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No one can be certain what goes on in another person’s mind.
As conveyed in the story’s title, only the reader, the narrator, and Mitty know about his secret life. None of the other characters has any idea what goes on in “the remote, intimate airways of his mind.” Mrs. Mitty notices Mitty’s distractedness, but she attributes it to some physical ailment. She says, “I wish you’d let Dr. Renshaw look you over,” implying that this is not the first time they have had this conversation. Mitty’s reluctance could be because he does not want to be cured of his daydreams or to let the doctor discover his secret life.
In life, Mitty is exceptionally reserved, giving little indication of his thoughts or feelings. When his wife chastises him for driving too fast, his only response is “Hmm?” When she reminds him to buy overshoes, he says he doesn’t need them. He says nothing to the cop, parking lot attendant, or garageman. When he lets his thoughts slip out by saying “puppy biscuit” aloud, a woman laughs at him. His short exchange with the grocery clerk is mundane.
The most Mitty says in the story is at its climax in the hotel lobby. Mrs. Mitty hits him for hiding and asks, “How did you expect me to find you?” He replies, “Things close in.” She replies “What?” but doesn’t wait for his explanation. Instead, she questions him about dull things—puppy biscuits and overshoes. Mitty finally expresses himself, saying “I was thinking . . . Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?” Instead of asking what he is thinking about, Mrs. Mitty threatens to take his temperature. She has no understanding of his inner thoughts, nor does she seem to care.
Ironically, Mitty does not understand what goes on in Mrs. Mitty’s mind, either. When readers first encounter her, Mitty sees her as “grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd.” Mitty makes no attempt to understand her any more than she attempts to understand him. Because of the narrative third-person limited point of view, readers also cannot know her except through her words and actions.
Escapism is a way of avoiding a dull or unpleasant life.
Walter Mitty lives an uninteresting life. Over the course of the story, he performs dull tasks: driving his wife into town, parking their car, buying overshoes and dog treats, waiting in a hotel lobby. His life is unremarkable. The real world has excitement and adventure, but he is not part of it. Hospitals brim with potential for drama, news stories report on the Waterbury trial, and magazine articles describe war zones filled with destruction. Real-world people, such as Dr. Renshaw, inhabit these spaces, but not Mitty. Instead, Mitty goes into his imagined idea of these spaces through his daydreams. Instead of boring, middle-aged Walter Mitty, he becomes a Navy Commander, a world-renowned surgeon, the greatest pistol shot in the world, a World War I bomber pilot, and a condemned prisoner.
Mitty endures an unpleasant marriage in his real life. His domineering wife shouts at him, hits him, and treats him like a child. Perhaps worst of all, she does not listen to him or let him make his own choices, leaving Mitty feeling powerless. But in his fantasies, Mitty is in charge. He shouts commands to the hydroplane crew. Medical specialists hang on his words and plead for his help. He tells an intern to “be quiet” and punches a district attorney. He takes on a solo mission in a bomber made for two. Even when he is alone, facing a firing squad, he stands “proud and disdainful” against his enemies. In his fantasies, young, pretty women fall into his arms for no reason. Mrs. Mitty, unsurprisingly, does not appear in any of Mitty’s fantasies. In his daydreams, Mitty escapes her and their marriage.
Excessive daydreaming can be harmful.
Daydreaming is not necessarily uncommon or inherently destructive, but when taken to an extreme, as in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” it can prove harmful.
Mitty’s daydreams make him physically unsafe to himself and the people around him. When he daydreams about being a navy commander, he drives too fast in real life. While he daydreams in his hospital fantasy, he drives the wrong way into a parking lot, nearly hitting another car. His daydreams render him a distracted driver, and an accident waiting to happen.
Mitty also uses his daydreams to escape conflicts rather than solve them. When Mrs. Mitty says that he should go to Dr. Renshaw for a checkup, he does not explain why he does not want to go. Instead, he retreats to a fantasy world where Dr. Renshaw needs his expertise. Mitty’s avoidance is a temporary fix at best and may make matters worse in the long run.
Mitty’s daydreams are harmful to his relationship with his wife, too. For good or bad, Mrs. Mitty does not appear in any of his daydreams. Instead, when Mitty comes out of his first daydream, she seems “grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman.” He fantasizes about young, pretty women who dote on him and literally fall into his arms. Mrs. Mitty cannot live up to Mitty’s fantasy women, so his relationship with her—already unhealthy—suffers for the comparison.
Mitty also daydreams the unachievable. He is most likely past the age at which he could ever be a navy commander, a famous surgeon, or an air force pilot. Instead of facing this reality and setting achievable goals, Mitty dreams too big. He sets himself up to be a failure. Just as Mrs. Mitty cannot live up to Mitty’s fantasy women, Mitty cannot live up to his fantasy self.
