![]() ![]() ‘The Old Man ain’t afraid of Hell!’” (Paragraph 1). ![]() An immense “eight-engined Navy hydroplane” hurdles into the maw of a gathering storm, piloted by the Commander, who coolly ignores his lieutenant’s fearful protests that a hurricane is brewing, while his stout-hearted crew looks on admiringly: “‘The Old Man’ll get us through,’ they said to one another. The story opens in medias res-mid-action and without preamble-in the heightened style of a pulp adventure: “‘We’re going through!’ The Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking” (Paragraph 1). This guide refers to the story as it appeared in The Thurber Carnival (Harper and Row), a selection of Thurber’s stories and sketches that first appeared in 1945. These include the siren-song of cultural tropes the emasculation and/or infantilization of modern man marital discord and the ambiguous nature of the imagination. Along the way, however, Thurber explores numerous themes, which are no less humorous, in his wry treatment, for their essential seriousness. ![]() The story’s action, which juxtaposes Mitty’s fantasized exploits with his mundane day-to-day life, generates no significant change or self-reflection in its milquetoast protagonist: The story’s close finds him much the same person as he was at the start. Unlike most classic fiction, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” portrays little or no character arc. ![]()
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