Scott Russell Sanders Under The Influences
Commentary essay on Identity In Scott Russell Sanders’ “Under the Influence”
Student: Alan Ping Kin Pang
Student Number: 301120507
Student Email: alanp@sfu.ca
Course: ENGL104W, Introduction to Prose Genres, Fall 2015
Tutor Marker: Scott Marsden, October 25, 2015
Due Date: October 25, 2015
Handed In: October 25, 2015 Introduction
The purpose of this paper will be to summarize Sanders’ “Under the influence.” By analyzing and critiquing his writing style, a better understanding of the narrative approach can be learned. Additionally, making recommendations can potentially create an even more credible essay in an attempt to create awareness of the social problems present in many American families.
Scott Russell Sanders’ “Under the influence”
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Feeling Sanders fear of his father, and the “pathetic, frightening, deceitful” side of him surfaces. In addition to his writing appeal to emotions, he writes to appeal logically. Although his argument of self-blame affecting his childhood is not explicit, he uses a logical sequence of storytelling to explain all his mixed emotions towards his father. He loved, hated, and feared him but also thought he failed him. Sanders describes his mixed feelings of helplessness, responsibility, and shame. By using a narrative voice and time control of his stories, he is able to position his narratives as a form of reflection. Each claim Sanders makes about his father is fully supported by logical reasoning. After telling the illuminating Bible story of drunkards and swine, he explains that his father, “when drunk, [was] clearly in his wrong mind. He became a stranger, as fearful to us as any graveyard lunatic, not quite frothing at the mouth but fierce enough, quick-tempered, explosive; or else he grew maudlin and weepy, which frightened us nearly as much.” Due to the subjectivity of his feelings towards his father, the use of a Biblical reference creates a
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