The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Essay Example

Most importantly, the piece itself will be analyzed through the literary and psychological lens of understanding it as more than meets the eyes. Firstly, with regards to why the given piece has captured the interest of this student, the answer to this would necessarily have to be dependent upon the highly imaginative imagery and the use tools such as onomatopoeia as well as the level to which the author describes the mundane within terms of the fantastical is highly gripping. Due to this level of interest that the story develops through the use of these mechanisms, it is not surprising that it has continued to experience such a high degree of popularity in the over 70 years since it first appeared in the New Yorker in a serialized version.

The level of escapism that the piece, represented both in terms of Mitty’s own escapism as well as the level of escapism that was afforded to the reader of the piece, which served to set the story apart from many other such fantastical short stories. When one considers one of the ultimate purposes of fiction, one can readily see that this level of escapism and transportation to another element and another world is part of what has helped the genre to grow and advance throughout the years.

Moreover, the piece had strong elements of psychological parallelism to the ways in which everyday occurrences an spur a random and oftentimes other-worldly or fantastical train of thought within the average person (Cheatham 1990). Although the story itself seems as something comical due to the fact that it is related through the lens of a man with a vivid imagination that desires much more adventure than actually exists within his life, the reader can immediately note the strong psychological parallels to his/her own life as the normal and/or the mundane experience oftentimes gives way to a seemingly uncontrollable