The purpose of this lecture is to analyse and compare the similarities and difference between the two autobiographies, Shaq Uncut; My Story (O'Neal, 2011), written by retired American professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, and A Father First: How My Life Became Bigger Than Basketball (Wade, 2012), authored by American professional basketball player Dwyane Wade. This lecture will analyse the overall effectiveness of the authors’ manipulation onto the audience through the writers’ style. Shaq Uncut: My Story, written by retired American professional basketball player Shaquille O’Neal, is Shaquille O’Neal’s autobiography in which he speaks out his up-brining, from struggling to fit in at a younger age to dominating high school basketball …show more content…
Shaq Uncut does a better job at manipulating the audience because while both are written from a first person perspective, like most autobiographies are, they are very different in the tone of their language and style of writing. Shaq Uncut has a very down to earth style of writing, which allows the reader to feel as if they are connecting to the reader. Shaq Uncut has a very serious tone of writing, which gives the reader a better understanding of the struggles he went through at a younger age and what he had to get himself through to get to what seems like a perfect life to everyone else. Father First uses a more descriptive tone and style of writing. The way it is written sounds story-like, rather than an autobiography which can sometimes leave the reader unengaged and allow them to forget that this is actually an autobiography. A Father First would have a larger and stronger effect on the audience if they took the same approach Shaq Uncut did, writing the autobiography in a more down to earth style of writing, engaging the audience in a better way, allowing them to feel more apart of their story. These books were both of their authors’ first books, and if they happen to write one again perhaps they could both use this style of writing to improve on the effects and manipulation on the