Characterization of other characters

The main characters featured in the excerpt from Open by Andre Agassi are Andre, the grandmother, the father, Isar (the uncle), and the mother. Remember that the text is an autobiography, so the characters are the literary versions of the real-life Andre Agassi and his family members. In the excerpt, the characters are presented from the perspective of eight-year-old Andre, not that of adult Andre who authored the book.…

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The grandmother

The grandmother is presented in the first part of the excerpt. We are told that she “is a nasty old lady from Teheran with a wart the size of a walnut on the edge of her nose” (ll. 2-3) and has (at least) two sons, Mike and Isar.

The woman’s traits are mostly negative. She talks all the time, mainly complaining and nagging Andre’s father, M…

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Mike (Emmanuel) Agassi

Mike Agassi—born Emmanuel—is Andre’s father. He is an Iranian boxer who illegally immigrated to the US after World War II. The man’s portrait in the excerpt covers both aspects of his childhood and his youth, as well as aspects of his attitude as a parent.

As a child, Mike grew up with a rigid mother who would beat him and embarrass him, which eventually led to Mike becoming an aggressive child: “…she nagged him when he was a boy and often beat him. When he was extra bad, she made him wear hand-me-down girl clothes to school. That’s why he learned to fight.” (ll. 12-16)

Even when Mike becomes an adult and father, his mother continues to make him “miserable” (l. 31).

As a…

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Isar Agassi

Isar is Andre’s uncle who moves from Iran to the US. Although he grew up in poverty together with his brother Mike, Isar becomes rich as an adult because he is an “engineer” (l. 204). The fact that he exchanges his mo…

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Mrs. Agassi

Mrs. Agassi—Andre’s mother— is mostly presented at the end of the excerpt. From the beginning of the text, we only find out that she has a conflicting relationship with her mother-in-law, although she understands that the old woman is homesick (ll. 20-21):

…she engages in a strange competition with my mother. My mother te…

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