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James Thurber's "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" is written in the limited third-person. What are some benefits of this point of view?

User Novafluff
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Answer:third person

Step-by-step explanation:

User Sandia
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Thurber uses point of view to get across certain ideas or themes throughout his stories. In The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Thurber uses 3rd person point of view but we also see Walter Mitty’s thoughts to show how he sees the world as he constantly escapes reality when things in his life get rough. This point of view is effective because of how it shows Mitty’s constant daydreaming. For example, Mitty is driving around while waiting for his wife at the hair solon, when he drives past a hospital. “He drove around the streets aimlessly for a time, and then he drove past the hospital on his way to the parking lot. . . “It’s the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan,” said the pretty nurse. “Yes?” said Walter Mitty removing his gloves slowly” (Thurber). This shows how when he succumbs to boredom of driving and nothing in his life happening, he daydreams of highly superior rolls in life. Sometimes when Mitty enters his fantasy world, he fantasizes about being a powerful person. As shown in his witness scene in a court room. ““Don’t tell me you forgot the what’s-its-name?” A newsboy went by shouting something about the Waterbury trial. . . The district attorney suddenly thrust a heavy automatic at the quiet figure on the witness stand.” (Thurber). Here it shows that Mitty has a bad tendency to often daydream when his wife starts to nag him. Although most of the time when Mitty is with his wife he is being nagged, therefore encouraging his daydreaming to escape reality. Most of the time through the story, Walter’s daydreaming is provoked either through his wife, or through viewing incidents in history such as war. “Walter Mitty looked at the pictures of bombing planes and of ruined streets . . . “The cannonading has got the wind up Raleigh, sir,”” (Thurber). Mitty is set on his fantasy trip by a series of war pictures. Having this point of view in the story made the story what it is. Showing how Walter thinks and showing what goes on in his hear when he daydreams made the story. This point of view worked because of how interesting it is to see what provokes his daydreams. If the story would not have been told in 3rd person and Walter’s point of view we would not have seen a man who daydreams, just a normal man’s life in a normal world where he is nagged by his wife and has boring plain moments in his life with no action or adventure. The point of view concept ties back to the fact that Walter wants to succeed but can only in his dreams since he is a failure. “Linked to his use of narration, Thurber uses an unusual point of view in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” The story is told in the third-person, but the reader has access to Mitty’s thoughts. The dream sequences complicate this third-person limited point of view. During these sections of the story, readers are inside of Walter’s fantasy. His conscious thoughts are on display.” (Trudy). During these daydreams we see how Mitty fails in life, but then succeeds in his daydreams and only when he escapes reality.
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