The Contender - sps186.org background.pdf · The Contender By Robert Lipsyte . Introduction • We...
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The Contender
By Robert Lipsyte
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Harlem Renaissance 1918 – 1937
• The golden age of Harlem, when
thousands poured in from the South and the arts flourished.
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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
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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)
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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.
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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.
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Characters
• Alfred Brooks – The protagonist – Alfred undergoes both physical and emotional
changes throughout the novel.
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Mr. Donatelli
• Mr. Donatelli is the owner of the boxing facility.
• He tells it like it is and doesn’t sugar coat the truth.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Henry
• Henry gets Alfred involved in boxing. • Henry is a father-figure for Alfred, helping
his training inside and outside of the ring.
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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.
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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.”
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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.”
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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.
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Literary Elements
• Metaphor – Comparison of two unlike items without using
“like” or “as”.
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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.
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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.
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Literary Elements
• Simile – Comparison of two unlike items using “like” or
“as”. – The alarm clock buzzed him awake like an
angry rattlesnake.
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Literary Elements
• Setting – Time and place of a story – Harlem, 1960s
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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.
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Literary Elements
• Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces
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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
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Literary Elements
• Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces
• External – Man vs. Society
• Alfred vs. Racism • Alfred vs. Poverty • Alfred vs. Perception
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Literary Elements
• Conflict – Struggle between opposing forces
– Internal- A choice or decision that is made by the character Man vs. Self
• Alfred vs. himself