The Contender (Robert Lipsyte Novel) - Chapters

Chapters

Chapter 1: Alfred wait's patiently for his friend then he looks for him at the clubhouse and their he finds James handing out with the wrong group of people. He accidentally mentions the vulnerability of the grocery store Alfred works for. Silent alarm goes off. He hides in a cave and has flash backs of his previous years and how much things have changed. Alfred climbs out of the cave opening and after a short walk he finds the goons that had foolishly attempted to rob the Jews and the goons beat Alfred to a pulp.

Chapter 2: James is arrested and now Alfred doesn't know where he is. Major is out to get Alfred. Aunt Pearl tries talking to Alfred after he gets beat up by Major and his gang. Alfred goes for a walk and finds Donatelli's gym. He is scared to go in alone but then he decides to go inside. He tells Donatelli that he has come to be a fighter.

Chapter 3: Alfred begins training to be a contender at Donatelli's gym. He meets new people and he is sometimes bullied by some of the other fighters there. Alfred never gives up though because he always has Henry there to support him and give him some encouraging words to help him out. Donatelli tells him what it takes and what Alfred has to do to be a boxer.

Chapter 4: Alfred starts to experience some of the criticism that Mr. Donatelli was talking about. Alfred goes running in the morning and the cops laugh at him and people tell him that he is crazy. He goes to church and he sees Major and his gang. Alfred and his Aunt Pearl and her three daughters go to their Aunt Dorothy's house and Alfred talks to his Uncle Wilson about his job and making something out of himself one day.

Chapter 5: Alfred takes the alarm clock from Aunt Pearl's room and sets it early enough for him to get up and run. There are policeman outside at the park when he is running and they asked him where he was going in such a hurry and when Alfred tells them that he was in training to be a boxer, they just laughed at him. Aunt Pearl is in the dark about the whole wanting to be a boxer thing. When Alfred gets home from his run Aunt Pearl asked him where he was because she thought Alfred was in some kind of trouble. When Alfred went to work he saw that Lou Epstein, his boss, didn't trust him as well as he did before Major and James tried to rob his store. He wouldn't even let Alfred take the money to the bank. Then, at the end of the chapter Alfred sees Henry on the street and he asks him what time he is coming by the gym.

Chapter 6: Alfred goes in the gym and finds all these other boxers and he almost wants to leave but he knows that if he left then, then he probably would never be back again. Then, he meets Bud Martin, an assistant trainer, and Dr. Corey, the dentist that makes the mouthpieces for the boxers. Alfred meets two other boxers doing sit ups and push ups and one is really nice and shoes Alfred a few things and the other is really mean and doesn't give him the time of day.

Chapter 7: Alfred goes to his first boxing match to watch one of Mr. Donatelli's boys box. He goes with Henry, Bud, Jelly Belly, and of course Mr. Donatelli is there. During the fight Willie (Mr. Donatelli's trainee) is hurt really bad so he calls off the fight. Willie doesn't want to call off the fight and argues with Mr. Donatelli that he could handle a little blood. In the clinic Alfred meets Spoon, an old boxer who is now a teacher. On the way home Alfred runs into Major and his gang.

Chapter 8: Major tries to get Alfred to help him rob the grocery store again but no matter what Major tries Alfred just keeps saying no. He knows it is wrong and he doesn't want to get in trouble behind Major. Major even pulls a knife on Alfred but he still stands his ground and says no. Major tells Alfred that he has until Thursday to make his decision but Major knows that Alfred has made up his mind.