Throughout his life, Walter Mitty lives a second, more exciting life, in which he is a renowned doctor, war pilot and also more. James Thurber's short story, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, was a book about how a quiet man is bossed around and bullied his entire life, forcing him to daydream in order to find happiness. Walter Mitty feels the need to escape into his daydreams because his wife won't let him make any decisions, his wife bosses him around and mistreats him, forcing him to daydream to assert his manhood, and he is bored with his life , and he wants to be recognized for something in life, and you can see him fitting into these positions in all of his daydreams. One of the main reasons why Walter Mitty daydreams is because his wife doesn't let him make any decisions. In his daydreams he shows his leadership and makes important decisions, such as when he imagines he is a doctor and has to think fast, when the machine that was keeping this man alive was breaking, he repairs it with a ballpoint pen. This simply shows that Walter Mitty wanted to realize his ideas, do something to help others, and be known throughout the country. Another big reason why he loves making his own choices in his daydreams is because his wife and other people continually tell him what to do. Just like when Walter Mitty had to accompany his wife to the place where she got her hair done, only to be thanked with a list of things she needs to buy. Then the next thing you know she's yelling at him, like she's five years old, for not wearing gloves! This shows that he rarely gets respect, or even makes his own decisions. Another big reason Walter Mitty was always daydreaming was because he wanted to be more manly, especially since we're almost always... middle of paper... together. All this just goes to show that he knows exactly what he's daydreaming about and wants a better, more exciting, and more influential life. Walter Mitty feels the need to escape in his daydreams because his wife and other people he meets during the day today are always telling him what to do, his wife is making him look like a child by yelling at him in public, robbing him of his manhood , and he is bored with his life and wants to become a more important and more influential person can have a positive impact on other people's lives since no one has a positive impact on him. So if you look at the whole story, in his daydreams you can see all the reasons why he feels the need to escape into his daydreams rather than real life. Works Cited Thurber, James. "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Np, nd Web. November 13. 2013.