The Reasons for Walter Mitty's Daydream Most people daydream from time to time when they are bored. Daydreaming often gives a pleasant break from dull reality, and it lets people pretend to be or do things they could not in real life. Walter Mitty, the main character in James Thurber's story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty," is a constant daydreamer. Unlike most people, who daydream sometimes, Mitty often depends on daydreaming to escape real life because in real life he is an incompetent man whose wife treats him like a child. In spite of his need to get away from real life, or maybe because of it, Walter Mitty has interested readers since the s