Everybody is a little bit selfish inside. Though we may not like to admit it, behind every action there is intent for self-gain. For example, someone could give 1000 dollars to a homeless man. That may help the man immensely, but people would look at that someone as a hero. In the story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” by James Thurber, we can see this bit of selfishness inside the main character, Walter Mitty.
When Mr. Mitty and his wife were driving into town to get to his wife’s hair appointment, he imagined himself to be the commander on a navy ship. Though his wife eventually snaps him out of his moment of fantasy, Walter Mitty, imagined himself to be a great commander leading his crew through a hurricane. Despite the crew’s doubts, Mitty continued to act like a heroic commander.
Mr. Mitty’s next moment of fantasy was when he drove past a hospital. Then, Mitty imagines himself to be a world renowned surgeon that was tending to a famous millionaire, Wellington McMillan. Dr. Renshaw, a doctor that Mrs. Mitty recommended Mr. Mitty goes see, is in the middle of a surgery when he flakes and asks Mitty. As Mitty is about to make an incision, a yell from a parking lot attendant snapped him out of his fantasy.
Mr. Mitty’s last moment of fantasy in the book is when he was walking along main street. It reminded him of an incident where Mr. Mitty previously tried to change his tire chains and ended up injured; therefore he would wear a sling on his right arm whenever he went to get the chains fixed again. Mitty also heard a newspaper boy yell out about a trial. This inspired a fantasy about an incredibly skilled sharpshooter on trial. The crack shot was Mitty.
Though Mr. Mitty could have just been a nice old man with an incredible imagination, that is not how the mind works. Humans are constantly thinking about themselves and how actions would affect them. Even when thinking about someone else, we are thinking about how that person affects us or makes us feel. Behind every selfless action is a selfish intent, and that is the simple truth.