In our English Corner we will be presenting examples of short stories to introduce students to literature in English beyond the abridged and shortened excerpts we are used to in our English classes and textbooks. We will bring you different readings to choose from based on your level and comfort. Read whichever you like, or feel like you would most enjoy. Feel free to challenge yourself as well, and participate in the discussion questions! Check back for the next reading soon.
Julian Stout (Language Assistant)
Our first story is part one of "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," a classic American short story about a man with a very ordinary life who escapes into daydreams where he feels more important and heroic.
The name Walter Mitty a has entered the English language, meaning a person who spends more time in heroic daydreams than paying attention to the real world.
“We’re going through!” The Commander’s voice was like thin ice breaking. He wore his full-dress uniform, with the heavily braided white cap pulled down rakishly over one cold gray eye. “We can’t make it, sir. It’s spoiling for a hurricane, if you ask me.” “I’m not asking you, Lieutenant Berg,” said the Commander. “Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8,500! We’re going through!” The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-
“Not so fast! You’re driving too fast!” said Mrs. Mitty. “What are you driving so fast for?”
“Hmm?” said Walter Mitty. He looked at his wife, in the seat beside him, with shocked astonishment. She seemed grossly unfamiliar, like a strange woman who had yelled at him in a crowd. “You were up to fifty-five,” she said. “You know I don’t like to go more than forty. You were up to fifty-five.” Walter Mitty drove on toward Waterbury in silence, the roaring of the SN202 through the worst storm in twenty years of Navy flying fading in the remote, intimate airways of his mind. “You’re tensed up again,” said Mrs. Mitty. “It’s one of your days. I wish you’d let Dr. Renshaw look you over.”
Walter Mitty stopped the car in front of the building where his wife went to have her hair done. “Remember to get those overshoes while I’m having my hair done,” she said. “I don’t need overshoes,” said Mitty. She put her mirror back into her bag. “We’ve been all through that,” she said, getting out of the car. “You’re not a young man any longer.” He raced the engine a little. “Why don’t you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?” Walter Mitty reached in a pocket and brought out the gloves. He put them on, but after she had turned and gone into the building and he had driven on to a red light, he took them off again. “Pick it up, brother!” snapped a cop as the light changed, and Mitty hastily pulled on his gloves and lurched ahead. He drove around the streets aimlessly for a time, and then he drove past the hospital on his way to the parking lot.
Questions:
What is a daydream? Do you daydream? If so, how do you imagine yourself?
How is Walter Mitty in reality different from Walter Mitty in his fantasies?
How does the author describe sounds in the story?
