What is
the significance of the title?
What is the significance of the title?
The
title ‘The Accidental Tourist’
signifies the accidental nature of Bill Bryson who was a frequent
flyer. He travelled a lot to all parts of the world. However, he
always managed to cause some kind of an accident on the way in the
aeroplane. Once he leaned over to tie his shoelace at the same moment
when someone in the seat ahead of him threw his seat back into full
recline. That was when he found himself pinned helplessly in the
‘crash position’. He had to claw at the leg of the man
sitting next to him in order to get himself freed. On another
occasion, he knocked a soft drink onto the lap of a lady sting beside
him. The flight attendant cleaned her up and brought him a
replacement drink. He knocked it onto the woman again, who of course
was very angry and annoyed. On yet another occasion, his lips, gum,
mouth, chin, tongue, and teeth were covered with navy blue ink as he
had been chewing on the end of his pen that had leaked. He realized
this quite late. Not only in the plane, but he was also prone to
accidents otherwise. He always forgot his room number and went to the
hotel desk again and again to enquire about it. He was so prone to
accidents that when the food was delivered on planes, his wife asked
their children to take the lids off the food for him. When travelling
alone, he did not eat, drink or lean over to tie his shoelaces. Thus,
he travelled a lot for his living and was accident-prone, hence
justifying the title of the story.
The title ‘The Accidental Tourist’ signifies the accidental nature of Bill Bryson who was a frequent flyer. He travelled a lot to all parts of the world. However, he always managed to cause some kind of an accident on the way in the aeroplane. Once he leaned over to tie his shoelace at the same moment when someone in the seat ahead of him threw his seat back into full recline. That was when he found himself pinned helplessly in the ‘crash position’. He had to claw at the leg of the man sitting next to him in order to get himself freed. On another occasion, he knocked a soft drink onto the lap of a lady sting beside him. The flight attendant cleaned her up and brought him a replacement drink. He knocked it onto the woman again, who of course was very angry and annoyed. On yet another occasion, his lips, gum, mouth, chin, tongue, and teeth were covered with navy blue ink as he had been chewing on the end of his pen that had leaked. He realized this quite late. Not only in the plane, but he was also prone to accidents otherwise. He always forgot his room number and went to the hotel desk again and again to enquire about it. He was so prone to accidents that when the food was delivered on planes, his wife asked their children to take the lids off the food for him. When travelling alone, he did not eat, drink or lean over to tie his shoelaces. Thus, he travelled a lot for his living and was accident-prone, hence justifying the title of the story.
