In the story The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, the main character, Walter, is subservient to his wife. He doesn’t act like it, but he doesn’t really want to be obedient. He fantasizes about being a lot of things he isn’t, which shows how he really feels. Over the course of the story, he has five daydreams, each different from the other. In the first daydream, he is The Commander, who is a pilot. He charges right into a hurricane, and it ends with the crew saying how they trust him and how competent he is. He is independent and commanding, which is what he wants to be in real life.
In the second daydream, Walter is a surgeon, one of the best in the world. He is famous and is operating on a millionaire. He successfully saves the millionaire’s life by using a pen to substitute for a piston in a machine. This shows that he wants to be recognized and for other people to look up to him. In the third daydream, he is a criminal who is being convicted with murder. His attorney said that he couldn’t have committed the crime because his right arm was in a sling, but then Walter says that he did, and he can shoot accurately with his left arm from three hundred feet. He confesses and admits that he did kill the victim. He doesn’t try any trickery, and is noble about it. This shows he wants to be skilled, but his subservient side is coming out. In the first two daydreams, he is a leader, but this time he is a captured criminal.
In the fourth daydream, Walter is a captain in the military. He is about to go on a suicide mission and is drinking brandy. He seems calm and casual about it to the others with him, even though he would at least be a little scared. This shows that he wants to be tough and not show his emotions, but also he is starting to be more resigned to his fate of being subservient to his wife, just like the captain knew he was going to die. In the fifth daydream, he is a criminal again. Walter is about to be killed by a firing squad, and he takes off the handkerchief covering his face. He faces the firing squad, and accepts his fate. This shows that he has accepted the fact that his wife has power over him. At the beginning, he wanted to be defiant and rebellious, but at the end he knows those are things he isn’t.