Life places a great gap between wish and reality. This is true for Walter Mitty, the main character in the story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", written by James Thurber.
             The way he is in reality, really contrasts the way he is in the fantasy world. His in-abilities in the real world quickly morph into abilities in "fantasy land." However, the audience sees things he doesn't, which brings DRAMATIC IRONY into the picture...
             In Walter's first daydream he is a fearless commander of a navy seaplane, who is trying to land it on ice to save the crew from death. However, Mitty always drives at moderate speed, below 55 m.p.h. and he always listens to his wife, unlike the fact that he would not take suggestions from his crew. He goes from a brave, fearless commander to just another person on this Earth.
             Walter's second daydream involves him being a "know-it-all" doctor who fixes an anesthetizer piston with a ball-point pen and then performs a very difficult, yet successful operation, on a millionaire banker. Once again, the imaginative mind of Mitty has him doing something totally out of his league. He really isn't one to perform a very difficult operation, he is merely an occasional bystander of the hospital. He often drives by the hospital, but is no where near performing an operation, especially on a millionaire banker. He is not very bright and can't keep from daydreaming so he obviously would have problems becoming a surgeon.
             The next daydream in which Walter Mitty participates, takes place in the courtroom. He is a defendant in a murder trial. He proves to be bold, saying "I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at 300 feet with my left hand." When that is said, a beautiful woman falls into his arms, and when the District Attorney tries to wake her up from devastation, Mitty hits him on the chin, proving he is suave and triumphant. Mitty is actually just a viewer...