Acceptance Essay Examples

When it comes to the theme of acceptance, two pieces of literature, A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner, and Cathedral by Raymond Carver come to mind. One is set up in the Post-Civil-War-Southern-Town of the United States, while the other takes place more in a contemporary setting. In A Rose for Emily, it opens up with the death of an elderly woman that comes from a pre-Civil War family of wealthy aristocrats and in Cathedral, it opens up with the narrator telling the reader in a relaxed tone that a blind friend of his wife’s has decided to come pay them a visit. Even though there are clear differences in each literature piece, one thing for sure that connects them is the subject of acceptance.
Both works display the theme of acceptance in many different ways. For instance, in Raymond Carver’s Cathedral, the isolation desires for acceptance in order to escape the loneliness. In the story, it is quite obvious that “Bub” and his wife are both personally being “isolated” from each other. Now, in paragraph 88 of page 5887, Bub mentioned, “Every night I just stayed up and smoked dope for a very long time. I did this before I could fall asleep. Neither my wife nor I hardly ever went to bed at the same time.” (587; par. 85) This line clearly gives the reader a reflection into Bub and his wife’s connection. It can be discussed that their relationship is nothing like a married couple should be. These lines show the fruits on wanting to be accepted but are too far apart top realize it.
On the other hand, in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily, acceptance takes on a role of belonging or fitting into a society. For instance, Emily was a young woman that was born or affiliated to a family who “held themselves much higher for what they really were really supposed to be.” (428; par. 25) The literature piece goes on to say that “None of the young men were quite good enough for Miss Emily and such.” (427; par. 24). Here, Emily just like the couple in the Cathedral are put in alienation spot that causes them to want to reach out for some type of acceptance. However, when Miss Emily came in contact with Homer Barron, because she was lonely and wanted some sort of acceptance, decided that she was not going to let him go. Because she wanted acceptance really bad, craving for a love that would be eternal—a love that will never perish.
In the Cathedral, there was a same desperation for acceptance, it just was not as aggressive as Emily in A Rose for Emily. At some point, In the Cathedral it can be concluded that there is some more or less distance among the two. In fact, it is only the blind man, Robert that was able to shape the link in Bub—then, Bub and Robert became united and accepted each other. In paragraph 136 of page 586, Bub mentioned, “I was in my house. My eyes were still closed. Of course, I knew that. Nonetheless, I didn’t feel like I was inside of anything.” (585; par. 140). ‘It’s truly something,’ I said to myself.” (590; par. 136) Here, it obviously shows that Bub is getting over his “isolation” which had a lot to do with him wanting to be accepted. However, once he felt as though he was accepted, Bub sort of came out of his isolation shell and did not feel so alone anymore. He broke out of his shell and then came into something that was new, something he is not aware of. He has come out of his confinement (his isolation) and then suddenly came into contact with himself and then with his new friend Robert who opened sort of opened his eyes into this new world.
The eyes being open from not being accepted to accept was the same thing going on with Emily in A Rose for Emily. Being isolated and told that no man was good enough, plunged her into a world of loneliness and feeling unwanted and not accepted. However, her acceptance would be short because tragedy would strike. When the townsfolk observed the body of Homer Barron in “one room in that area beyond stairs which no one had seen in forty years, and which would have been forced” (431; par. 56) at that point, it is then decided that Miss Emily was the one that killed Homer Barron. These lines basically display that Miss Emily secluded herself from their community in order for her to have some kind of grip of her much-expected eternal love. Miss Emily wanted acceptance so bad that she had to isolate herself from their community so that she could get what she desires more than anything which wanting to be accepted and loved.
Wanted to be accepted and love was the same for Bud in the Cathedral Bub’s isolation is for the reason that he does not communicate with people because he is quiet. Because of this, she barely accepts him as well as other people which cause him to be isolated. Bub did not have any friends and lack of openness to his emotions leading to his “internal loneliness” and constantly wanting acceptance such in the case of Emily. Both Bub and Emily were lonely and yet it was not accurately exposed in the text that Bud was lonely, the point that he was in isolation, explains that he was indeed lonely. When Bub told his wife that he had no type of “any blind friends” (584; par. 10), his wife responded by saying the following: “You really do not have any kind of friends at all.” (582; par. 10)
In the end, both Emily and Bub were lonely and wanted acceptance, one for circumstances that were out of their control and the other because they allowed communication and their emotions to get in the way of relationships. At the end of the day, they both lost because of their isolation and yearning to be accepted of as in modern times “dying to belong”.