THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY

SUMMARY

• Walter Mitty loses himself in his imagination
• He seems to go through different personas
• Ranging from a surgeon to a lawyer
• Feel as if he's bored with his life
• Escapes through his imagination

NONLINEAR PLOT

• This story goes in chronological order
• Walter does all his activities in order
• In between his activities, he goes through his "trances"
• More of an intermittent interruption

QUOTE

• “Walter Mitty stopped the car in front of the building where his wife went to have her hair done.
• ‘Remember to get those overshoes while I'm having my hair done,’ she said.
• ‘I don't need overshoes,’ said Mitty. She put her mirror back into her bag.
• ‘We've been all through that,’ she said, getting out of the car. ‘You're not a young man any longer.’
• He raced the engine a little. ‘Why don't you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?’

QUOTE CONTINUED

• 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 into a red light, he took them off again
• He drove around the streets for a time, then he drove past the hospital on his way to the parking lot

ANALYSIS

• Mr. Thurber wants the reader to follow along at each scene.
• He wants the person to picture himself as a ghost listening to Walter Mitty.
• The author realized that if his short story wasn’t in a nonlinear plot,
• There would not be any action or interest from the reader.
• Keeps interest present throughout the whole story

LINK TO QUIZ