, Research Paper

A prevailing wont of human sort is to feign to be person we are non to dissemble our true egos. This is sometimes possible through false individualities. In the instance of Walter Mitty in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, he makes it possible to populate the life he longs to populate. This is achieved through legion dream sequences in which he takes on new personalities and idiosyncrasies. The qualities that are evident in most, if non all, of his twenty-four hours dreams are demanding, insistent, skilled and confident. Walter Mitty s address, every bit good as his actions, demonstrate the clearly opposite personalities he has in his existent life and his dream life.

One characteristic Walter Mitty is missing in existent life that is prevailing in his dream sequences is being demanding. He takes charge of a state of affairs and does non waver to exhibit his authorization. In his first reverie he says, I m non inquiring you, Lieutenant Berg, We re traveling through! ( 88 ) He lets the lieutenant know who is in charge and verbally expresses it. This is rather different from his existent life where he follows the bids of his married woman so intently. This remark to the lieutenant is the sort of thing he d like to state to his married woman if he had the bravery in existent life that he merely possesses in his invented life. Another illustration of this demanding quality is found in Walter s 2nd dream, when he is an complete physician in a tense operating room scene. The anaesthetizer begins to malfunction and the nurse is distressed. Mitty takes control of the fortunes and begins to do his bids. Quiet, adult male! Give me a fountain pen! That will keep for 10 proceedingss, Get on with the operation. ( 89 ) In merely a short clip frame, Mitty tells the interne what to make, makes a demand for an object, like an expert fixes a faulty machine and dictates the physicians to acquire on with the operation. This roseola, self-generated behavior is nil like his true mode. This is evident after Mrs. Mitty tells Walter to set on his baseball mitts. He complies with her petition and puts on his baseball mitts. Trying to arise and take bid over himself, he hurriedly [ pulls ] on his baseball mitts ( 88 ) once more and dutifully reverts back to being told what to make. Mitty has proved himself to be both demanding and duteous in one narrative.

Walter s deficiency of control seems to be largely due to his married woman s mass sum of power in their relationship. Her method of domination appears to be reiterating an order or petition until it is understood and completed. Walter is evidently opposed to this as we witness his expostulation to her orders when he takes off his baseball mitts. We can besides witness Walter trying to derive the same sort of control in his first dream utilizing the same technique as his married woman. Switch over on No. 8 subsidiary! Switch over on No. 8 Auxiliary! Full Strength in No. 3 Turret! Full Strength in No. 3 Turret! ( 88 ) He repeats about all of his bids, which mimics the manner his married woman echoes the bulk of her petitions and statements. It seems as though he s seeking to hold the same power over the characters in his dream as Mrs. Mitty has over him. An illustration of this is instantly after Walter s first dream sequence, when he is driving the auto. Mrs. Mitty says You were up to 55, you know I don Ts like to travel more than forty. You were up to 55. She does non necessitate to state his velocity more than one time, but she repeats it for good step. It is a control mechanism, and like most people, Walter learns by illustration and fabricates his ain, similar mechanism in his dreams.

Skill seems to be natural for Walter s dream character

lity. In all of his state of affairss, he seems really cognizant of his milieus and what needs to be accomplished. This is most obvious in his 2nd dream when he takes on the function of a physician. After hearing that There is no 1 in the East who knows how to repair [ the anaesthetizer ] , ( 89 ) Walter [ fingers ] finely a row of glittering dials. ( 89 ) He realizes right off that a defective Piston demands to be replaced with a fountain pen. His cognition becomes a utile tool in repairing the machine, and subsequently once more when he s asked to take over the operation on the millionaire banker. The remarkably extended wisdom that Walter holds in his dreams is an effort to do up for his deficiency of even common sense in existent life. Mitty is rather absent-minded, which emphasizes his apparently mindless demeanour. An illustration of Walter s rolling head occurs when he forgets to go forth his key with the parking batch attender. We know that Mitty is invariably floating off to his fantasy universe, so he is non able to remain cognizant at any minute. He is besides covetous of other people s accomplishments and compensates for it during his hallucinations. We observe Walter s green-eyed monster merely after his 2nd dream sequence when he is trying a simple undertaking, to park his auto. The parking-lot attender suggests that he allow him make the parking and [ vaults ] into the auto, [ dorsums ] it up with insolent accomplishment, and [ puts ] it where it [ belongs ] . ( 90 ) Walter thinks to himself, They re so damn cocky. This makes us cognizant of his green-eyed monster and another resistance between his two personalities.

Assurance is an unmistakable character trait in Walter s secret life. It is most outstanding in his 4th reverie. Again, he takes on the function of a Captain, but in a despairing state of affairs this clip. An ammo shit needs to be made in a plane that needs to be maneuvered by two work forces. The sergeant speech production with Captain Mitty, states that it can non be done my Mitty entirely. But rather a few, well-handled, musca volitanss of brandy rise Walter s assurance to a surging point and he straps on his Webley-Vickers automatic gun. Right before go forthing, the sergeant says to Walter, It s 40 kilometers through snake pit, sir. Softly, Walter answers, After all, what isn T? ( 92 ) This suggests that all life is hell, and it seems to connote that his ain life is a snake pit that merely needs to be faced. This foreshadows his concluding base up to his married woman when he, for one time, shows a small assurance and says, I was believing, Does it of all time occur to you that I am sometimes believing? ( 92 ) It is as though through all his preparation and practicing in his secret life, he grew a small spot of assurance near the terminal of the narrative, before it faded off once more. Still, a deficiency of assurance is suggested in Walter s true individuality. He unwillingly follows orders like a trained puppy and doesn T stand up for himself until the really terminal of the narrative.

Opposite is the best word to depict Walter Mitty s personalities. There are no obvious similarities between his existent life ego and his dream ego. Absent-minded, adherent, and accepting are appropriate words to depict Mitty s true individuality. His duologue and actions in his dreams, nevertheless, prove him to be a adult male who is demanding, insistent, skilled and confident, without even a slightest resemblance to his real-life character. Walter Mitty manages to carry through what so many of us can merely woolgather of to populate another, more desirable life. He does this without executing the undertaking that mankind seems to be so afraid of alteration. Mitty attains a more desirable life style with his ain sort of mask a mask of imaginativeness.