Surviving the Family-The Family Survives : Family Patterns in Anne Tyler's Novels

The principal aim of this thesis is to examine the existential problems of the American family in three of Anne Tyler's novels. Focusing on the three families of Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant (1982), The Accidental Tourist (1985) and Breathing Lessons (1988) I would like to prove that marriage and family are both operable institutions in modern American society. Although kinship is sometimes regarded as a source of isolation of the individual, it is an essential nurturing bond to cope with difficulties in life and society. Despite destructive childhood, separation, death of a child and depressing passing of time, Tyler's characters can overcome their injuries and create a livable, responsible life. I will try to argue that by concentrating on adulthood Tyler disproves the common view that midlife years are time of devolution and despair and shows that recovery and full life is possible in this period of human life.