When people go on vacation, their main goal is typically to get away from the stress of their everyday lives. They might want to take some time to think for themselves, or they might want to spend quality time with their families or friends. However, for Macon Leary, the protagonist in Anne Tyler’s 1985 novel, The Accidental Tourist, vacation is a dreadful thing in which the main goal is being as close to home and everyday routine as one possibly can be. Ironically, Macon is a writer who specializes in writing travel guides for people who are forced to travel for business and wish to travel in a way that will make them feel as if they’ve never left home. He is very particular and dislikes disorder and spontaneity. In the beginning of the novel, Macon’s wife, Sarah, decides that his…show more content… A year prior to the events of the novel, his only son, Ethan, is ruthlessly murdered in a robbery at a fast food restaurant. Macon showcases different grieving methods than his wife, Sarah, and it ultimately becomes too much for her, as she leaves him in Chapter 1. Macon is in complete shock, as he strives to adapt to this sudden change in his life’s routine. Readers begin to see him deteriorate. He “come[s] within an inch, within a hairsbreadth, of turning into one of those pathetic creatures you see on the loose from time to time – unwashed, unshaven, shapeless, talking to themselves, padding along in their institutional garb,” (Tyler). More unexpected changes come to Macon, as he breaks his leg and is forced to move in with his sister and two brothers. Simultaneously, Macon finds himself falling for Muriel, which is very strange to him, as she is very different than him and follows a policy of spontaneity that Macon is not used to. His adventures with Muriel teach Macon a lot about the world, as Tyler’s protagonist becomes his own version of an “accidental
