The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Summary | Detailed Summary

"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," by James Thurber, is a short story about a man who is desperately hoping to escape his life's position. As an escape route, he daydreams constantly about living exotic and intriguing lives of other people who are much more successful and happy than he is. Mitty's daydreams seem harmless, but they often cause him to find himself in awkward positions when he returns to reality.

The story begins with a shouting Commander who is in an obviously dangerous situation. The Commander is ordering his Lieutenant to prepare to power up their Navy hydroplane, although it is against the Lieutenant's best judgment because of an impending hurricane. The crew looks on, confident that their Commander, whom they have nicknamed the Old Man, will see them through safely, as it is implied he has done in the past.

Suddenly, the voice of Mrs. Mitty breaks in, chiding her husband Walter for driving too fast. Walter breaks out of his reverie, which the scene with the Commander was, in which he had placed himself as the starring role. Mrs. Mitty continues to scold Walter for driving fifty-five instead of forty, which she prefers, and also suggests he is having one of his "tense days" and should allow the doctor to see him.

Walter stops to drop his wife off to go get her hair done, and she reminds him that he is supposed to go buy overshoes while she is busy. He argues with her about his need for them, and she reminds him that he is getting older and needs them. After she scolds him again, this time for not wearing his gloves, he puts them on, but removes them once she is out of sight. He drives around and passes a hospital, sparking another daydream.

In this one, Walter is a famous doctor. Wellington McMillan, the rich banker and a friend of President Roosevelt, is in for a surgery. "Dr." Mitty is called in to assist the two doctors and two specialists already on the case. Introductions are made all around, with multiple compliments being paid to Dr. Mitty. Suddenly, one of the machines begins to fail, and Mitty heeds the call to fix it, even though there is purportedly no one that knows how to in the East. He completes a makeshift fix with a fountain pen and announces it will only remain working for the next ten minutes. The doctors then defer to him to take over the operation.

The daydream ends as a parking lot attendant for driving in the wrong lane is shouting at Walter. The attendant takes his keys and parks it for him. Walter privately takes issue with the attendant's attitude, remembering an incident involving the chains on his tires that prompted Mrs. Mitty to insist he take his car to a garage to get the chains removed. Walter plans to wear a sling the next time he does so, so that they won't think less of him at the garage. He suddenly remembers his errand, and starts to look for a store that sells overshoes.

He buys the shoes, and upon exiting the store, tries to remember what else his wife told him to do. He runs through a mental list of things it might be, fearful of hearing her chide him for forgetting something yet again. A newsboy's shout launches Walter into his next daydream.

In this one, Walter is on the witness stand in a courtroom being questioned by the District Attorney, who is showing him a gun. He causes the courtroom to erupt in chaos after affirming that he was indeed an expert shot, a beautiful girl collapses in his arms, and the aforementioned sling makes an appearance in the DA's questioning. After punching the DA in the face for striking at the girl, Walter suddenly pops out of his reverie by remembering his other errand - pick up puppy biscuits.

Walter says "Puppy biscuit" out loud, causing a passing woman to laugh at him. He goes into a store, and when the clerk asks him for the brand, he can only remember a marketing phrase from the box. He notices that his wife would be done at the hairdresser's shop soon, and makes sure he is at the hotel before her since she preferred him to arrive first. Walter notices a magazine article about the War, and begins his next dream.

Mitty is now a Captain in the Air Force, under attack and forced to pilot a two-man aircraft to get to an ammunition dump. His persona as the Captain is brave, charming, and almost smirking at the danger before him and around him, humming a tune and bidding his sergeant "Cheerio!" as he leaves to his task.

Mrs. Mitty breaks him out of his dream by hitting his shoulder and yelling at him, because she had been looking all over for him. She checks to make sure he got the biscuit and the overshoes, and asks him why he didn't think to put them on in the store. He says to her, "I was thinking...Does it ever occur to you that I am sometimes thinking?" She responds by assuming he is ill.

On their walk to the car, she runs into the corner drugstore for a second, and while he is waiting, Walter lights a cigarette. In his head, his surroundings become that of a firing squad. As he refuses a blindfold, he stands to face the firing squad with bravery and pride.