Summary
Muriel arrives at the Leary house for Edward’s first training session. She blurs the lines between professional and personal, sharing much of her life story, which annoys Macon. She says she will come back the next day; in the meantime, Macon practices the training steps with Edward. Rose overhears their conversation; later, at dinner, she remarks on how Muriel couldn’t stop speaking. In the training class the next day, Muriel continues to go on monologues about her life, her family, and her childhood. At the same time, she tries to teach Edward how to heel. That night, Macon has a sexual dream about Muriel.
The next day, there is another dog-training session. At this point, Macon has become accustomed to the rhythm of the lessons. Muriel tells a story about her first husband. Macon accuses Muriel of not sympathizing with his broken leg, and she shares that she broke an arm before while training a Doberman. Muriel explains that despite encountering some very bad dogs, she never once gave up on one of them; she insists that Edward won't be the first on whom she gives up. Lying down is one command Edward particularly refuses to do, and Macon practices with him the next day to little avail. He makes a lunge for the mailman, which casts doubts in Macon’s mind about the effectiveness of the training. He calls Muriel at the animal hospital but finds out she is home with her sick child, which surprises Macon to hear.
The next day, Macon goes with Rose downtown so he can drop off his tour guide draft with Julian. Macon thinks about how he and his siblings all have trouble navigating directions because of a type of “geographical dyslexia.” Rose and Macon get lost while trying to find Julian’s office, even though Macon has been there a hundred times. Finally, they find the office. Macon hands in his England guide book, much to Julian’s relief. Julian asks him to continue on with a U.S. guide book, which disappoints Macon, as he knows it will be a heavy workload. Julian asks Macon to stay and have a drink, but Macon is eager to leave. Julian also requests Macon to invite him to a family dinner sometime, and Macon responds unenthusiastically.
Muriel comes over the next day for the training session and Macon asks about her son. Muriel is taken aback that Macon has found out about him. She becomes defensive, believing that Macon is blaming her when he asks why Edward won’t obey him. She assumes that Macon will not be interested in her now that he knows she is a mother. Muriel’s agitation spreads to Edward, who lunges for her face. Muriel pulls his leash hard to choke him and Macon objects, thinking that she is harming the dog. Macon, angered, tells Muriel to leave and not come back.
It becomes winter. Soon, Macon will be able to remove his cast, but he hasn’t yet decided if he will go back to his old house or stay with this family. He continues trying to train Edward. Julian comes by one day and asks Macon to start a guidebook on New York. Rose invites Julian to stay for coffee, which delights him. While he is there, Macon receives a phone call from Sarah. She asks him to have dinner and he agrees. A few days later, he meets her at the Old Bay restaurant. Macon has dressed up for the occasion. When Sarah arrives, she asks Macon about his broken leg and his bandaged hand. She is surprised to hear that Macon is staying with his siblings.
Macon divulges to Sarah that it has been difficult without her. Sarah says that she thinks it is time to legalize their separation as a divorce, but Macon begs her to come back home, even suggesting that they have another baby. Sarah firmly says no: she is trying to start a new life for herself and has been dating a doctor. She expresses her disappointment that Macon never told her about breaking his leg. She lists the many tendencies of Macon and his siblings that annoy her. Macon laments the fact that they are letting the death of Ethan separate them rather than bring them closer together. Sarah points out that Macon has always been unable to truly express himself emotionally, and she accuses him of not loving Ethan as much as she does. She leaves in the middle of the meal, and Macon is left feeling helpless.
Macon recalls how his grandfather, before his death, started to become confused and live in his own fantasy world, telling his grandchildren that he was going to visit an imaginary tribe in Bolivia. Macon has a dream that his grandfather tells him that Macon has lost his “center,” referring to Sarah. He wakes up, remembering that his grandfather had succumbed to dementia exactly when his wife, Macon’s grandmother, had passed. That day, Macon gets his cast off and leaves for his New York trip. He wonders what to do with Edward this time.
Macon visits New York and checks out various hotels. He dines that night at a restaurant at the top of a very tall building. The people there are dressed luxuriously and the menu items are all highly priced. He peers out the window and has a profound moment of feeling isolated from “everyone else in the universe.” He is so absorbed in his thoughts that he drops his glass of sherry and escapes to the bathroom, where he goes into a panic from being up so high. He calls his brother Charles and asks to be rescued. Charles replies that Macon must rescue him, as he is trapped in the pantry, hiding from Macon’s dog. In the conversation, he finds out that Julian has stopped by to take his sister Rose out for dinner.
Charles threatens to call the police to come and shoot Edward, and Macon protests. He tells him to wait, saying that he will call Sarah to come and tame Edward. Sarah does not pick up her phone, so Macon tries calling Muriel instead. Muriel agrees to go over, get Edward, and bring him back to the animal hospital until Macon returns from New York. Once he is home, they will start training the dog again, as his aggression has become unacceptable.
Analysis
This section of The Accidental Tourist highlights the changes in Macon’s life as he finally takes charge of training his dog Edward and starts a relationship with Muriel. To the reader, it is obvious that Muriel is interested in Macon in a romantic way, even as Macon remains somewhat oblivious throughout her flirting, still very much attached to his old life with Sarah and Ethan, closed off to anything new. The narrator portrays Muriel as an appropriate fit for Macon with all of her idiosyncrasies. We learn more about her character and the fact that she has a son, which is something that shocks Macon’s preconceived idea of the woman.
After Macon has a sexual dream about Muriel, he tries his best to suppress his memory of it and purposely looks for her flaws in their next training session, disturbed by even the notion of any potential attraction to a woman besides Sarah. This discouragement of his sexual nature is symbolized in the training of Edward, who represents the lower nature of Macon. Edward’s out-of-control behavior mirrors Macon’s own suppressed emotions that have been pushed down in favor of a highly regimented, systemized way of living.
It is no coincidence that just as Macon comes to an emotionally climactic point at the restaurant of a very tall skyscraper, Edward also comes to a peak of aggression, having cornered Charles in the pantry. Macon’s calling on Charles to save him reflects his sense of helplessness, wanting to be cared for and carried down, feeling incapable of taking responsibility for himself. He quickly discovers, however, that his brother is unable to be his savior; therefore, just as Muriel is called to tame Edward, Macon must tame his own fears and feelings of entrapment.
Learned helplessness seems to be a Leary family trait. This is demonstrated in the way that Macon and his siblings are totally unable to navigate simple directions, always getting lost even while en route to previously-traveled locations. It is also apparent in how Macon admits himself that 'communication' is his least-liked word; at the tense dinner with Sarah, he feels unable to express his deeper feelings of love and yearning for his old family life. Others may perceive Macon as cold or emotionless, but it is more an internalized attitude of inadequacy that prevents him from communicating himself clearly and navigating through life with an openness to others. Even the injury Macon endures to his leg reflects an unconscious desire for Macon to surrender his own willpower in exchange for being absorbed back into his childhood home and family patterns.
In the background of Macon’s personal struggles that are the centerpiece of the novel, Anne Tyler has also carefully weaved in other plot lines, such as the budding relationship between Rose and Macon’s boss, Julian. Julian’s persistent interest in Rose can be picked up on by the reader even before we learn, in Chapter 9, that he has come to take Rose out for dinner while Macon is in New York. We also learn about how Sarah has been progressing since her separation from Macon: it is made clear that Sarah, unlike Macon, has adjusted to the change much more easily, even starting to date other people. When she asks to finalize their decision legally as a divorce and Macon responds by asking her to have another baby with him, we see how differently each of them has been adjusting to their split.
