Why do the Poor Relation and Walter Mitty choose to escape from reality in the way they do? How successful are they?

Michael's life is the way it is for several reasons. Firstly he describes himself as 'too credulous', 'his own enemy', and 'ridiculously trustful', he has put himself into a bad situation and has lost out in every way. He has also received rejection from the woman that he loved, has been cast out by his uncle, and pushed out of his own business. He is alone because nobody has ever stuck with him. We get the feeling that Michael has created his own dream world to get away from this reality. His faults have stopped him being successful in life, and he has been unaware of how his life has turned out. He spends so much time in his dream life that his real life has slipped out of his control. Someone living in 19th century England, in a hierarchical and unforgiving society would see little prospect for change in his situation.

Walter's life has worked out the way it has because he has been unable to stand up for himself and he lacks confidence in himself. Everyone has told him what to do, and he always does what he is told. He seems too nervous to speak his mind. He has had a very tedious life and perhaps never achieved the kind of heroics that he dreams of. He has been fully aware of what was happening around him, but he has simply been unable to stop it. Now though it is more than possible for him to change his life. As we see him do at the end of the story, all he has to do is stand up for him. We hope that he can make the most of a society quite unlike the poor relation's.

As for the way that Michael escapes from reality it is simple, to getaway from the dull, hard life that he leads. When life becomes hard, or something bad happens to him, he simply dreams that his life is going well. His dream life is quite vivid, building up into a big happy picture for him to escape to, depicting the standard Victorian icon of home, wife and child encounters.

Walter however has his dreams triggered off by things that he encounters during life. For example when he stands smoking against a wall in the rain, he suddenly transports himself into a situation where he is facing the firing squad, and taking one last drag of his cigarette. One feature of the dreams are that Walter always idealises himself as the hero. Also when a newsboy shouts out about the Waterbury trial, he transports himself into a court room. As opposed to Michael's dreams, Walter's are very detailed, unlike his real life. In his first dream he goes into great detail about all the different parts of the ships and guns, even though he makes some words up. In real life he is very vivid. An example is when he was asked about what dog biscuits he wants to buy, he replies vividly 'it says puppies bark for it', he doesn't even know what it's name is.

Michael has had a very tough life. He has encountered huge problems and rejection. As a result of this he is now poor and lonely. Without his dream life Michael would not be able to survive his life. His dreams help him to cope with life. If he did not have any way to escape then maybe he would be even more miserable. It helps him to get through his normal life. He is almost dependant on having some way to get away from his life.

On the other hand Walter is much less dependant on his made up life. Unlike Michael who uses it to survive, Walter makes up heroic stories of fantastic heroism, and he uses it to dream of what he would really like to be. Walter actually suffers from his dream life. If he was not such an escapist then he would have more confidence, and his life would be better. Walter is a character who should just learn to stand up for himself. On the other hand, maybe his dream life does help him to cope with the way that others treat him, although unlike Michael he does not depend on it. His dream life is used purely as a way to liven up his life, but it is not needed.

The author's use different techniques to break into the made up lives. Dickens uses an alternating pattern, but it does not follow any order. Michael breaks into the made up part of his story by raising his voice and describing it with much more pleasure, he seems much happier when describing his made up life. When describing his real life he uses sympathetic landscapes. One example of this is when Michael comes down to tell his uncle about his marriage to Christiana- he uses the following words:- 'colder in my Uncle's house than outside', 'large room with a small fire', 'shivering'. He uses these techniques to add a sense of depth to the situation. When describing his real life, he uses cold, jagged sentences. He also seems to put himself down very often, and even thinks that his relations have bad feelings towards him.

Thurber meanwhile takes a different approach to portraying the change. The most noticeable characteristic of the writing is the inclusion of three dots leading into his fantasies. He uses a simple pattern similar to Dickens' but it is much more regular, and for the reader, much easier to pick out. When describing his made up life he goes into great detail, even when in circumstances he does not know what some things are and makes words up. In the first part of the story he uses words like, ' hydroplane' , and 'ta pocketa'- these are made up words, although he picks up the general idea. Walter almost thinks as if he is writing a novel. As a narrator in his made up life he acts like an omniscient narrator, and he speaks in a polysyllabic way. Whereas in real life he is very monosyllabic- 'it says puppies bark for it...'. The writer also uses a recurring motif- 'ta pocketa' to intensify its impact on the reader.

The authorial comment in the Poor Relation's story is complicated. The writer mentions phrases such as 'not being as sharp as he could have been' and 'ridiculously trustful' and 'un-businesslike and credulous'. They all point to one motto- We must be hard in this life if you are to succeed. This was true in the nineteenth century, and Dickens is trying to underline the unfair nature of life. Dickens may also try to be telling us that poorer people were happier than richer people because of their characters. Although this could be transferred to the fact that Michael (being poor) was not happy. The reason for Michael's misery was a character problem, and he was unlucky to be in his situation. Dickens is telling us that if we are soft, then people will walk all over us, and also that if other people, as in Michael's case, write you off, then you may tend to suffer as a consequence.

With Walter, it is clear that he is a very intelligent person (by his dreams) but yet in real life he is dominated, and can't stand up for himself. What Thurby is trying to tell us is not to judge someone by what they look like, and even to a certain extent, the way that they act. he is trying to tell us that even if we know someone very well, we still don't know how they feel, and what they are thinking. Walter's final comments to his wife show his willingness and ability to change.

Michael is a true escapist. He cannot handle life, and all of it's let downs, so he creates his own world where everything is perfect. This is not a crime, but the reader tends to feel sorry for Michael. He is a very unlucky character in his personality. He was never meant to succeed in life, and he is trying to give himself some pleasure with his fantasies. Walter though is someone who is less dependant on his made up life. He has all of the services at hand to make his life better, but he does not use them. He too has a personality defect, but the reader feels less sorry for him, because he is not in such a difficult situation.