A Review of Scott Russell Sander's "Under the Influence"

“Under the Influence” is about a son who a talk about how bad of an alcoholic his father was and what caused his fathers death. The son also talked about how his dad used to hide the alcohol and the disease was just eating him away. Also, the son then realizes at the end of the story that he just followed his father’s footsteps and is an alcoholic. I have come to a conclusion that the theme might be that everyone is affected by your actions. I have chosen this theme because by the father drinking all the time and him dying, it has affected his family, friends, and himself.

One criticism that can be used in this story is reader response because this can relate to the readers life in many ways. Another criticism that could be analyzed is feminist because the stereotypical view of a male is a drunk or alcoholic. I recommend this story to people who have an alcoholic in their family because this story shows the consequences of alcohol. To people who really don’t have alcoholics in their family, it is still informational so that you don’t become one. This story is really well written and amazing!