Loss Of Life In Anne Taylor's The Accidental Tourist

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Anne Taylor's The Accidental Tourist, set in the late twentieth century United States, explores the belief that the loss and suffering of kids is the force behind other losses. Taylor is able to illustrate the exponential amount of her main character's development following the death of his son and the lost of his marriage. The loss of the main character's child illustrates the continuous struggle to discover oneself and repair one's life after a tragedy. Taylor's ability to depict the return of those broken by the world allows one to reflect on their internal happiness.
Macon Leary is a middle-aged man who is a writer of a series of guidebooks called The Accidental Tourist that teaches businesspersons how to travel without leaving the comfort of their own homes. Macon's fascination with comfort and organization soon changes subsequent to the tragic loss of his only son. His world is flipped upside-down when his marriage of twenty years begins to fall apart. The death of Macon's son leads to the disseverment of his and Sarah's marriage because they have lost the ability to lead a life without their son. The two forget how to live a life on their own leading them to "wonder if there's any point to life" (Taylor 3). Sarah leaves Macon in order to find herself but his life is in complete chaos without the comfort of his wife. He decides to fill the void left by her departure by creating order in his life through reorganizing the house. Macon's reformation of the house does not keep him from thinking of his wife and child leaving the joy in his life is traveling and writing.
Ethan's death allows his parents to re-evaluate their lives. Macon realizes that he has no coped with the death of his son and he has turned to isolation for ...

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...fect couple?" (Taylor 226). Macon believes that Muriel and him are not a couple appropriate for marriage but he prefers him a Sarah since they have already been wed.
Unlike Macon, Rose tries to run away from their overbearing family and lives her one life. She decides to marry Julian to escape her family. Rose "had grief and sacrifice" so much for her family and she believed that it was her turn to be happy in love (Taylor 45). She was able to escape her childhood home but she left with worries of her brothers. Many of the men in the novel go into complete disorder without the aid of women. Rose being the only female sibling in the family returns to the home to keep her brothers from going insane without the aid of their sister. Julian could not function without the aid of Rose either so he moved into Rose's house to be with Rose while she cares for her brothers.

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