Compare And Contrast Under The Influence By Scott Sanders And Once More To The Lake

This essay includes the comparison and contrast of two very famous essays “under the influence” written by a very prominent name in personal essayist and novelist Scott Russell Sanders and “Once more to the lake” written by the well-known essay writer E.B. White. Both of the writers had a great fame of their times. In his essay “Under the influence” Scott Sanders raised his point that how children of alcoholic parents suffer from self-blame and how they spend the rest of their life keeping this guilt in their hearts. He defines the topic in such an attractive way that leaves an outstanding impression on its readers. The essay describes the author’s life when he was a young boy and faced difficulties because of his alcoholic

Sanders remembers all this from his childhood only because didn’t get his father’s affection due to this addiction. His mother had no control over his father and his father also never bothered about her. Most of the time he slept with a cigarette in his hand. He still believes that his hard work and perfection would’ve stopped his father from drinking. The writer is unable to let go of his past and still keeps his father’s drinking problem as a guilt and also thinks that his perfection will cure the problem, but on the other hand, he still can’t deny the fact that his father’s addiction has damaged the life of each and every family member and now the only thing he wants is the betterment of his family and upcoming generations. The impact of his father’s addiction still reflects in every walk of his life, every string of his personality and in his life, he won’t let his children go anywhere near alcohol or any other such

It’s the most natural characteristic of a father. Although Scott’s piece is a bit pessimist and concerns with his father’s problem more but deep look at E.B white’s piece makes us realize that he too was too obstructed by his father and both writers are trying to become better versions of their father.
W.B white however is in confused feeling about himself, his son and the lake as the lakes takes him back in time but the only thing that makes him feel responsible is his own son and he is struggling with feelings of taking care of his son and be his own son whereas Russell became his own father in early age because his father was never around him, drunken sleeping on a chair with dragon’s breath; he grew up to hate him and is more responsible than he should’ve been. He constantly lives in regret of how his father treated his family but both the writers are more than concerned about their children and cannot leave them like their fathers did. Both the writers are connected by bond of fatherhood but most important is the feeling of responsibility both have, even when they are in their phase of lives where they are enjoying their life at fullest but they feel this responsibility to be a good father as they wanted to see theirs. So, in short I would