Anne Tyler’s
The Accidental Tourist is a novel about pain, isolation, and the rebirth of the human spirit. Each character
in Tyler’s novel has been broken by the world, especially Macon Leary. He is broken by the death of his son and the failure of his twenty-year
marriage to Sarah. The main focus of Tyler’s novel is Macon’s journey toward discovering himself, as he learns that he can survive his loss of his son and marriage.
The novel opens with the Learys returning from an aborted summer vacation at the beach. The
relationship between Macon and Sarah is strained, but the death of their son, Ethan, has severed the relationship altogether. The chapter ends with Sarah asking Macon for a divorce. Separated and alone, Macon is forced to confront the death of his son. He creates a system of housekeeping designed for saving energy—his own, not simply electrical energy. He hooks up a coffee maker and a popcorn popper to his clock radio, so that he will not have to go downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast. He fills his bathtub with dirty clothes to be washed when he takes his nightly showers, he unplugs the dryer vent to provide the cat with a door, and he pours detergent into the dish-filled kitchen sink to eliminate the need to wash the dishes.
Macon must also deal with Edward, Ethan’s Welsh corgi who has become increasingly hostile since Ethan’s death. Macon’s livelihood involves frequent travel: He is the anonymous writer of a travel series designed for use as a guidebook for businesspeople. Therefore, he often has to find someone to watch Edward. About to leave for London, Macon is forced to look for another kennel for Edward, because the usual kennel will no longer take him. Luckily for Macon, he finds the Meow-Bow Animal Hospital, where he meets Muriel Pritchett, a dog trainer. When Macon returns from London, his life at home resumes until an unfortunate mishap with Edward causes him to fall down the basement stairs and break his leg. With a cast on his leg from ankle to thigh, Macon is unable to care for himself, so he returns to his grandparents’ house to live with his younger sister, Rose, and his two older brothers, Charles and Porter. Here, Edward becomes completely uncontrollable, forcing Macon to enlist the help of the vibrant Muriel.
Muriel works with Edward while cultivating a relationship with Macon. At first, Macon is repulsed by such a noisy and talkative woman, but a relationship does develop, and Macon moves in with Muriel and her ten-year-old son, Alexander. Macon finds himself at home on Singleton Street as he putters around Muriel’s house, fixing screen doors and tightening loose screws, but this complacency ends when Muriel talks of marriage.
Macon is frightened off by Muriel’s plans, and he returns to Sarah to try to reconcile their marriage. This reconciliation is short lived, however, as Macon runs into Muriel on his trip to Paris. Macon is mortified by her forwardness and spends much of his time avoiding her until his back goes out. He calls Sarah, and she offers to do the traveling for him, so that he can write the travelogue. On the last day of the trip, Macon realizes that his life is really with Muriel, and the novel ends with Macon getting into a taxicab with her.