The_Contender

The Contender The book The Contender was written by Robert Lipsyte. The setting of this book takes place in Harlem, New York with a boy named Alfred Brooks. Alfred Brooks is a young black man who had dropped out of high school because he didn’t like it, and now works at a local grocery shop, stocking self’s and cleaning up around the store. Alfred moved in with his Aunt Pearl and her daughters when he was 10 years old, after his mother had passed away with pneumonia. Alfred’s best friend James Mosely gets involved with the wrong crowd, and starts taking drugs and drinking instead of hang out with Alfred, and going to see movies every weekend. About this time in the story is when Alfred starts to get interested in boxing, after being beat up by these “friends” or bad influences that his friend James was hanging out with. Throughout the whole story Alfred still cared about his friend James, and didn’t want to see him get hurt. Through all the trying things that happened to Alfred in this book it made him a stronger friend, and also a stronger person in general. At the end of the story Alfred decides contender, book, alfred, james, story, friend, boxing, very, things, out, influences, after, time, need, mr, major, help, drugs, didn’t, crowd, bad, aunt, about, trying, true, through, think, school, really, people, pearl, never, learned, high, gave, fighter