James Thurber, “University Days”
(1894-1961), a native of Ohio,
was a humorist who wrote often of shy,
bumbling men (such as “The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty”). He was also a cartoonist,
but he suffered from detiriorating eyesight throughout his life and eventually
had to draw his cartoons in crayon on sheets of paper two or three feet wide.
For many years he was on the staff of The
1. What is irony? how is the essay ironic?
2. Note how Thurber’s
word choices heighten the irony in the following phrases:
falling back full-length on a kit of carpenter’s tools (14)
genuinely big ‘beat’” (14)
decline of higher education in the Middle West”
3. In what ways are
Bolenciecwcz and Haskins “stereotyped”?
4. Consider the
persona of the essay: in what light does Thurber portray himself? Describe him
as he presents himself to the reader.
5. Notice how Thurber
draws a scene and introduces bits of revealing dialogue throughout. Note how the
essay is based on a series of scenes, each well described.