Theme, Characterization and Artistic Features of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty/ Theme, Caracterisation Et Caracteristiques Artistiques de la Vie Secrete de Walter Mitty (Report‪)‬

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is the best-known story of James Thurber, who is one of the most famous humorists in America. The story was written in 1939 and regarded as a retrospective comment on the Great Depression, during which life became a nightmarish experience of want, poverty, and absolute misery. As Americans during the Depression sought to relieve the dullness and dreariness of their lives, they turned to movies for their heroes and for escape. "There's a Paramount picture probably around the corner. See it and you will be out of yourself, living someone else's life." The story tells us about Walter Mitty, a henpecked man with extravagant daydreams to escape from the unhappy and humiliated real world such as a heroic pilot in the war, a world-famous surgeon and even a soldier facing a firing squad fearlessly. After the publication of the story, Walter Mitty is known to all the people to describe a certain kind of neurotic, daydreaming man. So Walter Mitty is regarded to be of obvious social characteristics and may be rated as an archetypal American figure. There are, Thurber suggests, no daring young men any more, only worn out and ludicrous middle-aged ones who make themselves look even more foolish by placing themselves in situations into which only daring young men should enter. In the story, I believe, Thurber touches the mentality of the Great Depression most intimately. Whether the theme or the characterization or the artistic features of the story is impressive and worthwhile studying after the reading. Therefore, I give a brief analysis from the above three aspects in the following. 1. THEME