(1) He listened, who would listen no more.
(Old Koskoosh knew what was going to happen. While he was still alive and listening, he would soon die and ―listen no more.‖)
(2) Then his hand crept out in haste to the wood. It alone stood betwixt him and the eternity which yawned upon him.
(The word ―eternity‖ here means death. The old man’s life defended on this small pile of wood that could supply warmth and keep the wolves away. When the wood burnt out, Death, with its mouth open, would quickly swallow him.)
(3) Nature was not kindly to the flesh. She had no concern for that concrete thing called the individual. Her interest lay in the species, the race.
(According to Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, the living beings have adapted to the environment in the long history of evolution. In that long process, according to the natural law, only the survival of the group, of the species, has significance. Nature does not care for individual survival. Only the group that fits the environment has a change to continue.)
(4) For a while he listened to the silence. Perhaps the heart of his son might soften…
(The old man’s reflection reveals that he, alike any individual, wished to be given a chance to live. Even though he understood the law of nature and had a brave heart in facing death, he still had a natural and humanly yearning for life.)
英语短篇小说教程 虞建华 高等教育出版社 课后答案
Keys to Unit Eleven
James Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
2) Questions for discussion:
(Suggested answers for reference)
(1) How are reality and fantasy associated in this story? Give examples.
(Usually it is in this way: something in the real life, for example, doing, seeing or hearing something, would triggers off some fantasy. Driving a car leading to the fantasy of piloting a hydroplane; putting on gloves and hearing the name of Dr. Renshaw leading to the operation episode; hearing a newspaper boy shouting something about the trial leading to the courtroom episode; sitting in the lobby and reading news about Second World War leading to the bomber-pilot episode and standing against the wall of a drug-store leading to the episode of facing a firing squad.)
(2) Does Mitty appear to be a comic, grotesque, and ridiculous person?
(It is not the author’s intention to show the ridiculous side of Mitty’s life. Through creation of such a character, the writer intends to reveal the unfortunate life of some city dwellers. Their lives, like that of Mitty’s, are suffocated by the monotony and triviality of the modern middle-class life. The daydreams seem to be the only escape from the meaning less repetition of the day-to-day existence.)
(3) Find out what is in common in the five pieces of Mitty’s daydream: the hydroplane, the medical operation, the trial, the bomber and the execution. What do these fantasies reveal to you about Walter Mitty?
(These pieces of daydreams have one thing in common in which life is more adventurous, more heroic or more exciting than the actual existence, and in which he is a brave, respected or even a tragic central figure, rather than a nobody dominated by an bossy wife.)
(4) How do you like the ending of the story? What is your interpretation?
(There is a tragic sense in the last episode – the man being executed. This may reveal the inner wish of the protagonist that he would rather be a heroic victim than a person of no significance. And also, there is a hint of tragedy in his life.)
(5) Compare Walter Mitty with Cervantes’ Don Quixode (唐·吉诃德). What similarities and differences do you find in the two characters?
(Mitty’s daydreams embody the clichés of adventure or war fiction and movies. While Cervantes’ Don Quixode is also influenced by the popular romance of his time and ridiculously acts out his fantasies, Mitty does not even have courage to do that and seems satisfied with dreaming about a sort of heroism as an escape from the imprisonment in triviality. In this sense, he is a modern Don Quixode)
3) Explanation and interpretation:
英语短篇小说教程 虞建华 高等教育出版社 课后答案
(Explain the implied meaning of the following sentences, and point out their significance in the context of the story.)
(1) 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.
(Mitty was lost in his daydream, and was suddenly awakened from it and the world around him seemed rather unfamiliar.)
(2) "You're tensed up again," said Mrs. Mitty. "It's one of your days. I wish you'd let Dr. Renshaw look you over."
(―Tensed up‖ refers to Mitty’s state of fantasizing. His wife’s words indicate that Mitty had a habit of falling into daydreams and had once consulted a doctor for this problem.)