The Contender

By Robert Lipsyte

Introduction

•  We all face conflicts in our lives every day. We show resiliency when we are able to face conflicts, use good judgment, and overcome them.

•  We will find out if Alfred has the resiliency to deal with the number of conflicts in his life.

Introduction

•  The Contender deals with a teenage boy, Alfred Brooks, who faces several conflicts: growing up as an African American during the Civil Rights Movement, dropping out of school to help pay the bills, avoiding the neighborhood gangs and escaping drug use.

Setting

•  Setting has a lot to do with the difficulties Albert faces in the novel.

•  The novel is set in Harlem, New York in the early 1960s.

Harlem

•  Harlem is a large, historically black neighborhood, stretching almost river to river in northern Manhattan.

•  The neighborhood extends to northern tip of Central Park, where the cave Alfred Brooks and his friend James hideout in.

Harlem Renaissance 1918 – 1937

•  The golden age of Harlem, when

thousands poured in from the South and the arts flourished.

Harlem •  The Harlem Renaissance was great while it lasted

but afterwards, the area started to slide downward. •  Landlords rented tenement buildings (substandard

apartments) in Harlem plagued by rats, roaches, bad plumbing, chipped paint and falling plaster. Other urban problems included:

! high infant mortality ! drug addiction ! high rates of unemployment and crime ! substandard schools

Harlem •  There were a few ways out of the despair felt

by many residents of Harlem at this time. •  Get a good job and move out to nicer areas,

like Queens (as represented in The Contender by Alfred’s Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Wilson)

•  Do really well in school (as represented by Alfred’s cousin Jeff) and go to college

•  Become a pro boxer (What Alfred Brooks tries to do in The Contender)

Many turned to religion for hope or guidance.

•  Aunt Pearl attends a storefront church. •  There are black nationalists in the book, representing the Nation of Islam.

Street scenes of Harlem from the time period of The Contender

•  These incredible pictures are by Gordon Parks, a famous African American photographer associated with Harlem.

Characters

•  Alfred Brooks – The protagonist – Alfred undergoes both physical and emotional

changes throughout the novel.

Mr. Donatelli

•  Mr. Donatelli is the owner of the boxing facility.

•  He tells it like it is and doesn’t sugar coat the truth.

Aunt Pearl

•  Aunt Pearl takes care of Alfred after his parents’ death.

•  She worries about the violence in boxing and wishes Alfred would devote himself to something safer.

James

•  James is Alfred’s best friend. •  However, James represents an aspect of

Alfred’s life that has been left in the past. •  Throughout the novel, Alfred tries to regain

James’s trust and friendship, as attempt to steer him away from drugs and crime.

Major and Hollis

•  Major and Hollis try to push Alfred in the same direction as James.

•  They invite Alfred to parties and encourage involvement in drugs and crime.

•  They are part of the reason Alfred starts boxing.

Mr. Epstein

•  Alfred’s boss at the grocery store. •  Alfred works to restore Mr. Epstein’s trust

in him after James, Major and Hollis break into the store.

Henry

•  Henry gets Alfred involved in boxing. •  Henry is a father-figure for Alfred, helping

his training inside and outside of the ring.

Spoon

•  Spoon is a role model for Alfred not only as a boxer, but because he gave up boxing in order to go back to school.

Literary Elements

•  Alliteration – Using the same consonant sounds at the

beginnings of words –  “ropes swish-slapped again the floorboards…” –  “An enormous belly rushed past, spraying

sweat like a lawn sprinkler.”

Literary Elements

•  Flashback –  Interruption in a story that goes back to the

past. –  “James decided they should become

professional wrestlers, as he made up their names: Mosely of the Jungle and Bad Brooks.”

Literary Elements

•  Foreshadowing – Hints or clues about something to come –  “The more you learn, they more you want to

know. You ought to think about going to night school,” said Spoon.

Literary Elements

•  Metaphor – Comparison of two unlike items without using

“like” or “as”.

Literary Elements

– Onomatopoeia •  Words that imitate sounds •  Griffin’s skinny arms knocked his punches away,

and then the blur again, pitter-pat, pitter-pat, until he was sure that Griffin had three, maybe five hands at work.

Literary Elements

Personification Giving human characteristics to an object or animal. The birds were chattering in the overhanging trees, sitting on their stoops telling all the bird gossip.

Literary Elements

•  Simile – Comparison of two unlike items using “like” or

“as”. – The alarm clock buzzed him awake like an

angry rattlesnake.

Literary Elements

•  Setting – Time and place of a story – Harlem, 1960s

Literary Elements

•  Hyperbole – An obvious exaggeration – Then he straightened, and all the way home

he wanted to raise his right arm to the ringside crowd on the stoops.

Literary Elements

•  Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces

Literary Elements

•  Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces

– External- Struggle between the character and an outside force.

•  Man vs. Man –  Alfred vs. Major –  Alfred vs. James –  Alfred vs. opponents

Literary Elements

•  Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces

•  External – Man vs. Society

•  Alfred vs. Racism •  Alfred vs. Poverty •  Alfred vs. Perception

Literary Elements

•  Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces

–  Internal- A choice or decision that is made by the character Man vs. Self

•  Alfred vs. himself