Walter Mitty Character Analysis in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Essay Example

Introduction

What would your ideal dinner companion be? Perhaps this individual is charismatic and courteous with polite manners or someone that enkindles delight whenever they are around. Introducing Walter Mitty, the main character from the short story, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, differs from your typical human being. Here, Thurber presents the readers with the uniquely peculiar attributes Walter Mitty possesses. Mitty often is in his fantasy that depicts him as a sophisticated individual who is widely respected and relied on only to come back from it due to a sudden event that snaps him back into reality. That begs the question, with all things considered, would you attend a dinner with Walter Mitty? Following the content Thurber illustrates, I conclude that Walter Mitty is far from being an ideal dinner candidate for three main reasons. Those reasons are that Walter Mitty is inordinately childish, absent-minded, and poses risks to the people around him.

Body Paragraph 1

To start with, Walter Mitty's childish behavior is far from the affiliations of a quintessential dinner partner, let alone an average one. Mitty often dallies around. The mind of a child depicts throughout all of his strange dreams. For example, he made up a fake diagnosis within his fantasies which symbolizes his childish knacks. This attribute stands correspondingly to be quite needy. For the context of the evidence I am about to present, Walter is dropping off his wife to get her hair done while he goes off to get overshoes. A section in the fourth paragraph where Walter’s wife speaks about how Mitty is not a young man anymore and enquires him about his globes states, “Walter Mitty reached in a pocket and brought out the gloves. He put them on, but after she had turned and gone into the building and he had driven on to a red light, he took them off again.” This portion of the story depicts a conversation between Mitty and his wife where his wife shows her concern and assistance as she gets dropped off to get her hair done. Diving deeper into this interaction, the wife's concern and care she shows when she asks if he had lost his gloves and that he is not a young man anymore insinuates that Mitty is not independent and immature. In addition, soon after this dialogue, Walter took off the gloves as soon as he left his wife. This act ties into the focus of his strange fantasies. To elaborate on Mitty's dreams, they consistently have the theme of being highly thought of as capable. In this scenario, the care that his wife shows makes him seem reliant, therefore, he takes them off because he wants to feel like he is self-sufficient. His reliance on others, carelessness, and stubbornness alone clearly conclude that Walter has a mental state similar to that of a child. On that basis, going out to dinner with Walter Mitty would be unquestionably appalling because any dinner candidate should be able to handle themself. For example, in a situation where Walter has to rely on you because he cannot be sufficient, he refuses to because he has the urging pleasure to be supremely adored. So, an average dinner with Walter Mitty that cannot order, cook, serve, or complete any demanding task because of his childish traits would undoubtedly be an atrocious candidate.

Body Paragraph 2

Moving on, the second reason why Walter Mitty would not classify as a potential dinner contender would be that Mitty has the bold quirks of an absent-minded person. With the connections between him and his fantasies, he is justifiably absent-minded. However, his absent-minded aspect is not only linked with his dreams. We find Walter taking off his gloves at a stoplight and driving aimlessly to later drive past a hospital on his way to a parking lot. The cop exclaims, “Pick it up, brother!” To sum it up, Mitty is taking off his gloves at a red light as an officer gestures to start moving when the light turns green. He then wanderers around to soon drive past a hospital on his route to the parking lot. This slice of the paragraph shows that Walter is not just absent-minded because of his distinctive dreams. Elaborating on my point, he is for sure not having a daydream. Mitty also seems to be inordinately inattentive proven when the cop snapped to pick it up at a changed red light. In addition, he aimlessly drives around before he makes his way toward the parking lot which depicts that Walter can get distracted easily. Being absent-minded, Mitty is thereby a horrid dinner partner. To illustrate, Walter Mitty gets inordinately distracted. This could mean that he would be zoned out thinking about all sorts of objects in his imagination or has his eyes fixated all over the room. This results in not having a memorable dinner assuming that those fun and intriguing talks cannot happen. The cherry on top of his absent-mindedness is that it correlates with his dreams as well. With Walter's mind being all over, Mitty is poles apart from an ideal dinner candidate. 

Body Paragraph 3

Above all, Walter Mitty stands as a menace to society. The peril that he poses whenever he goes into his reality and with the addition to his absent-minded quality. Whenever anything initiates this event, as happened on multiple occasions like when he passed the hospital, it brings trouble to people around where the cop had to snap at him, with the alarming realization that the light has altered to green. For instance, Walter Mitty has one of his daydreams while driving toward where his wife expects her hair done. While Mitty and his wife converse regarding his speeding due to his dreaming, it states here in paragraph 4, “He looked at his wife, in the seat beside him, with shocked astonishment. She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd.” Walter gets a reminder to return to reality from his wife exclaiming the fast speeds Walter is driving. Her expressions were described as grossly unfamiliar when he looked over on the seat next to him. Her expression is significant in this portion of the text because it betrays the fear of Walter's absent-minded and careless actions. Overall, she seems exceedingly horrified and alarmed at the fact that he was driving at speeds she is not comfortable with. From Walter’s point of view, she was grossly unfamiliar, which signifies the degree of petrification she was inflicted with because of his ignorant action while in another reality. A scenario with an inattentive driver would demonstrably be a hazard to personnel in the car and the civilians around. If we take this case and apply it to dinner, this inattentiveness could turn calm waters into roaring waves. Maybe he spills, drops, breaks plates, or he can forget to pay the bill. As a result of his inattentiveness posing a threat, Walter Mitty would not be compatible as a dinner companion.

Conclusion:

To conclude, I would undoubtedly not partake in a dinner with Walter Mitty in the short story written by James Thurber, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, because he is inordinately childish, absent-minded, and poses risks to the people around him. Collectively supportive facts such as his negligence to his surroundings, Mitty can create precarious situations. With his blank appearance, head in the clouds, and his unwanted dependence on others, it becomes crystal clear that Walter Mitty does not cut out as someone who anyone would desire to be their dinner buddy. That begs the question, how many things could go wrong going out on dinner with Walter Mitty?