4-5 (minimum) sentences for each response. DO NOT POST TO BLOG. You will print out your responses and hand in when finished.
1. Discuss the friendship between Alfred and James. Consider its limitations as well as its history and future possibilities.
1. Discuss the friendship between Alfred and James. Consider its limitations as well as its history and future possibilities.
2. Analyze Spoon's character and his influence on Alfred. Refer to specifics of his life and to conversations between the two characters.
3. Discuss the role of racism in the novel. Try to include all aspects of the problem.
4. Define one of the major themes of the novel and discuss how Alfred's character relates to it.
5. Choose one specific setting in the novel and show in detail how Lipsyte uses imagery to develop mood.
6. If you could choose one character in the novel to be your friend, other than Alfred, who would it be? Why?
7. Why is Aunt Dorothy's family important in the story? As part of your answer, discuss each family member's significance.
8. In your own life, what would it mean to be a "contender"?
1. Alfred has a good relationship with james at the beginning of the book but then James got on drugs. so James goes all psycho on Alfred and said he is just a slave and not to talk to him ever again. but Alfred stuck with him and got him off drugs.
ReplyDelete2. Spoon has a good part in Alfred joining boxing and getting him better. Spoon is another boxer who started to get hurt and then he had to retire he now is a school teacher and sometimes gets people to come join the boxing.
3. There is a few resist parts in this book the first one starts out as Magor saying good old uncle Alfred and making fun of him. The second is when he is running in the park and the cops stop him as if he is doing something wrong and say they will be looking for him in the papers.
4. The major themes of the book is about how Alfred deals with his problems and another is about how he deals with boxing and how boxing deals with him. They all relate to alfred because he has to make sure he can get throw it all with James drug abuse and his own problems.
5. one of the most talked about setting is when Alfred is in Mr.Donnelly's jim and it explains how the room is set up. i think lipsyte did a good job showing it the light hanging down from the ceiling with the punching bag and the ring all set up.
6. I would choose henry to be my friend because he is a nice person and he would show similar interests. he loves to box and is the kind person out of them all.
7. They are important because he has to look after them and work and provide for them because aunt dorothy can not.
8. to be a contender to me would be like winning a lot of wrestling matches and going to state and being able to get 3 place.
1. I say the friendship between Alfred and James isn't very tight. Since James started doing drugs with Major and his gang, Alfred and James haven't been very good friends. The book makes it sound like they have been friends for many years, but getting weaker and weaker as time goes by. Alfred and James then start to be friends again at the end of the book, they may get along again.
ReplyDelete2. Spoon’s character seems like someone who is really laid back and smart. Since Spoon was a fighter himself, he is a big help towards Alfred. When Alfred and Henry go over to Spoon’s place, they get into conversations about boxing and Alfred quitting school, which help Alfred, and encourage Henry to help Alfred with his boxing career.
3. Racism is a really big part of the book. When its mentioned, the author makes it sound like he really is racist. Like when Alfred and Aunt Pearl are walking to the subway on his way to his aunt’s and uncle’s place, Alfred is stopped by protesters and they made fun of for working for a white person. Since Alfred is black, all this racism plays a huge roll.
4. One of the major themes of the book is determination. After Alfred gets beaten by Major and his gang, he goes to Donatelli’s gym to train to become a boxer. Whenever he decides to give up, something makes him want to train more. Like when Alfred is talking to Mr. Donatelli and Alfred is packing his training clothes, he decides to keep training so he can see what being a contender feels like.
5. A major setting that Lipsyte describes in the book would have to be Donatelli’s gym. The way he he describes all the equipment, the other people in the gym, and the conversations between everyone. It helps greatly to imagine the scene in your head. Like when Alfred first went to the gym when other people were there.
6. If I could choose one character from the book to be my friend, it would have to be Henry. because he is very kind, caring, and won’t put you down, and he will try to help you any way possible. Like when Henry helped Alfred with boxing training. And when he assisted Donatelli and Bud when Alfred started doing real boxing matches.
7. Aunt Dorothy’s family plays an important role in the book. Because Alfred talks to Uncle Wilson about being a boxer, and he is ok with it. Meaning when Alfred is training, he has someone cheering him on. And Alfreds cousin Jeffrey would be rooting for him as well. Aunt Dorothy doesn't think Alfred should be boxing though.
8. When being a contender in life, you try your hardest to be the best. Even when you know there isn't a very big chance in being close to good at it. But you still have to try in order to know what it feels like, to know what it really is, to know what it takes to be a contender throughout life. And to know what to do in order to become a champion.
1. The Friendship between Alfred and James it goes way back when they were kids. Alfred and James had a little cave hidden under a boulder and when their parents got in to fight they would run out of the house and go straight to the cave. One day that Alfred and James were going to the movies but then James decided to go rob a store with some other people. Then James gets addicted to Heroin and when Alfred sees him he think that he is a bum. Then James decided to rob the same store but he gets cut badly so Alfred finds him under the boulder that they went to when they were kid and Alfred takes James to the hospital.
ReplyDelete3. Racism is a big role in the Contender. One part of the book where racism is played is when everybody in the Ghetto was calling the White man {The Man}. They call them that because because they are keeping them in the Ghetto. Another thing is Racism is when Major and his gang Called him Good Ol’ Uncle Alfred. They call him that because he is a sweet boy and kind person.
8. To be a Contender in my life is finishing school, going to college and Getting a good job. For me to be a contender is Finishing school because so i can get a diploma and get in to a good college. Also for me be a contender is going to college because so i can get a Degree in whatever and get a job. Finally for me to be contender is going to get a job because in real life people can make things for their life.
6. If I had to choose a best friend in the book it would be Henry because he is honest and friendly. It would be Henry Because He is friendly. This is my friend because when Alfred is in a bad mood he helps to get out of the mood with his friendliness. Also it would be Henry because he is helpful.He is my friend because he helped Alfred to his house when he passed out.
7. Aunt Dorothy family is important because of the advice they give to Alfred. Uncle Wilson gives Alfred advice to go back to school. Jeff talks with Alfred about going to school and he thinks that that it is good idea for him. Aunt Dorothy think that Alfred is going to be a good boxer and a good student.
5. One of the settings That Lipsyte use to show mood was when the gym was hot. When the gym was hot everybody was arguing left to right. Also when Alfred and Henry were talking Alfred snapped at Henry. Jelly Belly and Red were going back and forth with the hot heat in the gym.
4.
2. Alfred met Spoon at a match in Madison Square Garden. Spoon convinces Alfred to stay in boxing. Also he lets Alfred stay in his apartment when Alfred has a match. Spoon tells Alfred that he can take night classes for school.
1. Alfred and James have a strong friendship when they were little kids but then when they became teenagers everything started to fall apart when James start hanging out with Major,Sunny and Hollies and doing drugs. Then at the end of the book Alfred found James all cut up in the the secret cave that they deceived when they were little. Alfred tried to get James to remember the good times and to come with Alfred so he could help him and to come with them to the hospital And James agreed. Later in the future I think that James will stop using drugs and get a job and come to the gym with Alfred to become a boxer.
ReplyDelete2. Spoon used to be a boxer but then Mr.Danotelli made him quite so that he could become a teacher like he wanted to and how he went to night school to finish high school. Alfred decided that he wanted to finish high school so Spoon got some papers so he could sign up for night school at school a that was a round the area.
3. The novel talks about racism when Alfred is going to church he walks past the rally with the guy standing on the box.Taking about the man and how he is taking away their freedom. That there going to rise up against them and get their freedom back.
4. One of the major themes in the book is nervousness and this is shown when Alfred is about to have his first fight. The Ice ball in Alfreds stomach keeps on getting bigger until he takes the first punch from Rivera. The ice ball explodes in his stomach and he fights back and wins the fight by getting the most hits.
5. One setting that Lipsyte used imagery to develop mood is when Alfred went to the boxing gym the ever first time waking up those old rigid stairs and seen Mr.Danotelli setting on a folded chair. sitting under that one flickering light and him saying that he wants to be a boxer and then Mr.Danotelli says that it is not going to be easy to becoming a contender and saying that you may want to quite.
6. I would choose Henry because he is a really nice guy and if you ever need help he will be there for you to help you out. If you ever want to become a boxer then Henrry is your guy to be your coach. Henry is there if you need someone to talk to your to hang around with. Henry is a person that you can really trust and he won't let you down
7. Aunt Dorothy family is important because they help Alfred decided what he wants to do with
his life. Aunt Dorothy is aunt pearl sister and she is married to uncle wilson. Uncle wilson is married to Aunt Dorothy and he is the one that gives Alfred the good advice that there are lots of jobs that pay good money. Jeff is the son of uncle wilson and aunt dorothy. jeff goes to college and thinks about going to Africa to help the kids over there have a better life.
8. Being a contender is that you would not give up that easy. That you wouldn't take the easy way out. You would have to work hard to get yourself where you want to be in life.You would have to not give up on yourself even if your are have trouble through life.
Alfred and James have some bumps and hills but they will always be friend. James got into drugs and bad gang stuff. After Alfred had found out that James was doing some drugs Alfred had to do something to get his mind out of him so he join in boxing. Alfred might be mad that James is doing some drugs and hanging out with the people who has been beating them up. Once when Alfred saw James in his apartment all James wanted from him is money for more drugs.
ReplyDeleteThe history of Alfred and James is that when they were kids they use to find a hiding stay away from Major and his gang. When Alfred and James are in stress they go to the movies. Alfred has also been working and when he has some money he always takes James to the movies. When they were in high school they failed it.
(2)Maybe in the future Alfred and James will become a good boxer when they grow up and work as a team. Maybe if James get done with his drug addiction they might become good at there jobs. Maybe they might go back to school and finish it. James might even get help with his gang with Major.
(3)Spoon has inflicted in Alfred life because he told Alfred that he needs to past high school so he can have a very good job and try to think ahead for a better life. Alfred has look up to Spoon because Spoon has always help him when he need him. Spoon has to side of him one side is that he likes to study the other is to box. Spoon has help Alfred with most of Alfred problem Spoon help Alfred to go to the right path where he can go to night school and that.
(4)I think that since they always call the person which means the white man in this story because they have a lot of racism in this book they make fun of eachother a lot. When Alfred was fighting they called him names like yellow belly . James and Major always called them the white man. There was a lot of racism the call the black people nigger. Major and his gang keep on calling Alfred good old uncle Alfred.
(5)The sky was sunny i can feel the wind hit my face the birds were singing it says that it is a good day for a jug. Alfred is in a good mood after so much stress with his friend going to jail. Lipsyte put this there so that we can see that Alfred is now in a good mood where he was no when he found out that his best friend went to jail.
(6)If i could have one friend from the book it would be Henry because he is always there when Alfred need him. Henry will be a good friend because he has always gave Alfred the confident that he needs to win. Henry will be a good friend because if you get mad at him he won't take it as a bad thing he will take it like if its just another day of working. Henry has help people a lot in the past he made sure that they do their best when it comes to boxing.
(7)Aunt Dorothy's family is from the rich side because she has married someone is very rich. Aunt Dorothy family is important because they are the reason why Alfred had join boxing and start to go to night school. Aunt Dorothy's family is Uncle Wilson the two girls and Jeff. Jeff has Alfred because he gave Alfred the push he needs to go back to school and join boxing.
(8)Our life is just like the book contender because we all want to do stuff that makes us happy. My life is that all I want to do is life my life before it ends. Life is very important to all of us because it give us hope for a better future. The contender means that there is something in your life that you want to conquer.
Zach Garrigan
ReplyDelete1. Alfred and James were friends to begin with, but James started hanging with Major and his gang. They had a bad influence on jame, they had a certain kind of control over him. After James got out of jail he started doing drugs, hardcore drugs and Alfred didn't see him for weeks at times. At the end when James is cut bad and Alfred help James get better. So what will happen in the future?
2. Spoon is one of the best influence to Alfred. He makes Alfred believe in his self. Spoon is like a father figure for Alfred, one he really needs. To tell him he could go back to school at night and tell him if you can do boxing, you can do anything you put your mind too.
3. The time period of the book is a very racist time. They had movements that say the the government is bad. There was hate crimes all over the ghetto. The police didn’t even help Alfred when he was hurt.
4. Determined is one of the major themes to this book. Alfred wasn't very determined at first in the book he was shy. Toward the middle of the book he was very determined about everything he did. Even with his friendship with James he was determined to help James with his drug problem.
5. The block that Alfred lives on, Lipsyte put a lot of mood into that block to see how they are living. There is people sitting on the steps with their radio blaring. Other people with their friday night girls. She talk about how these people live in the ghetto.
6. If I could pick any character out of this book to be my friend, I would choose harold. I would choose him because he stands up for what he believes in. He doesn't let people decide for him. That is a good characist of harold.
7. Alfreds Aunt and her family played a pretty big part in this book. Aunt Dorothy husband talks about his son Jeff all the time with Alfred and he is comparing Jeff his son to Alfred. Witch makes Alfred worse than he already feels.
8. Being a contender in my life mean doing what you have to do. Sometimes you don't do it, like Alfred when he was thinking about quitting boxing. Sometimes you do what you’re suppose to do. For example when Alfred ignored the crowed and box like Mr. Donatelli told him and won.
Cody Luedtke
ReplyDelete1). The friendship between Alfred and james is like they were brothers and did everything together.The limitations between Alfred james are when James got older. When James got older, he started to hang out with druggies and Alfred tried to stop James from doing drugs. When Alfred went to get James to go to a movie James said “no” and his druggie friend told Alfred to leave. In my opinion, i don’t think this relationship is very strong because Alfred missed james and james became to be druggie.
2). Spoon is a trainer and a teacher in the contender. Spoon Influences Alfred by being a teacher and inviting Alfred over a steak and a nap before Alfred goes to fight. Alfred looked up to spoon because Spoon was a teacher and had a nice life and liked that about Spoon. In my opinion i think that Spoon would take care of Alfred if something happened or if Alfred wanted to be teached and learn to succeed in life.
3). The racism in the book is very strong between the whites and the blacks/ jewish. The reason why there’s racism in the book is to show us that it motivates Alfred to stand up for himself. When Alfred realized that people were picking on him and calling him names and he didn’t like it any more so he found a gym and practiced until he could stand his grounds.
4). One of the themes from the contender is determination. When Alfred went to the Mr. Donatelli’s gym for the first time. When Alfred went up the long steep stairs through the doorway, he saw a man sitting down a chair looking out the window and asked Alfred what he wanted. Alfred asked him if he could train with Mr. donatelli but Mr. Donatelli said “kids like you don’t last”. Alfred’s character relates to the theme because Alfred was walking up into the stairway and asked Mr. Donatelli about being a contender.
5) One setting i chose was when Alfred k.o.ed griffin and he felt bad for knocking him out because he doesn’t like hurting people or knocking them out. One way that Lipsyte describes imagery in this setting is when Alfred knocked out Griffin and landed on the match and looked like a sprawled out manakin and Alfred felt bad for knocking griffin out and kept saying “sorry” to him.
6) One friend i would choose would be spoon because he’s a teacher and help’s out as much as possible to make Mr. Donatelli’s fighters ready for the fight. Another reason is why i chose spoon is because he’s teacher. I think spoon being a teacher would really help Alfred because Alfred dropped out of high school and told Alfred that he could go to school for nights.
7) Aunt dorothy's family is important to the story because her family lives in the Queen’s and are wealthy and successful. Jeff’s significance is important because Jeff is smart and goes to school and told Alfred he can help Alfred for schooling. Uncle Wilson’s significance is important because he’s smart and wealthy along with Aunt Dorothy.
8) To be a contender would be like working hard at something you really want to be in the future. For me to become a contender, i would have to work hard in school have good grades and not get into trouble. Another way i would become a contender i would have to treat everyone with respect and be kind to people.
1.
ReplyDeletei feel that Alfred and James relation is okay, but since James is suffering his Addiction it doesn't seem that way. and in the future Alfred is going to help James through Rehab. Also get James to start working out in the Gym. if know that James and Alfred are still friends cause they start talking about how they will never split up and that Alfred will help him through everything, and james agrees and they walk off back to Alfreds house.
2.
Spoons influence on Alfred is supportive, and shows alfred that there is helpful and knowledgeable and understanding people looking over him. a way that Spoon shows this is by his encouraging Alfred to go back to school or perhaps go to Night school. spoon even tells Alfred that he is there to help if he needs it.
3.
I feel the racism stuff is a big role of diversity on the area of where they live. and they feel they are always getting looked down upon. racism takes many roles in this book, example they sometimes call Alfred, Uncle Alfred. as a little racist inside joke.
4.
the main themes of this book is, hope and fear. Major relates to these cause i feel that deep down he is scared of what's going to happen next and that leads me into hope. i say hope because, he more than likely hopes that nothing bad happens.
5.
Lipsyte used imagery when, Alfred was going to the gym for the first time. when alfred was walking, the book said that there were gangsters around cars lined up around the block which makes you feel that you aren't necessarily in the most safe and secure place.
6.
i would choose Henry Because he can be funny at time and also be serious. Henry is also a caring and supportive guy, who doesn't give up on people. most importantly he helps not just laughs at you and walks away.
7.
i feel the importance of Aunt Dorothy's family is it shows a lot of different moods and ranges of them being serious. with Uncle Wilson he is serious and a successful man. and then there is Jeff. Jeff is also a successful young man which is the son of uncle Wilson. i feel they have Jeff in the book to compare how Jeff is Successful, while Alfred is some lazy gang member.
8.
in my lifetime being a contender in school would be the kid who has his assignments in along with correcting the mistakes if there are any. also practice from the mistakes. in my own life, this is what it means to be a contender.