Scott Sanders Under The Influence Summary

Analysis of “Under the Influence” by Scott Russell Sanders

In his essay, “Under the Influence,” Scott Russell Sanders is brutally honest about his experience with his father’s drunkenness. He utilizes intense and descriptive language to explain the discomfort of his experience in his own home. There’s a slight twinge of pain in his writer’s voice, but also a plain bluntness as the writer explains his situation with an honesty that only comes with a life full of painful experiences. He utilizes familiar stories and concepts to describe his situation to the audience so that they can fully grasp the sort of pain and fear of the unknown Sanders and his family faced as they lived with his father. An example that stood out to me was when he compared

He explains his guilt that “burns like acid in [his] veins” as the leftover feelings from his childhood remain “as though [he] were still concealing the family shame” (744). This descriptive language showcases how deeply and painfully this trauma has been within in as he has made his own life for himself. He saves this for the end of his essay so that he does not pull too much of the audience’s sympathy from other people who made need it “more.” He introduces the topic of physical violence by writing that “[his] own father never beat [them]” (740)—a curious phrase as he goes on to say that the image was so vivid in his mind that it felt tangible and real. There is an emphasis on the absence of physical violence, but also an admittance of how the threat of such can be just as painful and imprint such images on the brain for years to come. This comes with harsh descriptive images of how his father could beath them like how “an irked bear might smack a cub” or how he could “twist her neck back until she gapes at him” (740). He includes this graphic imagery to explain the danger him and his family were put in. Although his father never followed through (a point he emphasizes to redirect pity he may receive to people he feels need it more), the threat of such aggressive violence can cause its own complications with healing and pain. It is clear that such a threat impacted his experiences in childhood and then carried such a burden as he grew in his own