Symbolism In 'The Contender'

Symbolism is a literary device used to add layers and meaning to a book. Symbols are very powerful in literature, they help guide a theme and play on emotion. All of these factors help create a much more pleasurable reading experience. In Robert Lypsite’s novel, The Contender, the reader can see symbolism being used to portray theme. One of the first examples of symbolism the reader sees in The Contender is a small cave, whose entrance is in a park that Alfred and James live near. “It was quiet in the park… He dropped to his knees and wriggled through the tangle of stuntes, twisted trees that hid the opening beneath the huge rock. On his elbows, he crawled into the cave” (11). Alfred is looking for James after he robs the store, hoping he would get away and hide in the cave. I think the cave is a symbol for how close James and Alfred are to each other. They have a common hiding place that nobody else knew about which shows they trust each other. This is just the first example of symbolism in The Contender.

“He took the first step, feeling it sag under him, but he kept going, up wooden steps worn so smooth his loafers slipped backwards, but the chilly legs were getting warmer now. Put one after another, Alfred, panting, huffing, low steps but hundreds of them, thousands of them in the darkness, the stairs so steep he sometimes fell to all fours ... until a door loomed before him. GYM” (26). The stairs are challenging, but Alfred finds a way up anyways. The stairs tell the story of the novel before it even starts. In the quote “... the stairs so steep he sometimes fell to all fours.” I think Robert Lipsyte is trying to elude the fall of Alfred in the middle of the book, whenever he stops going to the gym and gets on drugs. The stairs foreshadow the plot of book in a simple and smart way. Luckily, unlike the literal stairs, Alfred has some friends to help him up the metaphorical