SOURCE: “Coitus Interruptis: Sexual Symbolism in ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’,” in Studies in Short Fiction, Vol. 23, Winter, 1986, pp. 110–13.

In this essay, Blythe and Sweet analyze the sexual symbolism in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

Several critics have focused on the relationship between Walter Mitty's daydreams and his marital situation. Leon Satterfield, noting the parallel between Mrs. Mitty and the D.A., concludes that this third fantasy “points up Mitty's latent hostility toward his wife.”¹ Carl Linder finds Walter Mitty's wife's role more symbolic, representing the “external and confining pressures” upon him.² Ann Mann argues that, for an inveterate fantasizer like Walter Mitty, Mrs. Mitty is the “ideal wife,” for she fulfills “the paradoxical enabler-scapegoat role” in their marriage.³ While all these interpretations concur that the wife dominates the Mitty marriage, none has dealt with the symbolism of Walter Mitty's daydreams. A close inspection of the...