I happened to notice this on Wikipedia. It reminded me of a rather curious local character, prone to telling tall tales. I was just wondering if you'd ever come across a character like this?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty
To quote :-
Walter Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and in book form in My World and Welcome to It in 1942. It was made into a film in 1947.[1]
Mitty is a meek, mild man with a vivid fantasy life: in a few dozen paragraphs he imagines himself a wartime pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and a devil-may-care killer. The character's name has come into more general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer, appearing in several dictionaries.[2] The American Heritage Dictionary defines a Walter Mitty as "an ordinary, often ineffectual person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs".[3] The most famous of Thurber's inept male protagonists, the character is considered "the archetype for dreamy, hapless, Thurber Man".[4]
Although the story has humorous elements, there is a darker and more significant message underlying the text, leading to a more tragic interpretation of the Mitty character. Even in his heroic daydreams, Mitty does not triumph, several fantasies being interrupted before the final one sees Mitty dying bravely in front of a firing squad. In the brief snatches of reality that punctuate Mitty's fantasies the audience meets well-meaning but insensitive strangers who inadvertently rob Mitty of some of his remaining dignity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Mitty
To quote :-
Walter Mitty is a fictional character in James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty", first published in The New Yorker on March 18, 1939, and in book form in My World and Welcome to It in 1942. It was made into a film in 1947.[1]
Mitty is a meek, mild man with a vivid fantasy life: in a few dozen paragraphs he imagines himself a wartime pilot, an emergency-room surgeon, and a devil-may-care killer. The character's name has come into more general use to refer to an ineffectual dreamer, appearing in several dictionaries.[2] The American Heritage Dictionary defines a Walter Mitty as "an ordinary, often ineffectual person who indulges in fantastic daydreams of personal triumphs".[3] The most famous of Thurber's inept male protagonists, the character is considered "the archetype for dreamy, hapless, Thurber Man".[4]
Although the story has humorous elements, there is a darker and more significant message underlying the text, leading to a more tragic interpretation of the Mitty character. Even in his heroic daydreams, Mitty does not triumph, several fantasies being interrupted before the final one sees Mitty dying bravely in front of a firing squad. In the brief snatches of reality that punctuate Mitty's fantasies the audience meets well-meaning but insensitive strangers who inadvertently rob Mitty of some of his remaining dignity.
3 comments:
Is this our man in Ga Ga who has set out to save the world ???
Matthew Offord, a daydreaming pulp-fiction MP with an overprotective chief whip, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures.
His dream becomes true when he accidentally meets a mysterious Prime Minister who hands him a little black book. According to him, it contains the locations of the infamous Belize Soup Recipes, hidden since World War II.
Soon, Offord finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, and has to admit that being a hero in real life isn't that easy...
"WE'RE GOING THROUGH!" Commander Offord'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 Freer," said the Commander. "Throw on the power lights! Rev her up to 8500! We're going through!"
The pounding of the cylinders increased: ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa. Offord stared at the ice forming on the pilot window. He walked over and twisted a row of complicated dials. "Switch on No. 8 auxiliary!" he shouted. "Yes Sir! Switching on No. 8 auxiliary!" confirmed Captain Villiers. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" shouted Offord. "Full strength in No. 3 turret!" The crew, bending to their various tasks in the huge, hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane, looked at each other and grinned. "The Honourable Member'll get us through," they said to one another. "The Old Man ain't afraid of hell!"
"...Mr Offord, Mr Offord, wake up! Some of your constituents are here to see you about parking zones, Mr Offord..."
Or furthermore the constituents are trying to wake him up to remind him of other things also!! like would it be possible for commander Offord to be relieved of his post and stick to being a soup waiter the only thing that he is really good at...
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