How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Paragraph)
Quote #1
. . . "It's the millionaire banker, Wellington McMillan," said the pretty nurse. (5)
Mitty always makes a point of including beautiful women in his fantasies.
Quote #2
"We're having the devil's own time with McMillan, the millionaire banker and close personal friend of Roosevelt." (5)
Mitty glamorizes men who are close to important people.
Quote #3
"Quiet, man!" said Mitty, in a low, cool voice. He sprang to the machine, which was now going pocketa-pocketa-queep-pocketa-queep . He began fingering delicately a row of glistening dials. "Give me a fountain pen!" he snapped. Someone handed him a fountain pen. He pulled a faulty piston out of the machine and inserted the pen in its place. "That will hold for ten minutes," he said. "Get on with the operation." (6)
Mitty imagines himself as a decisive man who can take charge. In his mind, these are ideal male qualities.
Quote #4
"If you would take over, Mitty?" Mitty looked at him and at the craven figure of Benbow, who drank, and at the grave, uncertain faces of the two great specialists. "If you wish," he said. (6)
Notice how people defer to Mitty in his fantasies; in real life, they don't allow him to do things for himself.
Quote #5
"With any known make of gun," he said evenly, "I could have killed Gregory Fitzhurst at three hundred feet with my left hand." Pandemonium broke loose in the courtroom. A woman's scream rose above the bedlam and suddenly a lovely, dark-haired girl was in Walter Mitty's arms. The District Attorney struck at her savagely. Without rising from his chair, Mitty let the man have it on the point of the chin. (10)
Mitty fantasizes that he is both skilled and unapologetic. His alter-ego can stand up to others instead of submitting to them.