The gloves in this excellent short story only actually
occur once, and are used to trigger off another one of Walter Mitty's famous daydreams,
but also are used to reveal more of the character of Walter Mitty and the kind of weak,
spineless man he actually is. Consider how these gloves are first
introduced:
"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.
The way in which he
has to be reminded about the gloves by his wife almost suggests that he is a child being
told to dress warmly by his mother, and this is an impression that is supported by the
childish way in which he takes them off when she leaves. When he is challenged by
another authority figure, he puts them on again, as if to cement his own weakness and
the way that he is not a strong character and allows others to dominate him. The gloves
also allow him to daydream about being a famous heart surgeon in the next
daydream.
No comments:
Post a Comment