Term Papers on Individualism And Belonnging To The Family

Term Paper Title	Individualism And Belonnging To The Family
# of Words	1068
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.27

Individualism and Belonnging to the Family

Individualism and Belonging to the Family

     Anne Tyler's novels The Accidental Tourist and Searching for Caleb are concerned with the family and individualism.  In the Accidental Tourist each character undergoes a transformation between individualism and belonging to his family.  Individualism means isolation, while family means belonging.  Searching for Caleb shows how rules can govern the family.  However, in Tyler's Breathing Lessons, two characters are isolated in their own way, but find a way to renew their marriage.
     Macon Leary, the main character in The Accidental Tourist, goes back and forth between  his family and individualism.  When his wife left him after a crazed murderer killed their son, Macon was isolated in his own house with his daily routine.  Physical contact with people not related to him made him draw inward like a snail (34).  Therefore, he eventually moved in with his sister and brothers to be a part of the family again.
     Furthermore, there is a portrait of the Leary children at the Leary household.  This portrait symbolizes the security that Macon feels now that he has moved back into the unchanging past (Reisman 1980).
     Then Macon met a woman,  Muriel, and "he felt content with everything exactly the way it was.  He seemed to be suspended, his
life on hold." (161) With Muriel he was isolated from his family.  He is an individual who does not need family to rule his life.  However, Macon finally returns to his wife and family.  He returns because of his desire for attachment to his sister and brothers who live in a tight family unit (Magills 1976).
     Several other characters in The Accidental Tourist move back and forth between individuality and the family.  Rose Leary, Macon's sister, fell in love with Julian, Macon's boss, who wants to take Rose away from what seems to be a dull life with her family.  However, she returns to her family and old life again.  On the other hand, Julian changes from individualism to family.  He is an individual but happily conforms to the Leary household and the Leary routine.
     Therefore, in The Accidental Tourist, Macon transforms from individualism to family a few times throughout the novel.  Rose transforms from family to individualism to family again.  Finally, Julian transforms from individualism to family.
     Tyler's Searching for Caleb is also concerned with individualism and family.  Caleb, Justine, and Duncan are individuals who are unable or unwilling to live as family rule dictates.  For the Peck family tradition, training, and the past are inescapable (Nesanovich 3339).  Rules of behavior govern Peck children.  For example, Justine wears a hat because, according to the Pecks, "A lady doesn't go without a hat . . . only common people." (531)
     Duncan also proves that rules govern the Pecks when he said:
               But our ladies wear hats, by God!  And we all have
               perfect manners!  We may not ever talk to outsiders                about anything more interesting than the weather,
               but at least we do it politely!  And we've all been                taught that we disapprove of sports cars, golf,                women in slacks,chewing gum, the color chartreuse,                emotional displays,ranch houses, bridge, mascara,                household pets, religious discussions, plastic,                politics, nail polish, transparent gems of
               any color, jewelry shaped like animals, checkered                prints . . . We're all told from bir...

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