Fantasy_Versus_Fiction

Fantasy Versus Fiction Alaina Davis ENG 125 Katie Newbanks May 2, 2011 Fantasy Versus Fiction Pocketa-Pocketa-Pocketa… this sound is first heard in reference to the "Navy hydroplane" that Walter steers through a violent storm; he imagines it is the "pounding of the cylinders" (Thurber, 1939). Later, in Walter's fantasy surgery, the "new anesthetizer" gives way and makes the same sound (Thurber, 1939). Finally, when Mitty imagines himself a British pilot, flame-throwers make the same noise. It could be that this is the sound of the car engine, which Walter first hears when he is driving into town with his wife – although we do hear the "pocketa pocketa" again when Walter is sitting in the lobby, not in his car. No matter where the "pocketa pocketa" originates, we do know that the sound provides a solid link between the real world and Walter's fantasies, as well as a common link between his multiple fantasies. It is one of the many comic elements of the story the same funny sound cropping up repeatedly and it lends a tangible, permanent element to Mitty's various fantasies. He imagines being a surgeon, he fantasizes that "Coreopsis has set in" (Thurber, 1939). This is not so much a disease as it is a plant, rather similar to a daisy. Walter imagines a gun in the courtroom a "Webley-Vickers 50.80,” or a gun with a three-foot barrel. (Thurber, 1939). This is part of the humor of the story. His fantasies read more like exaggerated parodies of adventure stories than like genuine drama. Mrs. Mitty admonishes Walter to buy overshoes at the store; she also insists that he wear his gloves while driving. It seems to us that a lot of what she does to Walter has to do with sheltering him from the world. After all, she will not let him do simple things for himself (like take his own temperature, or make basic decisions), and this is a big part of the reason he spends so much time fantasizing. If this is true, then the gloves and overshoes might be symbols of the way Mrs. Mitty tries to shield or protect her husband from the world. The real life setting of this story is mundane: a hairdresser, a parking lot, a hotel lobby, a drugstore all everyday elements of any town or city. The banality or dullness of these locations reflects the dullness of Walter's everyday life. This greatly contrasted with the settings of Walter's fantasies: a "Navy hydroplane" in a storm, an operating room, a courtroom, a dugout, a wall before a firing squad. These settings are dramatic, exciting, and out of the ordinary. The narrator in this story is third person omniscient and is told by an uninvolved third person narrator, though that point of view is limited to Walter Mitty. We follow Mitty through his day, and we only get to see or know the things that Mitty himself sees or knows Walter Mitty's character extends a sort of influence over the narration. The words chosen have more to do with Mitty's mindset than they do with objective narration. Example: "Wrong lane, Mac," said the parking-lot attendant, looking at Mitty closely. "Gee. Yeh," muttered Mitty. He began cautiously to back out of the lane marked "Exit Only.” "Leave her sit there," said the attendant. "I'll put her away.” Mitty got out of the car. "Hey, better leave the key.” "Oh," said Mitty, handing the man the ignition key. The attendant vaulted into the car, backed it up with insolent skill, and put it where it belonged. (Thurber, 1939). To Mitty, it seems as though the parking attendant leaps into the car with great ease because, in contrast, Mitty himself is aging and slow. Mitty thinks that the parking attendant’s skill is “insolent” and that the boy is just showing off his skill in contrast with Mitty’s inability. The fantasies themselves give the story an element of adventure. There is definitely a sense of authorial amusement to be found here, as though the author is as entertained as his readers are by his creation. It never gets to the point, however, where we mock Mitty the way the other characters in the story do. (If there is any mocking at all, it is mocking of Mrs. Mitty and her domineering ways). Instead, the author seems to admire and encourage the reader to admire his singular protagonist. We think the end of the story is the greatest evidence of this. We end the story in Walter's fantasy, in which he is "undefeated, inscrutable to the last" (Thurber, 1939). While Thurber does not go so far as to make up words in the narration, we can see in the writing style Mitty's imaginative influence. Thurber describes Mitty driving towards Waterbury with a terrible storm raging "in the remote, intimate airways of his mind" (Thurber, 1939). When describing the hotel lobby doors, he describes the "faintly derisive whistling sound" they make when you push them (Thurber, 1939). There is a creativity and playfulness to this writing style that seems to fit with Thurber's daydreaming protagonist. The title of this story reminds us that, not only does Walter Mitty spend a good part of his life fantasizing, but that his dreams are very much a secret from the rest of the world. There is a communication barrier between Walter and his wife Mrs. Mitty. She appears never to listen to him, seems to have no idea about what he is thinking or doing, and she does not seem particularly interested. (When Walter asks if it ever occurred to her that he might be thinking, her only response is that she is going to take his temperature when they get home.) By slipping into a world of dreams all the time, Walter also isolates himself from the people around him in the real world. Narrator Point of View shows the way in which Walter Mitty's own perspective influences the third person narration. That very same thing is going on here in the title. An objective viewer like the cop or the parking attendant would never consider Walter's fantasies his secret life. This title, in a way, belongs to Walter Mitty, because he is the one who sees his fantasies as a secret life, not as mere foolish daydreams. As Mrs. Mitty steps into the drugstore to grab some last minute item, Mitty stands against the wall outside and imagines that he is standing before a firing squad. This is the last of his five fantasies. It is important to note that the story both begins and ends inside Walter's fantasies; in this way, you might argue that the plot of the fantasies themselves and not the plot of the real world dominate the text's action. Another way to interpret this is as a sort of victory on Mitty's part, as far as the story is concerned. He uses his fantasy world to combat what he dislikes about reality, and it would seem that his fantasies are winning out at least as far as this story is concerned. They dominate reality. On the other hand, Walter is facing a firing squad hardly victorious he is about to be shot. You could view the firing squad symbolically, as representative of the people in the real world who hassle Mitty about being a dreamer. In this sense, the ending seems like a defeat for Mitty. He can dream all he wants, but there are always going to be people who "shoot" him for it. Mitty escapes into fantasy to deal with his conflicts and there really is not a climax to this story If there is suspense in this story, the lingering question with which we are left at the end of the tale Is Mitty headed for some sort of psychological break down. On the other hand, are his fantasies just a harmless way of making his life more exciting' This is Walter's last fantasy and does have a sense of finality or falling action, as opposed to his other fantasies, which are full of action of drama there are two basic ways of thinking about the conclusion. The first being Walter is victorious in some way, and the second is that he is ultimately defeated. It seems that Walter Mitty is intentionally obscuring the truth from himself. His fantasies involve a rejection of everyday reality, and so his imaginings hide the truth from his eyes. He is actually just a bumbling, aging man-not a pilot, or commander or surgeon-however, he does not want to recognize this fact. References Clugston, R. Wayne (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Thurber, J. (1939). Secret Life of Walter Mitty. New Yorker Magazine. 1939