The Accidental Tourist
Macon Leary grows up in a family where he is sheltered from the ways of the world. They live their lives through patterns and systems that they cannot escape. Macon reveals this lifestyle through his travel guide books, “The Accidental Tourist“. However, in the novel, “The Accidental Tourist” , Macon starts to experience the outside world and slowly starts to leave behind the Leary way of life. It is in the contents of Macon’s travel guides that we best witness his psychological development as a character. Macon’s tour guides, “The Accidental Tourist” are extended metaphor’s for Macon’s shifting perceptions of himself and the world around him. In the early additions of the tour guides, Macon reveals his dislike for travel, which in his case, is linked to his inability to accept change in his life. Macon grew up with a mother who was always changing, nothing was ever familiar in his life. Macon along with his siblings, finally settled into their own life and, out of fear of change, developed a comfortable lifestyle with systems and methods and no uncertainties. Fear of the unknown causes the Leary family to avoid venturing out into the world. They greatly fear travel, and will avoid it at all costs. Avoiding travel, however, . . .
In his early entries Macon would only sample American style food and his entries merely stated if the food was enjoyable or not. He tells them to pack everything they need into carry-on’s so they do not have to go through customs, as well as to sort their money ahead of time to avoid the embarrassment of fumbling with unfamiliar bills and coins. Macon also starts to entertain the thought that travel may actually be enjoyable. On one of his trips, Macon meets a man named Mr. It becomes more and more evident through Macon’s travel guides that he is beginning to open himself up to change. “Generally food in England is not as jarring as in other foreign countries…I don’t know why some travelers complain about English food”[p55]. They help Tyler show the stubborn pilgrimage of a man who is reluctant to leave his armchair to one who, finally begins to grow the wings that lead to philosophical freedom and the potential for happiness. Macon is awakened one night by the sound of laughter and music and does not understand how people living in such chaos and uncertainty could be so carefree and happy. In conclusions, the tour guides and their shifting focus as well as different fields of perception, are structural devices, pointing to specific changes and to an unconscious desire to change. That traveling armchair isn’t just your logo; it’s you”[p142]. “I’m more myself than I’ve been my whole life long”[p249]. Macon removes himself from his family both emotionally and physically and welcomes the idea of breaking his patterned life and enters an unpredictable life, full of many changes and many unknowns. As the author of pocket sized guidebooks for people who are forced to travel on business, Macon is forced to travel.
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Acceptance Essays
