Up The Steps of Life Alfred's outlook on “stairs” changes all throughout the book The Contender by Robert Lipsyte, a realistic non-fiction novel. As Alfred is working his way up the food chain in his community and as his success increases his outlook on everything changes and is shown in the way the stairs are described. Alfred is walking up the stairs to the gym to train when he takes a look and thinks they are “long, steep, dirty steps. He wondered if Donatelli was just too cheap to fix them” (Lipsyte 998). Did Alfred's aspect of the stairs ever change in the story? In many occasions Alfred sees the stairs as “friends” but other times he sees them as enemies. Near the beginning of the story after having a joyful conversation with Donatelli,
