consider, for example, the matter of the gloves.
Next, consider the matter of the overshoes.
Consider also the following incidents that attest to his ineptitude:
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(1) he pulls into the Exit Only lane at the parking lot;
(2) when attempting to remove snow chains from his car tires, he
ends up getting them wound around the axle and has to call a
garage man to undo his bungling.
Mitty also tends to be forgetful
Climax
There is no climax in the story unless one
interprets the final daydream as a turning
point in Mitty's life.
 .However, given the tone of the story and
the meekness of Mitty, it is likely that he
takes no remedial action of any kind but
simply continues to daydream and tolerate
his wife's nitpicking.
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Symbols
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The car, the overshoes, the gloves, and
the tire chains:
 These
all symbolize Mrs. Mitty's control over
bumbling Walter.
 She orders him to buy overshoes, wear
gloves, and slow down from 55 to 40. In
addition, she requires him to take his car to a
garage to have the snow chains on his tires
removed.
Symbols
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Policeman, parking attendant, garage
man:
 They
symbolize the control that the world
exerts over Walter.
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Images of war and guns:
 They
symbolize the strong masculinity that
Mitty lacks.
Allusions, Names, Special
Terms, and Malapropisms
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Archies: Anti-aircraft weapons.
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Auprès de Ma Blonde: French folk
song composed in the 1600s. The
title may be translated as "Near
My Fair-Haired Lady" or "Next to
My Dear One." The French word
blonde may also connote
mistress. It is said that French
soldiers sometimes sang the song
when going into battle.
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Coals to Newcastle: These words
are often used as part of the
phrase like carrying coals to
Newcastle. Newcastle upon Tyne
is a British city famous for the
production and export of coal. To
say that performing a certain task
is like carrying coals to Newcastle
is to say that one is executing a
needless task.
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Coreopsis: See Oddball Neologisms and
Malapropisms.
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Hydroplane: Seaplane; plane that can take
off and land on water.
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Liberty: Weekly feature magazine published
between 1924 and 1950.
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Obstreosis of the ductal tract: See Oddball
Neologisms and Malapropisms.
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Von Richtman's Circus: Von Richtman is an
allusion to Manfred von Richtofen (18921918), an ace World War I German pilot
known as the Red Baron. Circus is an
allusion to the Flying Circus, a unit of elite
pilots commanded by Richtofen.
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Webley-Vickers 50.80: Made-up name for a
gun. Webley and Vickers were separate
British companies that manufactured
weapons. Webley made service revolvers;
Vickers made machine guns. (Vickers also
constructed ships and aircraft).
Study Questions
Is Mitty's daydreaming normal? Or is it a
symptom of a deep-seated problem?
 Make a list of your most frequent
daydreams. What do they tell you about
yourself?
 What do you believe is the main source of
inspiration for Mitty's daydreams? Movies?
Novels? Newspapers? Magazines?
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