Question

Which part in this excerpt from Theodore Dreiser’s “My Brother Paul” reflects Dreiser’s desire for acceptance?

It is useless to try to indicate such things in writing, the facial expression, the intonation, the gestures; these are not things of words. Perhaps I can best indicate the direction of his mind, if not his manner, by the following:

One night as we were on our way to the theater there stood on a nearby corner in the cold a blind man singing and at the same time holding out a little tin cup into which the coins of the charitably inclined were supposed to be dropped. At once my brother noticed him, for he had an eye for this sort of thing, the pathos of poverty as opposed to so gay a scene, the street with its hurrying theater crowds. At the same time, so inherently mischievous was his nature that although his sympathy for the suffering or the ill-used of fate was overwhelming, he could not resist combining his intended charity with a touch of ridiculousness.

“Got any pennies?” he demanded.

“Three or four.”

Answer 1

The lines from the excerpt from Theodore Dreiser’s “My Brother Paul” that reflected Dreiser’s desire for acceptance are : "At the same time, so inherently mischievous was his nature that although his sympathy for the suffering or the ill-used of fate was overwhelming, he could not resist combining his intended charity with a touch of ridiculousness."

Answer 2

Answer:

At the same time, so inherently mischievous was his nature that although his sympathy for the suffering or the ill-used of fate was overwhelming, he could not resist combining his intended charity with a touch of ridiculousness.

Explanation:

These are the lines that best express Dreiser's desire for acceptance. In these lines, he describes the condition of his brother Paul. He tells us that Paul was inherently mischievous and that this led him to combine his intended charity with a touch of ridiculousness. However, Dreiser makes an appeal for acceptance when he states that Paul nevertheless had an overwhelming sympathy for the suffering.