Lipsyte's imagery is especially powerful. Imagery is not always visual. It can appeal to any of the senses: sight, sound, taste, smell, or touch. In The Contender, the author moves quickly from one specific image to another. The opening page of the novel, for example, asks the reader to see, hear, and even smell the Harlem neighborhood where Alfred lives. The very air is acrid and repressive. The sky at twilight is "dirty gray." Lipsyte leaves his readers a little stunned that even young men fortunate enough to have automobiles and "Friday night girls" must cruise through garbage and broken glass. In only a page of text, Lipsyte evokes a setting that informs the reader precisely.
Contrast the novel's opening page with the first paragraph of Chapter 5 when Alfred experiences his first training run. Here, the air is "cool and sweet." The sky is "blood-red," filled with vigor and dawn life. Alfred can't keep the smile off his face. If he had the breath, he'd sing. He is so in tune with nature that the birds not only chatter, they share "all the bird gossip." For more than a moment, Alfred is in a new world that foreshadows the vitality that his future may hold. Throughout the novel, the imagery is especially effective. Some examples are Alfred's various ascents of the stairs to the gym, his experiences in the gym, his visit to Madison Square Garden, his attendance at the clubroom party, his trip to Coney Island, and Lipsyte's descriptions of the fights.
An author is not necessarily aware of every stylistic device as he is creating a novel. As readers, we must understand that at least some of an author's style is instinctive; it feels right or sounds right. But the total effect is that the style enhances our connection to the story. And Lipsyte's style is no exception.
