On The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in Light of Psychological Approach.docVIP

On The Secret Life of Walter Mitty in Light of Psychological Approach 　　【Abstract】The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is a masterpiece of James Thurber who is considered as the best American humorist since Mark Twain. This paper aims to analyze it from Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalytic theory. 　　【Key words】The Secret Life of Walter Mitty； Sigmund Freud； Psychoanalytic theory 　　1940s is a period when people were trying their best to catch up with the changing world. Since fierce competition was everywhere， they had to compete. Under such pressure， people in every class suffer so much that they feel they were losers. Therefore， such kind of people would try to escape from reality. Naturally， dreaming would be a nice choice since only in dreaming could they find themselves successful. Some of them would go back to reality and keep fighting to achieve their goals while others would indulge themselves in beautiful illusions and be losers forever in their real lives. This short story describes such a society in which the male protagonist Walter Mitty escapes his everyday existence in heroic fantasies. 　　Based on Freud’s dream theory， Mr. Mitty’s daydreams are reflection of his deepest desires he wish to realize in the real life. His dreams are visionary fantasy in which he can express his hopes and ambitions that he cannot get in his real life. In reality， Mr. Mitty is someone being incapable， unconfident and scorned by everybody， even by his wife. He lacks the courage to defend himself when his wife blames him. Besides， when a garage man laughs at him for his incapability to unwind the chains of the car， he just curses the man secretly to unburden himself. In other people’s eyes， he is a man of nothing， what’s more， he doesn’t even have rights to express his own voice in his marriage. Since he is denied in real life， he has to find his existence in daydreams. The more inferior one is in his real life， the more superior he would be in his dreams. Therefore， in Mr. Mitty’s da