Michael needs his fantasies to survive desperate situations. He is lonely "I am not an attractive companion" and has no job. Michael uses his fantasies to deny his situation, to have something he doesn't have in real life. He imagines a family, a successful business, and a large house. These are not unrealistic dreams, they could have happened, but in Michael's case they did not. "My Castle is not a splendid place, but it is very comfortable, and it has a warm and cheerful air, and it is quite a picture of Home." Michael cares more about the people there, his family, and his perception of home than material comforts. "I have enough and am above all moderate wants and anxieties."
Walter is married and feels smothered by his wife who hassles him and feels there is something wrong with him for losing himself in his fantasies. "It's one of your days. I wish you'd let Dr Renshaw check you over." This may anger and annoy him, which pushes him even further into his fantasies. He never involves her in his daydreams, which suggests that he is not close to her and would rather be alone. Michael almost had a happy marriage but Christiana betrayed him. After her he had no other partner and is lonely, he wants a family.
Walter feels inferior to other men. "They're so damn cocky…They think they know everything." Walter tries to do a 'man' thing by taking the chains off his own car, but fails. When he sees a young, grinning man take them off easily he feels annoyed that he, himself cannot. In his fantasies, he is a strong man, or a smart man. He uses his fantasies to deny his personality.
Michael's fantasy starts when he is asked to start a story to entertain his relations but from the depth, length, detail and thought gone into this dream, we know he has thought about this many times before. Walter's are triggered by certain pictures or situations. Driving his car triggers a fantasy involving a Navy plane, a hospital triggers him into a doctor, and the Waterbury trial triggers a trial situation where he is a gun-shooting criminal. Pictures of bombing planes and ruined streets trigger a pilot fantasy.
Michael's dreams are set in his castle, his home. The scene does not change. "I reside, mostly, in a … Castle." Walter's are set in different locations, on different levels, the ground, and in the air, "hurtling eight-engined Navy hydroplane" "in the courtroom" and "door of the dugout." This suggests Walter wanted to be as far away, from where he is now as possible.
Michael's fantasies are about family, about others. About who he wishes he could be with, his grandchildren, children, wife and his business partner and his family. About closeness with friends and family. "It is very pleasant of an evening, when we are all assembled together - which frequently happens." Walter's revolve around himself. What he does, how he saves people or places and in one dream about what he has done to another person.
Michael's could have happened if it wasn't for decisions made by two people, Christiana and his business partner. Walter's are pure fantasy, which get facts and words wrong.
Michael's and Walter's fantasies are an escape from their humdrum lives to a happier place where they would rather be.
