125 pages • 4 hours read
James Patterson, Kwame AlexanderBecoming Muhammad Ali
Fiction | Novel/Book in Verse | Middle Grade | Published in 2020A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Round 3Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Round 3, Introduction Summary
Lucky believes that luck contributed to his ability to become a writer, “[b]ecause I was lucky enough to know Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.” (55). Cassius doesn’t like to write, Lucky explains, and he doesn’t do well in school, except for in metalwork. Lucky, on the other hand, enjoys school.
Cassius also doesn’t like to read, but he likes being read to, so Lucky often reads to him and Rudy. Cassius especially enjoys Superman. He recounts how he, Rudy, and Cassius were once walking down the street, only to be stopped by a car full of white men. The men told them that the boys were in the wrong place, pulling out a knife. Cassius challenged him, saying, “You dumb enough to try something with that knife?” (57). Then, the car stopped, and all its doors opened. Cassius urged his brother and Lucky to get going. Lucky knows that Cassius could have easily beaten them home, given how athletic he was, but instead, he kept pace with the two other boys, unwilling to leave them behind.
Round 3, Poem 28 Summary: “My Friends”
Everyone on Cassius’s block has a nickname. Rudy’s is Hollywood because he was named after movie star Rudolph Valentino. Cassius’s friend Ronnie is Riney, since that’s how his grandmother summons him home. Lucius is Lucky after not being injured when he fell through a window.
He continues to list off nicknames like Newboy, Bubba, Big Head Paul, and Lil’ Man. When they spot Cassius, they say, “We should call Gee-Gee / the black Superman” (61).
Round 3, Poem 29 Summary: “Faster Than a Speeding Bullet”
Cassius hangs out with the neighborhood kids, shooting marbles and playing other sports. They pretend to be boxer Jack Johnson fighting “the great white hope” (62). His favorite game involves Rudy throwing rocks at him because he is so fast that Rudy always misses. He can jump so high that it feels like he’s close to touching the sky and compares his speed and air to Superman, finishing the poem with “It’s a bird, it’s a plane…” (64).
Round 3, Poem 30 Summary: “Card Trick”
Granddaddy Herman compliments Cassius’s speed as they finish weeding the garden. Then, Herman gets a deck of card and offers one to Cassius, relaying that the boy reminds him of when he played baseball.
Cassius pulls the king of hearts and slides it back in without Granddaddy Herman seeing it. He asks how skilled the older man was at baseball. He explains that he could have been as good as Jackie Robinson, Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, and many other famous ball players. He puts the cards all over the table but doesn’t say more about his experience with baseball. He tells Cassius to pick up the cards.
Round 3, Poem 31 Summary: “Conversation with Granddaddy Herman”
This poem includes another conversation between Cassius and his grandfather. Herman asks about Cassius’s grades, emphasizing how important school is. When Cassius tries to brush this off, Granddaddy Herman says that life isn’t easy. He explains that Cassius will have to work harder to get half as far as others.
Cassius changes the subject, asking about the roots of his name. Herman then goes on to explain that the first Cassius Marcellus Clay didn’t enslave people, freeing everyone on the Clay plantation. This included Herman’s father, who then fought for the Union in the Civil War. He finishes by saying that “You and your daddy’s named after a man with principles, probably the only white man I ever knew to be good” (68). He reminds Cassius to remember this, then tries sending Cassius home.
However, Cassius offers to stay longer, and while Herman hesitates at first, he then agrees to tell him another story, this one about Tom the Slave, before he goes home. Cassius then asks about the card he pulled, and Herman smiles, telling him that it’s the king of hearts.
Round 3, Poem 32 Summary: “That Same Night”
When Cassius arrives home, he recounts the story of Tom the Slave to Rudy.
Tom escaped to freedom by stowing away in a casket and arriving in London, where he became a boxer. He was a bare-knuckle boxer, but in the ninth round of the heavyweight championship—when it was apparent he was going to win—a crowd of people stormed the ring. They beat Tom up, breaking six of his fingers.
Rudy doesn’t believe it’s a real story, but Cassius thinks it’s at least a good one.
Round 3, Poem 33 Summary: “Ritual”
Every night, Cassius practices doing card tricks on Rudy, thinking that if he can pull it off, he will feel smart.
Round 3, Poem 34 Summary: “One Friday”
After school one Friday, Rudy, Riney, and Cassius skip taking the bus to save the fare. They decide to go to Rainbow, a restaurant on Broadway. Riney winks at every girl they see. Then, Tall Bubba walks in, and it’s the first time the boys have seen him since “the accident” (74).
Round 3, Poem 35 Summary: “The Accident”
Cassius tells the story of Bubba’s accident, which happened one day when Cassius and his friends were playing baseball on Virginia Avenue. Tall Bubba was on a team with Cobb, Big Head Paul, and Jake, while Cassius was with Riney, Short Bubba, and Lucky. Rudy was not there because he had chickenpox.
The other team always won because Big Head Paul played several sports and Tall Bubba had long arms, allowing him to catch everything. However, that day, Cassius hit the ball into a storm drain, flying so high that it went above Tall Bubba. Still, the taller boy went to retrieve it. When he did, the drain exploded.
The boys had always smelled gas around there but never gave it much thought.
Round 3, Poem 36 Summary: “We Never Saw Him After That”
The title ends the previous poem’s story, and Cassius reiterates that sitting in Rainbow is the first time they see Tall Bubba since his accident.
Round 3, Poem 37 Summary: “Conversation with Tall Bubba”
The poem alternates between Cassius’s speech and Tall Bubba’s in italics. Cassius tells Bubba that they fixed the gas leak and that he heard the city will compensate him for his injuries. However, Tall Bubba replies that the city isn’t even calling his father back.
Tall Bubba has been tutored at home because of how the explosion affected his looks. Cassius compliments him, saying that he’s cool and that he just looks more mature.
Their conversation finishes when Cassius is surprised to learn that report cards came out that day.
Round 3, Poem 38 Summary: “Report Card Friday”
Cassius rushes home to get the mail before his father does. He and Rudy leave Riney to finish their food.
Round 3, Poem 39 Summary: “School”
Big Head Paul is the smartest in Cassius’s friend group, and he excels at science. Riney often brings fruit from his grandmother’s for the teachers, who in turn ensure that he gets decent grades. Lucky is an excellent speller and reader, an area that has helped Cassius.
Round 3, Poem 40 Summary: “In the Second Grade”
When Cassius was in second grade, it was his turn to read a section of Fun with Dick and Jane aloud in class. When he looked at the words, he swore that the F in Fun “turned upside down, / started floating / off the page” (83). Other letters changed order, and Cassius began to feel dizzy.
Now, he memorizes what he can and guesses at what he can’t.
Round 3, Poem 41 Summary: “Failed Plan”
Cassius runs home as fast as he can, but the mailbox is already empty when he gets there. He sits on the porch, afraid of what his father is going to say but knowing that he’s already gotten the mail. Rudy is exhausted from trying to catch up with Cassius, having lagged two blocks behind.
Round 3, Poem 42 Summary: “Conversation with Momma Bird”
Cassius’s mother summons him in the house, having been the one to retrieve the mail. She reminds him that his father won’t like his grades and worries that he’ll fail out of school. She’s even more worried that he’ll think he’s dumb, but Cassius tells her that he “came in this world smart and / pretty, and I’m gonna leave it the same way” (87).
She tells him that they’re going to see Alberta Jones that weekend to see if she can help with his grades. He sets off to do chores, and she adds that his father will be home soon.
Round 3, Poem 43 Summary: “Turning Point”
Cassius’s father arrives home quietly, a contrast to his usual loud entrance. Cassius compares him to a preacher preparing to give a funeral eulogy. When he finally comes into the same room as Cassius and Rudy, he announces that a tree has fallen, “hugging us like / he’d never done before” (90).
Round 3, Poem 44 Summary: “I Was Twelve”
Cassius recounts the major events of his 12th year. He learned that he was fast. Rudy had chickenpox, and Tall Bubba was injured. Cassius almost failed out of school and decided to become rich so that his kids wouldn’t be prohibited from going anywhere.
He then reveals that it was also this year that his grandfather passed away.
Round 3 Analysis
Jumping back to Cassius’s 12th year, this section of the novel further characterizes Cassius and his Public and Private Personas. The introductory section from Lucky’s perspective reveals that Cassius struggles in school. Cassius’s narration reveals the anxiety he experiences around his grades. Poem 40 suggests that Cassius has a learning difference because of the way he describes his experience reading Fun with Dick and Jane: “I swear the F / in Ⅎun / turned upside down, / started floating / off the page” (83). It is common for students with dyslexia to experience difficulty reading specific letters, but at this time, there was not much support for students with learning differences, let alone Black students. However, Cassius feels a lot of pressure from his family members to perform well in school because they see it as a way for him to succeed and provide for himself, as noted when Granddaddy Herman reminds him (paraphrasing from a Langston Hughes poem) that “[l]ife ain’t no crystal stair” (67).
Cassius is self-conscious about his performance in school, and while he acts cavalier about it in talking about his future success, his attempts to learn Granddaddy Herman’s card trick speaks to his concern. For example, long after Rudy has fallen asleep, he stays up trying to perfect the trick, “trying to prove / to myself / that I was smart / at something” (72). The trick itself becomes a symbol of Cassius’s belief in his excellence, as when he performs it for those at his going-away party before the 1959 Golden Gloves, exemplifying how he has come to succeed and provide a future for himself, even if it is not one specifically associated with schooling.
Granddaddy Herman also plays a critical role in this chapter, sharing with Cassius the history of his name, the history of his family, and the card trick. In doing so, he keeps Cassius in connection with the history of his family and of African Americans in general, particularly through the story of Tom the Slave. While Cassius and his friends already look up to Black athletes like Cool Papa Bell and Jack Johnson, the story of Tom the Slave is influential because it is a story of Becoming the Greatest and Overcoming Oppression.
While the story ends tragically with Tom’s fingers being broken, it shows how he was able to escape to freedom and become a boxer. The story also serves as a metaphor for Becoming Muhammad Ali itself when Rudy questions whether the story is true. Cassius admits that it may not be, but in saying that it’s still a good story, he speaks in many ways to the novel itself. The book is historical fiction, but this conversation emphasizes that the authors tell a good story and provide context for how Muhammad Ali was able to succeed as a boxer. The novel speaks to a larger “story truth”: The emotions and meaning behind the story are true, even if the factual details are not.
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