Compare And Contrast The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty And The Open Window
Sometimes a person’s life is not as exciting as they want it to be. People often try to excite their lives through various methods. In the short stories, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “The Open Window”, both main characters try to stimulate their lives by changing the perception of reality.
First, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, by author James Thurber tells the reader about a story where a man tries to escape his extremely mundane life with numerous fantasies. For example, Walter Mitty's daydream comes as he waits for his wife and picks up an old copy of Liberty and visions himself fighting Germany while volunteering to pilot a plane normally piloted by two people.
"The cannonading has got the wind up in young Raleigh, sir," said …show more content…
Vera shows how her sweet and innocent nature is all but a front of her mischievous and slightly cruel character. Vera is extremely self-possessed and mature beyond her years; her imagination is flamboyant but so overpowering it is almost as though she gives into it. She also made up a story to her family at the end of the story to keep her game going.
However, the key difference in the two stories is that in Thurber’s story, the story mostly focuses on Walter Mitty and how his daydreams are continuously interrupted by his real life. On the other hand in Open Window, Vera tries to make her life interesting through deceit which is negatively affecting other people’s lives. In a sense, both stories are about using imaginative performances to change their lackluster reality into something more stimulating. Now, what’s interesting about both stories is that both can be looked at as being humorous. The actions of both of the main characters result in the audience seeing through their fictitious lives and find comedy. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, after Walter Mitty imagines himself being on a witness stand being questioned by a high powered attorney, he comes out of saying something completely ridiculous and random people on the street thought he was
First, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, by author James Thurber tells the reader about a story where a man tries to escape his extremely mundane life with numerous fantasies. For example, Walter Mitty's daydream comes as he waits for his wife and picks up an old copy of Liberty and visions himself fighting Germany while volunteering to pilot a plane normally piloted by two people.
"The cannonading has got the wind up in young Raleigh, sir," said …show more content…
Vera shows how her sweet and innocent nature is all but a front of her mischievous and slightly cruel character. Vera is extremely self-possessed and mature beyond her years; her imagination is flamboyant but so overpowering it is almost as though she gives into it. She also made up a story to her family at the end of the story to keep her game going.
However, the key difference in the two stories is that in Thurber’s story, the story mostly focuses on Walter Mitty and how his daydreams are continuously interrupted by his real life. On the other hand in Open Window, Vera tries to make her life interesting through deceit which is negatively affecting other people’s lives. In a sense, both stories are about using imaginative performances to change their lackluster reality into something more stimulating. Now, what’s interesting about both stories is that both can be looked at as being humorous. The actions of both of the main characters result in the audience seeing through their fictitious lives and find comedy. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, after Walter Mitty imagines himself being on a witness stand being questioned by a high powered attorney, he comes out of saying something completely ridiculous and random people on the street thought he was