The Contender Chapter Summary

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The Contender is about the life of Alfred Brooks and his journey to become a boxer. When the book first starts out you learn that Alfred is 17-year-old dropout who lives in Harlem, New York. Alfred has very hard life and his mom is not there and he lives with his two sisters and his Aunt. One Friday night Alfred wound up in the local "Clubroom" and ran into James, Sonny, Hollis, and Major. One of the guys asked Alfred why he stopped working at Epstein's and he responded, "They close too early on Friday's because they are Jewish." This gave all the boys the bright idea to go and rob the store, they asked Alfred to go but he refused. But little did they know that they had installed a silent alarm system the week before. Alfred tried to hurry and warn …show more content…

Later that evening he ran into the boys again, minus James. James had been arrested and then they beat up Alfred for not telling them about the silent alarm. Later that next evening Alfred went for a walk and pasted by "Donatelli's Boxing Gym". He thought to himself that's where Henery has a job, he was the person who carried him home. He walks up the tall creeky, wooden, stairs to find a man that goes by the name of Donatelli. He asked him what he needs to do to be a boxer, he said that he needs to be a contender. Alfred woke up that next morning at 5:30 to run through the park. Then every day from that day on till his next fight he woke up at 5:30 to run. He went to Madison Square Garden to watch his first boxing fight ever. Alfred is very susceptible to others opinions and goes to the Clubroom. He drinks alcohol and smokes marijuana. Alfred saw James and realized he was addicted to heroin. The next morning the whole squad went to the beach and Alfred decided to quit boxing. When he goes to the gym that night to clean out his locker he saw Donatelli and wanted to apologize for quitting but quickly realized he did not really want to

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