Anne Tyler, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, whose character-centered stories are not reputed to have anything to do with multiple personality

“As far as I’m concerned, character is everything…the real joy of writing is how people can surprise one. My people wander around my study until the novel is done.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Tyler

August 2018

“The Accidental Tourist” by Anne Tyler: Macon writes guidebooks for traveling businessmen. Muriel trains dogs to have “split personality”

In the first third of this novel, Macon, the title character, is introduced as a writer of guidebooks that are designed to help traveling businessmen avoid anything that is unfamiliar. Muriel is a young woman who trains dogs that, like Macon’s dog, have behavior problems.

Macon is separated from his wife. Muriel is divorced. Macon’s son had been a random victim in a mass killing. Muriel’s son has troubles that she has not yet disclosed.

Thus far, apart from the history of trauma, the only possible connections to multiple personality are passing references to Macon’s divided sense of self, and Muriel’s ability to train guard dogs to have a “split personality.”

Macon’s Dissociative Identity

“In some odd way, he was locked inside the standoffish self he’d assumed when he and she [his separated wife] first met” (1, p. 51).

Macon has two selves, a standoffish one that has usually been in control since he first met his wife, and another self, who has usually been locked inside.

“Macon [who has broken his leg]…almost wondered whether, by some devious, subconscious means, he had engineered this injury…” (1, p. 62), so as to meet Muriel and release the personality locked inside him.

Muriel teaches “split personality”

“I can do anything,” Muriel told him…“I can even teach split personality.”

“What’s split personality?” [Macon asks]

“Where your dog is, like, nice to you but kills all others” (1, pp. 92-93).

1. Anne Tyler. The Accidental Tourist [1985]. New York, Berkley Books, 1986.

“The Accidental Tourist” by Anne Tyler (post 2): Macon’s methodical, emotionally distant behavior stops when he switches to his other personality

The first 201 pages of this 342-page novel are a running joke about Macon Leary’s personality. He earns his living by writing travel guidebooks that help businessmen who visit foreign countries feel like they haven’t left home. When he is at home, he is extremely set in his ways and methodical. His personal relationships are limited and constrained. His wife has just left him, because she can no longer tolerate his personality, which has been the same for the many years she has known him.

“Oh, above all else he was an orderly man. He was happiest with a regular scheme of things. He tended to eat the same meals over and over and to wear the same clothes; to drop off his cleaning on a certain set day and to pay his bills on another. The teller who helped him on his first trip to a bank was the teller he went to forever after, even if she proved not to be efficient, even if the next teller’s line was shorter. There was no room in his life for anyone as unpredictable as Muriel” (1, p. 201).

Muriel is the young, divorced woman who is training Macon’s dog. She is struggling to support herself and her son.

Surprisingly, “In the foreign country that was Singleton Street [where Muriel lives] he was an entirely different person. This person had never been suspected of narrowness, never been accused of chilliness; in fact, was mocked for his soft heart. And was anything but orderly” (1, p. 202-203).

Comment

Persons with multiple personality are often called “multiples,” as distinguished from persons who have only one personality, who might be called “singletons.” Was Anne Tyler inadvertently implying that Macon is a multiple and Muriel is a singleton, since she lives on Singleton Street?

In any case, what is described above is Macon’s switch to an alternate personality, illustrating the principle that the particular personality that is able to come out and take control depends on the circumstances.

Macon’s previous obsession with maintaining a methodical and emotionally distant lifestyle was his standoffish personality’s effort to remain in control. But Muriel changed the circumstances, and so Macon’s alternate personality, who had been stuck inside, but was better suited to the new circumstances, has come out and taken over.

1. Anne Tyler. The Accidental Tourist [1985]. New York, Berkley Books, 1986.

“The Accidental Tourist” by Anne Tyler (post 3): “He began to think that who you are when you’re with somebody may matter more than whether you love her”

Toward the end of the novel, Macon reflects on the fact (see previous post) that when he lives with Muriel, his personality is fundamentally different than when he lived with Sarah (his wife of many years):

“He began to think that who you are when you’re with somebody may matter more than whether you love her” (1, p. 307).

Note: He does not speak of how a person feels when with one person or another, but who a person is when with one person or another.

Everyone feels different in different circumstances and with different people. But it is the person with multiple personality who switches between distinctly different patterns of behavior; i.e., different personalities.

In conclusion, the author has raised the issue of multiple personality, but without acknowledging it, and probably without intending to. It may reflect her own belief that a good relationship is one that brings out your best alternate personality.

1. Anne Tyler. The Accidental Tourist [1985]. New York, Berkley Books, 1986.