Open

by Christina 3.a, 15/9-15

A nasty old lady who happens to be his grandmother, a physically and
verbally abuse father, a calm and genius uncle and a loving mother.
These are the people the American tennis player Andre Agassi grew up
with, and the people who helped to shape him into the player and person
he is today. In this five-page extract from Andre Agassis autobiography,
we get a peek into his childhood.
The extract starts of by introducing Agassis grandmother or the nasty
old lady as he refers to her. She apparently bosses Agassis father
around and seems to behave as if she was the head of the family. He the
proceeds to mention his father, Mike Agassi. Mike Agassi is an Iranian
who fled to America for a better life; he plays a big role in Andre Agassis
life and is mentioned multiple times throughout the text. He is a man
with a big temper and a lot of motivation, not just for him but also for
Andre Agassi. Then were introduced to Agassis uncle, Isar. Isar is pretty
much the exact opposite of Andre Agassis father; he is a calm man who
has focused on brains rather than brute force. Isar doesnt yell at Andre
Agassi if he doesnt understand something, and he plays with Andre
Agassi multiple times. The difference between the father and uncle is
specially shown when Andre Agassi is expecting Isar to come home and
wants to scare him. Instead, his father walks through the door and hits
Andre Agassi after he has scared him. Lastly, were introduced to
Agassis mother who seems to be the better half of the parents. She is a
strong contrast with Agassis father, like the uncle. She is a calm woman
who seems to distance herself and bring balance to the family. While his

mother does have a slight temper, she doesnt use it to protect Agassi
from his father, which he expresses a certain frustration over.
The sender of this extract and autobiography is of course Andre Agassi.
Andre Agassi is an American tennis player who retired in 2006 and 3
years later published this autobiography. The recipients of the speech is
anyone who is intrigued about his life and wishes to know more. He text
isnt particularly hard to read either, which will probably widen his
audience since most people will be able to read it. His writing is made up
by simple, short and effective sentences, sometimes you can however
find longer and more descriptive sentences.
The point of view in this text is first person narrator. The narrators, Andre
Agassi, story is told directly and this way we get to see how the different
happenings affect him. This can also help us sympathise with him
because we see everything he sees. While the narrative belongs to our
narrator, therere still different narrative voices. We can see this when
the grandmother is talking about how they lived during the fathers
childhood, Oh, Grandma says with a sigh, we were poor. You cant
imagine how poor. And hungry, she says rubbing her belly(). We also
see it shortly after when Agassis father adds something to the story, My
father chimes in. Things got better after the war he says.
While the language is simple and we scarcely see figures of speech they
do occur once or twice in the text. The scarce positioning of these can
however make them have a more powerful effect when they are used,
()my fathers left hook hits my jaw flush and sends me flying. They
are also used a lot to describe the family members, and he also likes to
use adjectives and strong contrasts, this can specially be seen when he
compares the father and the uncle, Hes the mirror image of my father,
but his personality is the exact opposite. My father is shrill and stern and

filled with rage. Uncle Isar is soft-spoken and patient and funny. Agassi
also uses a metaphor, when hes talking about his mothers jigsaw
puzzles and their family life which seems to be almost in shambles,
There is always some half-assembled scene of idyllic family life spread
across the kitchen table. This is written as a symbol of how his mothers
puzzles show her struggle with keeping the family together.
The relationship between the generations in this text are quite strained.
Agassis father has managed to accomplish some form of success as he
has risen above the poverty that he grew up in, however he hasnt
accomplished any success within sports, not even tennis, which is the
sport he loves. Agassis father seems to be living his dreams through his
son now, which puts an enormous and uncomfortable pressure on his
son, But my son, he adds maybe they will make tennis an Olympic
sport once again, and my son will win a gold medal, and that will make
up for it.
A little extra pressure to go with my everyday pressure. His relationship
to his grandmother is also quite negative and the only thing he enjoys
about her presence is how she sheds some light on his fathers
childhood, which he uses as explanation as to why he is as aggressive,
Of course, there is one good thing about grandma living with us. She
tells stories about my father, about his childhood, and this sometimes
gets my father reminiscing, causes him to open up. If not for grandma we
wouldnt know much about my fathers past, which was sad and lonely
and helps explain his odd behaviour and boiling rage. Sort of.