Comparing Uncle Marcos And The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

Imagine living in a world where daydreaming could take over someone’s life and pop up when the moment is least expected or leaving for a voyage is the go-to every few months. “Uncle Marcos” written by Isabel Allende and “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” written by James Thurber, both have protagonists that live very different form of the norm. These two main characters share the same qualities they have in the fictional stories. By being similar, they can learn from each other. Each character has a different life, one tries to fill the void of his boring life by dreaming events that only in his wildest dreams would happen and the other is a voyager who has a knack for failing many things but the still tries and sometimes may succeed in life. However could these two ever learn something from
one another.
“Mitty hastily pulled on his gloves and lurched ahead. He drove around the streets aimlessly for a time and then the drove past the hospital on his way to the parking lot”(Thurber, 125). Simply by putting a pair of gloves can trigger a daydream. For this particular dream, the is a surgeon who was getting prepped to perform a surgery on a millionaire banker. Marcos could have learn from Walter that it is okay to dream. It is not bad and may even help better your life. Still live a simple life but still have a great quality of life that will make you happy. “But then Marcos announced that as soon as the weather cleared he planned to take off in his bird and cross the mountain range”(Allende, 136). Marcos was always going on voyages. He risked his life plenty of times, including flying over the mountains. Many people thought that he had died when no word came from him after a week. He also took advantage of his niece Clara with her clairvoyance
to make them both money. Marcos could teach Mitty to live life. Mitty has an average, boring life. Marcos is filled with adventure, so Marcos could teach him to take advantage of life and have fun. Both Marcos and Walter live completely different lives. They each had one thing missing from their life, success and/or excitement. Nonetheless, they both could have learned something from each other that the other had, whether it was to learn to be adventurous or that it’s okay to dream. Many kids read these stories in school and many may not know the reason or why they read this book. Both stories “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “Uncle Marcos” have characters where little aspects are missing from their lives. While reading these stories they can learn that being adventurous is good. Go out and be a “voyager” and explore the world. They can dream about whatever they want and not be afraid to do that