In this essay, I need to compare two biographies of a famousperson. I will plot out the difference and compare the two booksconsidering point of view, bias, aim, omission, interest andinterpretation. This person is my hero and idol. He is one of thegreat player in the history of hockey.
He set the all-time NHLscoring record in 26 seasons and got four Stanley cups in a rowfrom 1984-1988. He is Wayne Gretzky, the most brilliant andtalent hockey player in this century. I chose the “Gretzky andTaylor” and “Gretzky with Rick Reilly. The book “Gretzky with Rick Reilly was an autobiography. Itshowed how Wayne Gretzky from his AHL to a famous NHL player. Inthis book, there were a lot of Gretzky’s childhood.
We knew thatWayne Gretzky could skate at two years old. He was well known bypeople at six. When he was ten, he was signing autographs and hada national magazine article written about him. A thirty- minutesnational television show done on him at fifteen.
It also talkabout Gretzky’s hero when he was a kid. He was a funny guy. Hewas Gretzky’s hockey instructor. He was also his lacrosse,baseball basketball and cross country coach. He was not onlycoach, but also trainer and chauffeur.
Gretzky called him dad,his name was Walter. However, in the book “Gretzky and Taylor”,it did not show anything in Gretzky’s childhood. It was startedwhen Gretzky became the NHL player, a member of Edmonton Oiler’srookie. How he became the hall of the frame.
The description ofthis book was very interesting. The writer show the thing throughthe game. For example the first chapter was talking aboutthe 1984 Stanley Cup final between the Edmonton Oilers and NewYork Islander. “Wayne,” he said, “don’t worry about not scoring so far. Just make sure that when you do get a goal for us is a big one. ” (Page 15 Gretzky and Taylor ) From this conversation, we couldknow what had happen at that time.
So, there was differentbetween the point of view of those two books. Although this two books had the different point of view,they both had the same aim. They also showed to young people thatworked hard was the only source of success. In the book “Gretzkywith Rick Reilly”, Gretzky showed his talent when he was young.
He was national knew at six. There was even a wild rumors thatthe New York Rangers were going to buy the entry Brantford PeeWee franchise, so that they had the right to take him when heturn the greater. But behind the success, did you know howmuch Gretzky put on the hockey. In the winter, Gretzky would getin the mourning, skated from seven o’ clock to eight- thirty,went to school, came back home at three thirty, stayed on the iceuntil his mother ready the dinner, ate in his skater, then wentback out until nine o’ clock. On Saturday and Sundays, he wouldhave games played with his neighborhood.
So looked how much timesthat Gretzky put on the practice and that time he was six. Alsoin the book “Gretzky and Taylor”, because of Brantford, the homeof Wayne Gretzky. He left home at fourteen. He moved to Toronto,playing with the Toronto Young Nationals, Junior B. The years inToronto were no way for a kid. He was lonely, living withoutfamily.
But why Gretzky chose to do this? It was because he couldgo to school and nobody knew who he was and he would play betterhockey. So now we can see how Gretzky was so successful. We could clearly see the omission between these tow book. It was because the “Gretzky and Taylor” was published in 1984,there was a great omission in Gretzky’s life. This thing happenedin 1988, the Edmonton Oilers wanted to tread Gretzky to L. A.
Kings. That was the most important trade in the NHL. The book”Gretzky with Rick Reilly” was published in 1900. So it had somemore detail in this event.
After the Oilers had won the fourthStanley Cup in last five years. The owner of the Oilers NelsonSkalbania wanted Oilers to go public, so he could raise moneyeasily. In order to go public, he had to get Gretzky out of thepersonal service contract and make Gretzky property of the team. Because Skalbania knew what he needed wasn’t more Stanley Cups. He didn’t need to sell more ticket.
His arena was already soldout. He need cash. So, now Gretzky became a LA. Kings after thishuge deal in the NHL history.
Talking about the bias, I didn’t think there had a lot ofbias in this two books. I could only find a little bias in thebook “Gretzky with Rick Reilly” it was because this book was aautobiography, it may had a little bit subjective. The part thata felt subjective was the huge deal. In the book, it only hadpeople who supported Gretzky to give their comments, no one wason the side owner . May be the thing was what the people had said,but you should also had the comment of other side.
So that peoplecan compare by themselves. Both two books were very interesting, not only the words butlot of pictures. These pictures could make the books moreinterested but also gave readers the image how Gretzky playedhockey. And the interpretation, both two books had some statisticin the back.
It showed how many goals, assists, points and manyother statistic of Wayne Gretzky. (see note 1)Compare of these two books, I could find both veryinterested and excllent. However, I thought the “Gretzky withRick Reilly” was a liitle bit better than the other because ofthe more specify details.
