Daydreamer Walter Mitty
Marissa Krause
Thesis
James Thurber's style of text structure, daydreams, characterizes Walter Mitty as someone who is not very respected by others and by himself.
Claim 1
Walter Mitty has a very low self esteem. He does not respect himself well enough to stand up when someone hurts him physically or emotionally. Also, in Walter's dreams he is a hero to everyone. This shows that he wants to be a hero, someone better than he is now.
Claim 2
Also, Walter Mitty is very timid. Walter's wife is very bossy, controlling, and disrespectful to her husband. Although, in Walter's dreams, he is the most respected person. Because of this, he wants more respect, but he does not do anything about it.
Claim 3
Third, Walter is very clueless. When he dreams he can not pay attention to what is really happening and it sometime can be very dangerous to him and others. For example, when driving with his wife, he goes into one of his daydreams. He is imagining flying an helicopter into a hurricane and speeding up. While on the road he speeds because he is imagining flying a helicopter at high speed.
Conclusion
The author's text structure of the story characterizes Walter Mitty as someone with low self-esteem, timid, and clueless.