In the short story, “The secret life of Walter Mitty,” a man by thename of Walter Mitty goes into town with his wife to get some things done. Throughout this story Walter Mitty shows that he is very forgetful and areally stubborn man with a vivid imagination. He is constantly beingdistracted, and starts to day dream often.
There are a few hints in this story that show Walter Mitty is veryforgetful. Most of this is probably caused by his constant day dreamingthroughout this trip into town and not concentrating too hard on what he’sdoing. Once Walter Mitty had dropped off his wife for her hairappointment, he began to do his shopping. Walter picks up his overshoesand then “Walter Mitty began to wonder what the other thing was his wifehad told him to get. She had told him, twice before they left.
“(90) Also,a little later on, Walter Mitty “was always getting something wrong”(90)This last quote shows that Walter Mitty must forget things quite often. The story also shows that Walter Mitty is a really stubbornperson. When he was dropping off Mrs. Mitty, Mrs. Mitty told Walter Mittynot to forget the overshoes he was sopposed to buy while in he was town. Walter Mitty’s reaction was “I don’t need overshoes,”(88) but he did givein to his wife in the end, and bought the overshoes.
Another incident thatshows Walter Mitty is stubborn occurs when his wife told him to put hisgloves on, then Walter Mitty puts them on, but when his wife is out of sitehe took them off immediately. The most obvious trait of Walter Mitty is his constant day dreaming. Throughout the whole story, Walter Mitty is being distracted easily byeveryday events. His dreams turn these simple events into wild fantasiessuch as being a surgeon, bomber pilot and a captain of a sea vessel. Anexample of how he changes something from everyday life into a dream occurswhen Walter Mitty is trying to remember what it was his wife had told himto get, then a paper boy went by shouting something about a trial.
WalterMitty quickly went into one of his day dreams and was suddenly on trial formurder in his dream. The story is based on Walter Mitty’s dream, soobviously he has a vivid imagination and day dreams often. All of these points show that Walter Mitty is forgetful, stubbornand a day dreamer. Most of this story is focussed around Walter Mitty’sday dreaming and his wife also plays a role in bringing out Walter Mitty’scharacteristics.
