April 16, 2006
Chapter 5
The Contender
By Robert Lipsyte
�Before you can be a champion, you have to be a contender.� The Contender written by Robert Lipsyte in 1967 is a gritty story. The main character, Alfred Brooks, is a high school drop out and working in a dead end job at a grocery store. Alfred has to learn that the effort you put into your life is what makes you a stronger person.
Alfred lives with his Aunt Pearl. His father left the family when he was 3 and his mother passed away at 10. His best friend, James has always been with him to help him. Now James and Alfred are headed in different directions. James is hanging out with a bad gang of neighborhood kids and falling deeper and deeper into a drug dependency. After a failed attempt at robbing the grocery store that Alfred works at, the gang is after Alfred for not warning them about a silent alarm. It is at this point that Alfred decides to begin training at Donatelli�s Gym.
Mr. Donatelli tells Alfred that he should become a contender and the championships will follow. Intense training follows, and Alfred becomes a stronger person. When confronted by the leader of the gang about robbing the store a second time, Alfred finds that he is able to stand his ground and not be afraid of the thugs. Soon though, Alfred weakens and hangs out with the gang, skipping his training, and begins to think he no longer wants to train. But when he goes to clean out his locker and talk to Donatelli, he realizes he is making a mistake. He has a realization that he wants to be a CONTENDER.
Alfred�s training intensifies and soon he is ready to face his first opponent. He wins the first fight, and the second also. However, after his third fight, a draw, Donatelli comes to realize that Alfred is lacking the killer instinct. Alfred admits that he doesn�t care for fighting but insists on finishing his fourth and final fight. Even though he loses this fight, Alfred wins, knowing that he has proven to himself and others that he has perseverance. He knows he can be a contender in life as well as in the ring.
Alfred even uses his newfound confidence to help James. He gets him to a hospital to detox. He also decides that he will go to night school to finish his high school degree. He is a new person.
The author addresses many themes within this book. The growth that Alfred goes through from high school drop out to someone with life goals and ambition is a large part of this book. The advice given to him by Donatelli is a large part of this. Alfred has to choose between two different destinies. He could go on with his life in despair or he can choose to become a more independent goal oriented person. He chooses the latter.
Quitting is another theme in this book. Alfred has already taken the easy way out of life and quit school. James is also a quitter because he has turned to drugs and has no desire to continue on with his life. Alfred also tries to quit boxing. However, he realizes this is the wrong thing for him to do. He turns everything in his life around by sticking with boxing and proving to himself that he is not a quitter.
Another theme in this book is following your dreams. Alfred�s Aunt tells him a story about how she never got the chance to sing in a choir on television because her mother thought it was a sin. She encourages him to continue on with his dreams. He internalizes her story by staying with the boxing and at the end of the book by choosing to go back to high school to get his degree.
Robert Lipsyte�s book is an easy read. It brings the reader into Alfred�s world of self-doubt and hopelessness. Readers will cheer for Alfred when he starts changing his life for the better.