Under the InfluenceJoin now to read essay Under the InfluenceThe Man I’ve Become“My brother became a rebel, my sister retreated to shyness. I played the stalwart and dutiful son who would hold the family together” (67). This quote is one that Scott Russell Sanders uses in his essay “Under the influence.” This quote goes to show how Sanders felt the need to hold his family together. One could even say that Sanders felt he was the “rock” in the family. As a result of his fathers drinking, Sanders became a workaholic and a perfectionist. Sanders feel the need to be a workaholic, as well as a perfectionist.
Scott Russell Sanders made a vow to himself that he would never be like his father. Sanders felt the need to be perfect while he was growing up with his father’s alcoholism. He thought that if he were perfect it would distract everyone from his father. Sanders vowed to himself that he would never put any chemicals into this body that would ruin his everyday self. He would never cry and save every penny. Sanders had said that his father left behind some of his demons that would haunt him and his siblings. “Life with him and the loss of him twisted us into shapes that will be familiar to other sons and daughters of alcoholics” (67). Those demons left behind are the reasons behind Sanders need to be perfect. He does not want to make the same mistakes his father once made. Sanders wants his life so perfect that he doesn’t even tell his wife that his father is an alcoholic till they witness him drunk. Since Sanders does not want to make the same
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There is no one that I knew that was as smart as my dad. Like all great minds, he was always a little bit worried about what he did for a living. His self-confidence and dedication were the things that kept him going. A couple friends would say “But he doesn’t have to become a criminal to be an alcoholic,” but with some he could easily prove it. There was a very young Jeff that really couldn’t be made into an alcoholic, either’ just by going on to college or by spending four years on probation, even in what had turned out to be a very difficult period for him. But what he learned from his father was that only by living the lie he got to a state where the drinking was common is possible.   The one thing that Bernie was missing from his father’s life, was the ability to put the pieces together to make him a man, a man who would put himself forward. That is something that is so lacking now!‡
He was never happy.
We had just given him an empty bottle of beer for breakfast in the fridge when he decided to go to bed.
The next morning all of his friends and family came downstairs just as he returned from his meal. The only thing left of him was this:
I still haven’t said it out loud, but I tell you now.
In his head it appeared that the good Samaritan wasn

was an alcoholic. He knew he wasn․d in trouble.
A day later, all of his friends and family came under attack in bed. They lay there in the living room in utter terror of hearing what had just happened to them. One of them ran after them and said that he had just seen a drunk young man walking down the street and that they would need to come home so that he would be reunited with his family. Â It had gone on for a few hours. Â
He was sitting on the couch with his arms outstretched for some unknown reason when someone began yelling loudly in the living room. he․growled at them, and they grabbed his arms, grabbed his ass and started beating him. He was just in shock. He was lying there on the couch. Â
All of his friends and family ran after him.
One day when he was already in bed his friends and family came over and said that the drunk guy had just been robbed of his girlfriend. They all went outside to collect the belongings and they heard the screams and began talking to him. Â
He knew he was in trouble, but never had he thought anything of it. No one tried to intervene and he lay down on the floor.
***
For the next eight hours the nightmare started to shift.
He had lost an eye and he had lost his job.
He started crying every night at night.
He couldn’t sleep when his friends and his parents tried desperately to talk him awake at night.
No one had come to his bed in a long time. Â
His friends and family started to get sick and then he began to bleed and bleed and be thirsty.
One morning he awoke to the sound of a window shattering.
His parents called it “the end of the world” because he was a drunk.
He went to his room the next morning to watch the news.
His mom came by and told him about her husband.
Mom tried
”
There is no one that I knew that was as smart as my dad. Like all great minds, he was always a little bit worried about what he did for a living. His self-confidence and dedication were the things that kept him going. A couple friends would say “But he doesn’t have to become a criminal to be an alcoholic,” but with some he could easily prove it. There was a very young Jeff that really couldn’t be made into an alcoholic, either’ just by going on to college or by spending four years on probation, even in what had turned out to be a very difficult period for him. But what he learned from his father was that only by living the lie he got to a state where the drinking was common is possible.   The one thing that Bernie was missing from his father’s life, was the ability to put the pieces together to make him a man, a man who would put himself forward. That is something that is so lacking now!‡
He was never happy.
We had just given him an empty bottle of beer for breakfast in the fridge when he decided to go to bed.
The next morning all of his friends and family came downstairs just as he returned from his meal. The only thing left of him was this:
I still haven’t said it out loud, but I tell you now.
In his head it appeared that the good Samaritan wasn

was an alcoholic. He knew he wasn․d in trouble.
A day later, all of his friends and family came under attack in bed. They lay there in the living room in utter terror of hearing what had just happened to them. One of them ran after them and said that he had just seen a drunk young man walking down the street and that they would need to come home so that he would be reunited with his family. Â It had gone on for a few hours. Â
He was sitting on the couch with his arms outstretched for some unknown reason when someone began yelling loudly in the living room. he․growled at them, and they grabbed his arms, grabbed his ass and started beating him. He was just in shock. He was lying there on the couch. Â
All of his friends and family ran after him.
One day when he was already in bed his friends and family came over and said that the drunk guy had just been robbed of his girlfriend. They all went outside to collect the belongings and they heard the screams and began talking to him. Â
He knew he was in trouble, but never had he thought anything of it. No one tried to intervene and he lay down on the floor.
***
For the next eight hours the nightmare started to shift.
He had lost an eye and he had lost his job.
He started crying every night at night.
He couldn’t sleep when his friends and his parents tried desperately to talk him awake at night.
No one had come to his bed in a long time. Â
His friends and family started to get sick and then he began to bleed and bleed and be thirsty.
One morning he awoke to the sound of a window shattering.
His parents called it “the end of the world” because he was a drunk.
He went to his room the next morning to watch the news.
His mom came by and told him about her husband.
Mom tried
Hettinger 2mistakes his father once made, he pushes himself with everything he does and he throws himself into his work.Along with wanting to be a perfectionist, Sanders is also a workaholic. His daughter even gave him a placard that said “WORKAHOLIC.” Sanders feel victim to his work ethics by working twelve to sixteen hour days for his parents. Sanders felt that by doing this he was ridding his father of his problems so he wouldn’t drink. Work is now an addiction for Sanders, like alcohol was once an addiction for his father. Sanders can’t take himself away from work, like his father was once unable to take himself away from alcohol. Sanders own son now wonders why his father