Heavyweight(n/adj) a boxer from the heaviest weight group; a light

heavyweight is a boxer from a lower weight group

hook(n) a curved piece of metal used for picking things up

jab(n/v) a quick punch in which a boxer's hand goes straight forward

knockout(n/adj; knock out,v) a hit by a boxer which is so hard that

the other boxer falls down and can't get up again

nod(n/v) a movement of your head to say yes or to show agreement

opponent(n) somebody who is against you in a sports event

polish(n) something used to make things shine, for example shoes

priest(n) someone who performs religious services in some religions

punch(n/v) a hit with your closed hand

referee(n) someone who makes sure that rules are followed in sports

relief(n) money, food, or clothes given to those who need them; the

feeling that you can stop worrying about something

rib(n) one of the curved bones in your chest

ring(n) a square area, surrounded by seats, where boxers fight

round(n) one stage of a boxing fight, usually lasting three minutes

sweat(n/v) liquid that comes from the skin of a hot or nervous person

wagon(n) a strong vehicle with four wheels, usually pulled by horses

Summary

Cinderella Man tells the true story of American boxing

legend, James J. Braddock. A man of the people, Braddock

fights against poverty and obscurity as hard as he does

against his sporting opponents. This book is based on the

2005 movie, directed by Ron Howard and staring Russell

Crowe and Renйe Zellweger.

The story begins in 1928, when the American economy

is thriving and Braddock is a popular and successful boxer.

He has a promising boxing career ahead of him, plenty of

money and a happy home life in New Jersey with his wife

and three children. But by the early 1930s Jim Braddock’s

career has hit rock bottom. America is suffering from the

Great Depression and, like many of his fellow Americans,

Braddock finds himself unable to pay the bills or support

his young family. After a crushing defeat in the boxing ring,

Braddock loses his boxing license and is forced to work

for a few dollars a day in the Newark, New Jersey, docks.

Despite being so desperately poor that he has to beg his

former manager for money, Braddock never loses his pride

or his determination to keep his family together.

Just when the family are most desperate, Braddock is

offered a second chance in the ring. He returns to fighting

having sold his boxing shoes and with no recent training.

But his work at the docks has strengthened Braddock’s left

hand punch … and his resolve. He wins his fight and goes

on to win more. He becomes the champion of the American

common man – fighting against the odds and carrying the

hopes and dreams of his countrymen with every punch. He

works his way up the boxing ranks until, finally, he faces Max

Baer – the notoriously violent world heavyweight champion.

With his wife begging him not to fight on one side, and the

demoralized, impoverished American population urging him

to win on the other, Braddock enters the ring for the fight of

his life. After a long and dramatic fight, the judges announce

Braddock’s victory. The fighter’s triumph over great adversity

both in and out of the ring is a truly inspirational tale.

About the authors

Cliff Hollingsworth and Akiva Goldsman worked together

to write the story for the movie Cinderella Man. Before the

movie, Jim Braddock’s story was not well known in the United

States. Hollingsworth wanted to tell modern Americans

about this great man, so he contacted Jim Braddock’s sons,

Jay and Howard. They read Hollingsworth’s first script and

loved it! At last their father’s heroic story would be told.

Hollingsworth wanted to keep as close to the true story as

possible. When Jim Braddock pays money back to the relief

office in Chapter 10, it may seem like a Hollywood fantasy,

but it was really true. Jim Braddock’s sons, too, agreed that

their parents’ characters and the movie story itself is very

accurate. As Hollingsworth says, Jim Braddock “was a

character who was too good to be true – but he was true!”

Cinderella Man was Cliff Hollingsworth’s first big movie.

Akiva Goldsman is an experienced Hollywood scriptwriter.

He worked with Hollingsworth on the Cinderella Man script

once the main story was ready. Before Cinderella Man, he

adapted two John Grisham movies, The Client and A Time

to Kill, as well as working with the actor Russell Crowe on

the Oscar-winning movie, A Beautiful Mind. (You can read all

these stories in the Penguin Readers series, too.)

Marc Cerasini wrote the book Cinderella Man from the

movie. He has worked as a magazine editor and writer for

over twenty years. He often works on novelizations for some

of the big movie companies in Hollywood.

Background and themes

Cinderella Man begins in New York in 1928, during the

“Roaring Twenties.” This was an exciting time of great

economic prosperity and social change in the United States.

After World War I, the American economy grew faster than

ever before. Thousands of people were making money

quickly on the stock market, the development of massproduced

goods meant that industry was thriving, and

new music, movies, and literature were inspiring people’s

creativity and optimism everywhere. But this all came to a

sudden end on Black Tuesday, 29th October 1929, when the

US stock market collapsed.

The book highlights the sudden and dramatic change

in the Braddocks’ fortunes as the United States (and the

industrialized world) was plunged into the Great Depression.

Although President Herbert Hoover insisted that the only

thing to fear was “fear itself,” the American economy did not

recover and millions of Americans lost their jobs and their

homes. Cinderella Man shows the suffering of the average

American citizen during the Depression. We see Mae forced

to wait in line for soup to feed her family and to burn street

signs to keep her children warm and Jim reduced to begging

for a few dollars (Chapter 5) to keep his family together. We

also see homeless New Yorkers living on the streets, in cars,

on the subway and in Central Park. All over the

United States, people began building shanty

towns – also known as “Hoovervilles” –

to live in.

© Pearson Education Limited 2006

Date: 2016-01-14; view: 652