anne tyler
...aurant, Beck Tull reaches a point in his life where he decides that he no longer is happy and thus begins searching for an escape. Beck had married young and began raising his family almost immediately. He felt this thrust into adulthood had robbed him of opportunities in his life. “Maybe if I hadn’t settled down, life would have been different, maybe even better” (Homesick 33). Buck therefore escapes his wife, Pearl, and his family to pursue his dream of being a prosperous traveling salesman. He flees to another town to start over and does indeed become successful. However, a void is still present in his life, and when he returns home, he finds that Pearl has begun anew as well. She has remarried and has found new happiness without Buck. Assuming that his happiness would be associated with money, Buck abandons his wife and children to chase that dream, but upon returning he finds that life has moved on without him. His wife had too found an escape from her situation and had discovered a better life that did not include Buck. A final example of a character unhappy in his marital life is Avery Blevins from “Average Waves in Unprotected Waters.” When his son is diagnosed with a disability at an early age, Avery grows increasingly restless with his wife, Bet. “Avery wouldn’t have anything to do with anything once he was diagnosed,” (Waves 928). When Avery is unable to handle the challenges marriage and life in general present to him, he flees from the situation to start anew. Avery leaves with intentions of attaining a life full of fewer hassles than those he had previously faced. Unfortunately, the chances of that ever happening are very remote since problems can occur in life at any given time. Nevertheless, Avery also feels strife in his marriage and thus turns to an escape to rid himself of the difficult situation with his wife and disabled son. Distress in his marriage motivates Avery to escape to a better personal life. In addition to escaping from strained families and marriages to seek better personal lives, some of Tyler’s characters involved in unpleasant and unstable friendships search for a break away from them and a better life without them. In Ladder of Years, Adrian Bly Brice flees his home in Roland Park hoping to escape his meddling friend, Rosemary who has often stopped by his apartment unannounced and has even been spotted snooping through his mail in an attempt to stay actively involved in his life. When confronted with these issues she has justified her actions by saying, “I have only ever done what I do out of a concern for your well being Adrian” (Ladder 119). Nevertheless Adrian leaves Roland Park to start a life without his intrusive friend. Tyler portrays the unhappiness found in this friendship and the need for an escape from it in order to pursue a better life through Adrian. In “Teenage Wasteland” Donny, as seen previously, seeks escape from his restrictive parents, but it can also be mentioned that he searches for a life without his tutor, Cal, as well. Cal, along with the other kids who are around Cal’s home, encourages Donny to neglect his responsibilities at school and home. Donny finds himself torn between his family and the tutor. He also finds it difficult to choose the rig...