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The narrator tells the story using a third-person limited point of view. The story follows Mitty’s actions and shares Mitty’s thoughts, including his daydreams. The other characters are filtered through Mitty. When the narrator introduces Mrs. Mitty, he does it from Mitty’s perspective. We hear what Mitty hears: “Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!” The narrator describes her as Mitty sees her: “grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman.” Because Mitty thinks mostly of himself, descriptions of other characters are minimal. In the hospital daydream, the narrator describes Wellington McMillan simply as “the millionaire banker.” Dr. Renshaw looks “distraught and haggard,” the nurse is “pretty,” and doctors Remington and Pritchard-Mitford are merely specialists “from New York” and “from London,” respectively.
For comic effect, Thurber also limits the narrator’s descriptions to what Mitty knows in any given situation. For example, in the hospital operating room scene, the narrator uses nonsense terms that only sound medical, such as, “obstreosis of the ductal tract,” “steptothricosis,” and “anesthetizer.” Dr. Renshaw says, “Coreopsis has set in.” Coreopsis is a flowering plant, not a medical condition. Because Mitty does not know medical terminology, the narrator does not, either.
The point of view also creates dramatic irony. The reader knows Mitty’s thoughts and dreams, but Mrs. Mitty does not.
