The Influence of Alcoholism

Xin Zhou

English-122

Marcia Goodman                                                    Using No.5

The influence of alcoholism

        The essay “Under the Influence” written by Scott Russell Sanders is a narrative describes a story about the author’s father who was addicted to drinking alcohol. This essay tells the influence of Sanders’s father’s alcoholism not only to his brother, sister and his mother, but also to his own children and family. In this essay, the author uses comparison to express in detail how alcohol changed his father. As he describes in “Under the Influence” about his experience in his childhood, his father was “playful, competent, and kind when sober” (64). However, alcohol changed him into “a stranger, as fearful to us as any graveyard lunatic” (65) when he drunk. His childhood was ruined by his father. And so were his brother and sister. As he says in “Under the Influence”, “My brother became a rebel, my sister retreated in shyness” (69). When he grew up, his own daughter felt he also get the influence of his alcoholic father eventually and gave him the label of workaholic. The author understood the cause of the influence of his family and the reason why his father was an alcoholic until he is forty-two years old.

        Sanders’s father used to quarrel with Sander’s mother, but never beat her and his children. So his father was kind as he describes indeed. In the end, he blames himself for his mistakes that he didn’t point out his father’s addiction and try to rectify him like his daughter. Instead, he felt fear for his father’s terrible temper. Therefore, in my point of view, the subject of his essay is to give his readers a case of the bad influence of alcoholism. He uses his own experience of the influence of his alcoholic father to enlighten his audiences -- all family to pay more attention to their family members who are addicted by something such alcohol, internet, drug, etc. and redress them for their bad behavior. It’s our responsibility to take care and show our concern to our family member and correct their behavior when they fall into a wrong path. Sanders writes the essay “Under the Influence” because his own son, he says, “My own son, at the age of ten, is taking on himself the griefs of the world, and in particular the griefs of his father. He tells me that when I am gripped by sadness he feels responsible; he feels there must be something he can do to spring me from depression, to fix my life” (70). His thesis might be that people should have self-discipline and accept the opinions come from their family member. In addition, it’s responsible to help and fix their family members’ behavior and life. The story of Sanders’s family is not an especial case, but a common issues, it happens normally in every family all over the world. This essay is helpful for readers to solve the similar problem.