Analysis Of Under The Influence By Scott Russell Sanders

Scott Russell Sanders’ “Under the Influence” focuses on his life as the child of an alcoholic and how most people wouldn’t know his family was going through some of things they that they were because they carried themselves so well. The main focus he brings up in this article is that people don’t really know what goes on in an alcoholic home. Mr. Sanders also brings up how this influence has not only effected Sanders and his family, but also how it is affecting his own children. Sanders describes in one part as “playful, competent, and kind when sober” into a character he likens to a man who became “a stranger than, as fearful as any graveyard lunatic” when intoxicated (Sanders6).

His father’s alcoholism created an environment for fear for

“We tugged open a drawer in his workbench, looking for screwdrivers or crescent, and spied a gleaming six pack among the tools wrenches.” (Sanders 3)This shows the amount of secretive actions the father has shown throughout the story. This affected the family a lot until the point of no one ever discussed the secrets that goes on in the house. “Fathers drinking became the family secret. While growing up, we children never breathed a word of it beyond the four walls of our house. To this day, my brother and sister rarely mention it”. (Sanders 3).The fact that the brother and sister rarely mentions it shows how bad the fathers drinking affected them. Many children in today’s society also blame themselves for their parent’s addiction. The feel responsible for their parent’s behavior and often believe that they have done something wrong. Children whose parents have an alcohol addiction respond to self-blame in many different ways. Mr. Sanders had mixed emotions for his father. He loved, hated and feared him but he also thought he failed him. He believed he disappointed him somehow. He thought if he completed all his chores performed that would stop his father from drinking. Sanders also mentions how self-blame affected his childhood. He described mixed feelings of helplessness, responsibility and shame that he learned to feel as the son of an