Abstract
The paper analyzes the irony used by James Thurber in his essay "The Secret Life of James Thurber." The paper discusses how Thurber compares his own common sense with artist Salvador Dali's "nonsense."

From the Paper
"In a play on his most famous story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" American humorist James Thurber wrote an essay comparing his own common sense with the nonsense exhibited in the life and manners of Salvador Dali in "The Secret Life of James Thurber." In "The Secret Life of James Thurber" we see clearly demonstrated Thurber's penchant for humor and irony."

Tags:eccentricity, common sense, ordinary, simple background, artist, surrealism, secret, imagination, humor, contrast

Abstract
This paper examines the biography, written production, and style of the American humorist James Thurber. It includes excerpts from many of his best-known works, as well as examination of his conventions and importance to the body of 20th Century American literature. The paper discusses "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," "My Life and Hard Times," and the concept of "The Little Man."

From the Paper
"Much to his later chagrin, James Grover Thurber was brought hesitantly into the world on December 8, 1894, the second son of junior politician Charles Leander and the extraordinarily eccentric Mary Thurber. Thurber's mother was in fact an incorrigible practical joker upon whom her son relied for inspiration for many of his partly autobiographical stories, particularly those contained in his best-known work, My Life and Hard Times, written in 1933."

Tags:hard, life, little, man, mitty, times, walter

Abstract
This paper compares Thurber's fable, "The Unicorn in the Garden," and his short story, "The Catbird Seat," and explores the idea that they are, in essence, the same story. It looks at their similarities, shared traits and abilities, subject matter, and their different levels of deception and intention.

From the Paper
"In Thurber's nine-page 1942 short story The Catbird Seat" a man removes a woman from his workplace by convincing his boss that she is insane. In his earlier 1940 page-and-a-half fable "The Unicorn in the Garden" a man dispenses with his wife by convincing the authorities of her insanity. Both men achieve their ends by lying. The retelling of the Unicorn story in the later Catbird version demonstrates how, through rewriting and editing, a new and longer piece of fiction can be produced whilst still maintaining both the integrity and validity of the earlier, shorter work."

Tags:creative, draft, drafting, edit, editing, fable, fiction, magical, myth, non, parallel, realism

Abstract
The paper states that Thurber's 1947 story 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' was put in a British medical journal as a clinical condition, which manifested itself in compulsive fantasizing. The paper discusses that in his "real" life, Walter Mitty lives an ordinary, plain life under the control of an overbearing, critical wife. This paper concludes that story shows that fantasy is often a good alternative to reality.

From the Paper
"Walter is both fun and entertaining, he's easy to like and he lives in every one of us. Compared with Walter Mitty, his wife is more realistic. Unlike the female characters in much of literature, she is an independent lady and to some extent, controls Walter Mitty's life. She is no longer an oppressed figure. By creating an oppressed husband and a domineering wife, Thurber humorously and ironically criticizes the social system (under) which women should obediently do as men tell them."

Tags:medical, clinical, condition, compulsive, ordinary, wife, alternative, reality

Abstract
This paper discusses the James Thurber short story, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," pointing out Thurber's humorous devices that include Mitty's imagined experiences and the humor in his daydreams.

From the Paper
"Everyone rewrites history to some extent; some of us are just better at it than others. In Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", Mitty goes beyond the common habit of embellishing the truth, he creates a completely different reality for himself in his imagination. While he is on an errand for his wife, he imagines himself as a hero in several different scenarios. Each of these imagined experiences is humorous for several reasons. First, it is a completely..."

Tags:Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, story, humor, daydreams

Abstract
This paper analyzes James Thurber's novels "The Unicorn" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", both of which tell the tale of disintegrating relationships and distrust between husband and wife and shows how the terrible relationships and the awful marriages that existed between these two couples in the novels pushed both men to drastically take their lives into their own hands. It examines how both books prove James Thurber's disdain for marriage in his creation of two characters bordering on some form of mental incapacity in order to rid themselves of their wives.

From the Paper
"The most lasting, permanent relationship that exists in one's life is the relationship between husband and wife. While the bond that exists between parents and their children is strong, children do grow up, and begin their own lives, most often leaving the home of their parents. Before children come into the picture, marriages exist, and after the children leave, marriages remain. If a marriage is strong, there is a certain advantage the couple have over a failing marriage. Strong relationships, strong marriages, benefit the couple in their lives everyday, leading to the conclusion that poor marriages must cause certain detriment and despair in the lives of the couple."

Tags:husband, wife, children, marriage, relationship

Abstract
This paper examines how James Thurber's main character in the short story, "The Catbird Seat," is a person who uses a small, unexpected change in his personality to his advantage. It discusses how Thurber gives a shining example of someone who not only refuses to give into change, but fights it head on using popular perceptions of him to his advantage.

From the Paper
"When Martin realizes that Mrs. Barrows means to get rid of his department, something in him breaks. Now that his own job is on the line he knows he must act. Mrs. Barrows enters his office one day "[wandering] about the office, taking it in with her great, popping eyes"(634). It is at this point that Martin realizes that she means to fire him. "Mr. Martin could no longer doubt that the finger was on his beloved department"(634). This would bring many changes to his life. His hatred of any change leads him to come up with a solution to the problem Mrs. Barrows is planning to impose upon him. "

Tags:Fitweiler, Barrows

Abstract
Essay discusses two forms of mental illnesses portrayed in two different characters. The first character Walter Mitty is from "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," by James Thurber and the second is James Baldwin in an autobiographical essay called "Notes of a Native Son." Both Mitty and Baldwin have endured abuse and from their abuse stemmed their illnesses. The paper shows however, that while Mitty is seemingly unaware of his affliction, Baldwin is conscious of the illness, which was exemplified in his father. The ways in which their ignorance and self-awareness of their illnesses changes their outlooks and affects them are explored.

From the Paper
"Walter Mitty appears to the reader as a timid, almost broken man under the constant criticism and flow of abuse of his wife. Because of the constant harassment, Mitty creates strong daydreams to escape into; daydreams that are triggered by words spoken from the external environment that filtered into his mind and broken each time by events from the external environment as well. These daydreams are introduced to the reader from the very beginning such as when Mitty imagines himself to be a daring Commander who takes his Navy crew through a hurricane. "The crew, bending to their various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, looked at each other and grinned. "The Old Man'll get us through," they said to one another. "The Old Man ain't afraid of Hell!" (Thurber 72-73). From this we can see Mitty's need for reassurance that he is needed and wanted. The way that the "Old Man" is capitalized shows deference from the crew, which is probably how Mitty wants, to be respected."

Tags:ignorance, self-awareness, respect, conscious, autobiography

Abstract
Describes the element of realism of fancy/imagination in four classic short stories: Stephen Crane's "The Open Boat," James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues," D.H. Lawrence's "The Rocking-Horse Winner," and James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

Abstract
"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" has become a comic American classic, full of humor and pathos. Walter is the classic henpecked husband who hides from the realities of his real world by devising elaborate and whimsical fantasies in his head. Throughout the story, he becomes a doctor, a fighter pilot, a naval commander, and a hero about to be executed, all to escape his continually nagging wife. Mann's essay sheds light on why Walter and his fantasy worlds are still so popular, along with some interesting theories about the cause of Mitty's daydreams

From the Paper
"Mann's essay claims Mitty does not fantasize as a result of his wife's nagging, but totally the opposite, his wife is driven to her constant nagging by his continuous inattention to her. "Nevertheless, a close examination of the structure of the story suggests that Mitty's problems with his wife and with the rest of the outside world could just as easily be the result and not the cause of his fantasies" (Mann 352). This is an interesting and novel look at a story that has been interpreted in many ways for decades."

Tags:henpecked, nagging, daydreams