In the Sabbath, Oliver Sacks, tells a story in which he was rejected by his orthodox Jewish family for being a homosexual man. He goes to Los Angeles where he becomes a doctor and finds a boyfriend named billy. He then gets a call from his grandmother and she tells him to visit her on her 100th birthday and he hesitantly goes and is accepted by his family this time around. He then is diagnosed with cancer and realizes that on his deathbed the only thing that seems to matter to him is whether he has lived a life he is okay dying with.

Oliver Sacks is the “the voice” in the Sabbath essay. He was raised in an Orthodox household and community but is not very connected to the religion. “ I gradually became more indifferent to the beliefs and habits of my parents, though there was no particular point of rupture until I was 18. It was then that my father, inquiring into my sexual feelings, compelled me to admit that I liked boys.” He tells the story of a gay man who felt rejected by his family and his culture. “‘You are an abomination. I wish you had never been born.’ (She was no doubt thinking of the verse in Leviticus that read, “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: They shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”)” When his family realized that he was a gay man, his mom called him an abomination and bullied him. When he tells his story he is on his deathbed and is seeing things in hindsight he realizes that quality of life is more important than superstitious such as religion. These events are parts of his life that have shaped him into who he is and is why he speaks of them in this writing as he dies.

Oliver Sacks does not write this essay just to share his story. He writes this essay as a teaching and a form of collective learning. By this I mean he wants to pass down his knowledge of life now that he is on his death bed. He has already spoken about the consequences of opening up about his sexuality and it becomes a reoccurring theme in the essay. He does it again when he visits his grandma on her 100th birthday with his extended family present who are mostly orthodox jews. “I had felt a little fearful visiting my Orthodox family with my lover, Billy — my mother’s words still echoed in my mind — but Billy, too, was warmly received. How profoundly attitudes had changed, even among the Orthodox…” He tells this part to emphasize that sometimes people stop themselves from doing things they may enjoy just because of fears. For many years he did not visit his family because of what his family might say about him for his sexuality and he and his boyfriend ended up being warmly received. This was the difference in tone and it was not coincidental, he wants to show his readers that things do end up working out with time. He continues to emphasize this in his essay when he says “I found myself drenched with a wistfulness, something akin to nostalgia, wondering what if: What if A and B and C had been different? What sort of person might I have been? What sort of a life might I have lived?” He thinks about how things could’ve been if he didn’t hold himself back.

Oliver Sacks does not have one specific person or group for his audience. He writes this essay for anyone who is confused about life and has dealt with rejection in their life. Many times people are rejected and feel like their life is over, Oliver Sacks shares this experience with his readers. “After I qualified as a doctor in 1960, I removed myself abruptly from England and what family and community I had there, and went to the New World, where I knew nobody.” He even moves away because of the rejection that he felt from his mother and his community for his sexuality. Many people have experienced rejection where they feel in which they have to leave their environment. Many of us experience traumatic experiences in which we feel we have to escape and you end up running your whole life. This is what Oliver Sacks does with his family. Not until years later does he go back to his extended family and realize that what he was scared of nothing as he was showed love when visiting his extended family. He didn’t need to include this in this story and does because he knows that his audience is people who are also experiencing fears which prohibits them from doing things that can make them happy. “And now, weak, short of breath, my once-firm muscles melted away by cancer, I find my thoughts, increasingly, not on the supernatural or spiritual, but on what is meant by living a good and worthwhile life — achieving a sense of peace within oneself.” He tells his audience to not stress the little things in life but to rather live a life with which you can die at peace and not be filled with regrets.

In conclusion, Oliver Sacks was trying to tell his readers his story about coming out to his parents and being rejected. This led to a series of events in which he became a doctor in Los Angeles and escape from his rejection and traumatic experience. He tells his readers this to show them that although he was rejected when he came back to visit his family after many years, he and his boyfriend were warmly accepted. He was no longer an outcast and was embraced instead. He shows his readers to not be scared of judgment but to rather live a life in which you are happy. He is on his deathbed and thinks about whether he has lived a life where he is okay with dying.

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