In “Under the Influence”, Scott Russell Sanders uses a variety of sentence lengths. A few of his sentences are very long, while most are medium or short in length. I would describe these sentences as somewhat poetic. They are very descriptive and help paint of picture of what life was like for Sanders and his father.
I think that Sanders is very successful in creating an interesting and moving piece about his father’s alcoholism. He really makes you feel bad for his mother, siblings, and even his father. He uses multiple strong childhood stories about the struggles that his family faced, included the effects that his father’s drinking problem had on his family later in life.
One of my favorites quotes from the reading is: “But if in the