Free Essay

Raymond's Run

In:

Submitted By johnathan06
Words 3748
Pages 15
I don’t have much work to do around the house like some girls. My mother does that. And I don’t have to earn my pocket money by hustling; George runs errands for the big boys and sells Christmas cards. And anything else that’s got to get done, my father does. All I have to do in life is mind my brother Raymond, which is enough.

Sometimes I slip and say my little brother Raymond. But as any fool can see he’s much bigger and he’s older too. But a lot of people call him my little brother cause he needs looking after cause he’s not quite right. And a lot of smart mouths got lots to say about that too, especially when George was minding him. But now, if anybody has anything to say to Raymond, anything to say about his big head, they have to come by me. And I don’t play the dozens or believe in standing around with somebody in my face doing a lot of talking. I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I am a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky. And if things get too rough, I run. And as anybody can tell you, I’m the fastest thing on two feet.

There is no track meet that I don’t win the first-place medal. I used to win the twenty-yard dash when I was a little kid in kindergarten. Nowadays, it’s the fifty-yard dash. And tomorrow I’m subject to run the quarter-meter relay all by myself and come in first, second, and third. The big kids call me Mercury cause I’m the swiftest thing in the neighborhood. Everybody knows that—except two people who know better, my father and me. He can beat me to Amsterdam Avenue with me having a two-fire-hydrant headstart and him running with his hands in his pockets and whistling. But that’s private information. Cause can you imagine some thirty-five-year-old man stuffing himself into PAL shorts to race little kids? So as far as everyone’s concerned, I’m the fastest and that goes for Gretchen, too, who has put out the tale that she is going to win the first-place medal this year. Ridiculous. In the second place, she’s got short legs. In the third place, she’s got freckles. In the first place, no one can beat me and that’s all there is to it.

I’m standing on the corner admiring the weather and about to take a stroll down Broadway so I can practice my breathing exercises, and I’ve got Raymond walking on the inside close to the buildings, cause he’s subject to fits of fantasy and starts thinking he’s a circus performer and that the curb is a tightrope strung high in the air. And sometimes after a rain he likes to step down off his tightrope right into the gutter and slosh around getting his shoes and cuffs wet. Then I get hit when I get home. Or sometimes if you don’t watch him he’ll dash across traffic to the island in the middle of Broadway and give the pigeons a fit. Then I have to go behind him apologizing to all the old people sitting around trying to get some sun and getting all upset with the pigeons fluttering around them, scattering their newspapers and upsetting the waxpaper lunches in their laps. So I keep Raymond on the inside of me, and he plays like he’s driving a stage coach which is OK by me so long as he doesn’t run me over or interrupt my breathing exercises, which I have to do on account of I’m serious about my running, and I don’t care who knows it.

Now some people like to act like things come easy to them, won’t let on that they practice. Not me. I’ll high-prance down 34th Street like a rodeo pony to keep my knees strong even if it does get my mother uptight so that she walks ahead like she’s not with me, don’t know me, is all by herself on a shopping trip, and I am somebody else’s crazy child. Now you take Cynthia Procter for instance. She’s just the opposite. If there’s a test tomorrow, she’ll say something like, “Oh, I guess I’ll play handball this afternoon and watch television tonight,” just to let you know she ain’t thinking about the test. Or like last week when she won the spelling bee for the millionth time, “A good thing you got ‘receive,’ Squeaky, cause I would have got it wrong. I completely forgot about the spelling bee.” And she’ll clutch the lace on her blouse like it was a narrow escape. Oh, brother. But of course when I pass her house on my early morning trots around the block, she is practicing the scales on the piano over and over and over and over. Then in music class she always lets herself get bumped around so she falls accidentally on purpose onto the piano stool and is so surprised to find herself sitting there that she decides just for fun to try out the ole keys. And what do you know—Chopin’s waltzes just spring out of her fingertips and she’s the most surprised thing in the world. A regular prodigy. I could kill people like that. I stay up all night studying the words for the spelling bee. And you can see me any time of day practicing running. I never walk if I can trot, and shame on Raymond if he can’t keep up. But of course he does, cause if he hangs back someone’s liable to walk up to him and get smart, or take his allowance from him, or ask him where he got that great big pumpkin head. People are so stupid sometimes.

So I’m strolling down Broadway breathing out and breathing in on counts of seven, which is my lucky number, and here comes Gretchen and her sidekicks: Mary Louise, who used to be a friend of mine when she first moved to Harlem from Baltimore and got beat up by everybody till I took up for her on account of her mother and my mother used to sing in the same choir when they were young girls, but people ain’t grateful, so now she hangs out with the new girl Gretchen and talks about me like a dog; and Rosie, who is as fat as I am skinny and has a big mouth where Raymond is concerned and is too stupid to know that there is not a big deal of difference between herself and Raymond and that she can’t afford to throw stones. So they are steady coming up Broadway and I see right away that it’s going to be one of those Dodge City scenes cause the street ain’t that big and they’re close to the buildings just as we are. First I think I’ll step into the candy store and look over the new comics and let them pass. But that’s chicken and I’ve got a reputation to consider. So then I think I’ll just walk straight on through them or even over them if necessary. But as they get to me, they slow down. I’m ready to fight, cause like I said I don’t feature a whole lot of chit-chat, I much prefer to just knock you down right from the jump and save everybody a lotta precious time.

“You signing up for the May Day races?” smiles Mary Louise, only it’s not a smile at all. A dumb question like that doesn’t deserve an answer. Besides, there’s just me and Gretchen standing there really, so no use wasting my breath talking to shadows.

“I don’t think you’re going to win this time,” says Rosie, trying to signify with her hands on her hips all salty, completely forgetting that I have whupped her behind many times for less salt than that.

“I always win cause I’m the best,” I say straight at Gretchen who is, as far as I’m concerned, the only one talking in this ventrilo-quist-dummy routine. Gretchen smiles, but it’s not a smile, and I’m thinking that girls never really smile at each other because they don’t know how and don’t want to know how and there’s probably no one to teach us how, cause grown-up girls don’t know either. Then they all look at Raymond who has just brought his mule team to a standstill. And they’re about to see what trouble they can get into through him.

“What grade you in now, Raymond?”

“You got anything to say to my brother, you say it to me, Mary Louise Williams of Raggedy Town, Baltimore.”

“What are you, his mother?” sasses Rosie.

“That’s right, Fatso. And the next word out of anybody and I’ll be their mother too.” So they just stand there and Gretchen shifts from one leg to the other and so do they. Then Gretchen puts her hands on her hips and is about to say something with her freckle-face self but doesn’t. Then she walks around me looking me up and down but keeps walking up Broadway, and her sidekicks follow her. So me and Raymond smile at each other and he says, “Gidyap” to his team and I continue with my breathing exercises, strolling down Broadway toward the ice man on 145th with not a care in the world cause I am Miss Quicksilver herself.

I take my time getting to the park on May Day because the track meet is the last thing on the program. The biggest thing on the program is the May Pole dancing, which I can do without, thank you, even if my mother thinks it’s a shame I don’t take part and act like a girl for a change. You’d think my mother’d be grateful not to have to make me a white organdy dress with a big satin sash and buy me new white baby-doll shoes that can’t be taken out of the box till the big day. You’d think she’d be glad her daughter ain’t out there prancing around a May Pole getting the new clothes all dirty and sweaty and trying to act like a fairy or a flower or whatever you’re supposed to be when you should be trying to be yourself, whatever that is, which is, as far as I am concerned, a poor black girl who really can’t afford to buy shoes and a new dress you only wear once a lifetime cause it won’t fit next year.

I was once a strawberry in a Hansel and Gretel pageant when I was in nursery school and didn’t have no better sense than to dance on tiptoe with my arms in a circle over my head doing umbrella steps and being a perfect fool just so my mother and father could come dressed up and clap. You’d think they’d know better than to encourage that kind of nonsense. I am not a strawberry. I do not dance on my toes. I run. That is what I am all about. So I always come late to the May Day program, just in time to get my number pinned on and lay in the grass till they announce the fifty-yard dash.

I put Raymond in the little swings, which is a tight squeeze this year and will be impossible next year. Then I look around for Mr. Pearson, who pins the numbers on. I’m really looking for Gretchen if you want to know the truth, but she’s not around. The park is jam-packed. Parents in hats and corsages and breast-pocket handkerchiefs peeking up. Kids in white dresses and light-blue suits. The parkees unfolding chairs and chasing the rowdy kids from Lenox as if they had no right to be there. The big guys with their caps on backwards, leaning against the fence swirling the basketballs on the tips of their fingers, waiting for all these crazy people to clear out the park so they can play. Most of the kids in my class are carrying bass drums and glockenspiels and flutes. You’d think they’d put in a few bongos or something for real like that.

Then here comes Mr. Pearson with his clipboard and his cards and pencils and whistles and safety pins and fifty million other things he’s always dropping all over the place with his clumsy self. He sticks out in a crowd because he’s on stilts. We used to call him Jack and the Beanstalk to get him mad. But I’m the only one that can outrun him and get away, and I’m too grown for that silliness now.

“Well, Squeaky,” he says, checking my name off the list and handing me number seven and two pins. And I’m thinking he’s got no right to call me Squeaky, if I can’t call him Beanstalk.

“Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker,” I correct him and tell him to write it down on his board.

“Well, Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, going to give someone else a break this year?” I squint at him real hard to see if he is seriously thinking I should lose the race on purpose just to give someone else a break. “Only six girls running this time,” he continues, shaking his head sadly like it’s my fault all of New York didn’t turn out in sneakers. “That new girl should give you a run for your money.” He looks around the park for Gretchen like a periscope in a submarine movie. “Wouldn’t it be a nice gesture if you were . . . to ahhh . . .”

I give him such a look he couldn’t finish putting that idea into words. Grown-ups got a lot of nerve sometimes. I pin number seven to myself and stomp away, I’m so burnt. And I go straight for the track and stretch out on the grass while the band winds up with “Oh, the Monkey Wrapped His Tail Around the Flag Pole,” which my teacher calls by some other name. The man on the loudspeaker is calling everyone over to the track and I’m on my back looking at the sky, trying to pretend I’m in the country, but I can’t, because even grass in the city feels hard as sidewalk, and there’s just no pretending you are anywhere but in a “concrete jungle” as my grandfather says.

The twenty-yard dash takes all of two minutes cause most of the little kids don’t know no better than to run off the track or run the wrong way or run smack into the fence and fall down and cry. One little kid, though, has got the good sense to run straight for the white ribbon up ahead so he wins. Then the second-graders line up for the thirty-yard dash and I don’t even bother to turn my head to watch cause Raphael Perez always wins. He wins before he even begins by psyching the runners, telling them they’re going to trip on their shoelaces and fall on their faces or lose their shorts or something, which he doesn’t really have to do since he is very fast, almost as fast as I am. After that is the forty-yard dash which I used to run when I was in first grade. Raymond is hollering from the swings cause he knows I’m about to do my thing cause the man on the loudspeaker has just announced the fifty-yard dash, although he might just as well be giving a recipe for angel food cake cause you can hardly make out what he’s sayin for the static. I get up and slip off my sweat pants and then I see Gretchen standing at the starting line, kicking her legs out like a pro. Then as I get into place I see that ole Raymond is on line on the other side of the fence, bending down with his fingers on the ground just like he knew what he was doing. I was going to yell at him but then I didn’t. It burns up your energy to holler.

Every time, just before I take off in a race, I always feel like I’m in a dream, the kind of dream you have when you’re sick with fever and feel all hot and weightless. I dream I’m flying over a sandy beach in the early morning sun, kissing the leaves of the trees as I fly by. And there’s always the smell of apples, just like in the country when I was little and used to think I was a choo-choo train, running through the fields of corn and chugging up the hill to the orchard. And all the time I’m dreaming this, I get lighter and lighter until I’m flying over the beach again, getting blown through the sky like a feather that weighs nothing at all. But once I spread my fingers in the dirt and crouch over the Get on Your Mark, the dream goes and I am solid again and am telling myself, Squeaky you must win, you must win, you are the fastest thing in the world, you can even beat your father up Amsterdam if you really try. And then I feel my weight coming back just behind my knees then down to my feet then into the earth and the pistol shot explodes in my blood and I am off and weightless again, flying past the other runners, my arms pumping up and down and the whole world is quiet except for the crunch as I zoom over the gravel in the track. I glance to my left and there is no one. To the right, a blurred Gretchen, who’s got her chin jutting out as if it would win the race all by itself. And on the other side of the fence is Raymond with his arms down to his side and the palms tucked up behind him, running in his very own style, and it’s the first time I ever saw that and I almost stop to watch my brother Raymond on his first run. But the white ribbon is bouncing toward me and I tear past it, racing into the distance till my feet with a mind of their own start digging up footfuls of dirt and brake me short. Then all the kids standing on the side pile on me, banging me on the back and slapping my head with their May Day programs, for I have won again and everybody on 151st Street can walk tall for another year.

“In first place . . .” the man on the loudspeaker is clear as a bell now. But then he pauses and the loudspeaker starts to whine. Then static. And I lean down to catch my breath and here comes Gretchen walking back, for she’s overshot the finish line too, huffing and puffing with her hands on her hips taking it slow, breathing in steady time like a real pro and I sort of like her a little for the first time. “In first place . . .” and then three or four voices get all mixed up on the loudspeaker and I dig my sneaker into the grass and stare at Gretchen who’s staring back, we both wondering just who did win. I can hear old Beanstalk arguing with the man on the loudspeaker and then a few others running their mouths about what the stopwatches say. Then I hear Raymond yanking at the fence to call me and I wave to shush him, but he keeps rattling the fence like a gorilla in a cage like in them gorilla movies, but then like a dancer or something he starts climbing up nice and easy but very fast. And it occurs to me, watching how smoothly he climbs hand over hand and remembering how he looked running with his arms down to his side and with the wind pulling his mouth back and his teeth showing and all, it occurred to me that Raymond would make a very fine runner. Doesn’t he always keep up with me on my trots? And he surely knows how to breathe in counts of seven cause he’s always doing it at the dinner table, which drives my brother George up the wall. And I’m smiling to beat the band cause if I’ve lost this race, or if me and Gretchen tied, or even if I’ve won, I can always retire as a runner and begin a whole new career as a coach with Raymond as my champion. After all, with a little more study I can beat Cynthia and her phony self at the spelling bee. And if I bugged my mother, I could get piano lessons and become a star. And I have a big rep as the baddest thing around. And I’ve got a roomful of ribbons and medals and awards. But what has Raymond got to call his own?

So I stand there with my new plans, laughing out loud by this time as Raymond jumps down from the fence and runs over with his teeth showing and his arms down to the side, which no one before him has quite mastered as a running style. And by the time he comes over I’m jumping up and down so glad to see him—my brother Raymond, a great runner in the family tradition. But of course everyone thinks I’m jumping up and down because the men on the loudspeaker have finally gotten themselves together and compared notes and are announcing “In first place—Miss Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker.” (Dig that.) “In second place—Miss Gretchen P. Lewis.” And I look over at Gretchen wondering what the “P” stands for. And I smile. Cause she’s good, no doubt about it. Maybe she’d like to help me coach Raymond; she obviously is serious about running, as any fool can see. And she nods to congratulate me and then she smiles. And I smile. We stand there with this big smile of respect between us. It’s about as real a smile as girls can do for each other, considering we don’t practice real smiling every day, you know, cause maybe we too busy being flowers or fairies or strawberries instead of something honest and worthy of respect . . . you know . . . like being people.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Determination In Raymond's Run

...No matter how far your imagination can stretch or what you can think of, you can get anything you want if you give it all you have got. Determination is the key to following your dreams, proven in the story “Raymond’s Run” as well as The Duck Song. Squeaky is out to pursue her dreams and keep her reputation as a runner. Her tenaciousness lets her see her goal and find a way to get to it like a GPS finding a destination. But when Squeaky fails she doesn’t give up, she tries again either at something new or at what she failed at, just like the duck in The Duck Song. With Squeaky determination is what makes her win. If Squeaky had still had the muscle to be a runner, but didn’t care about the outcome of the race you would see someone who had no...

Words: 269 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Squeaky In Raymond's Run

...Rejection is an everyday conflict. You run into it on your way to work. You greet it at the bus stop. However, rejection has a choice for you to take. Rejection can either a nuisance to you, or your friend that supports you through thick and thin. When you choose the “nuisance” path for rejection, you are extinguishing a fire that gives you a boost of self-confidence. On the other hand, greeting rejection as an old friend can in turn kindle the fire. One person that uses this technique within her life is the fictional character Squeaky, from the story “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara. In this story, Squeaky has to overcome her brother Raymond’s mental disability, bullies, poverty, and her mother’s girly expectations. All the obstacles life...

Words: 1541 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Analysis

...Everyone has those they consider family, even though they may not share blood. In literature, family often provides interesting conflicts for protagonists, from internal to external. The authors SE Hinton, Toni Cade Bambara and Walter Dean Myers all explore the central idea of family and identity in their respective works, The Outsiders, “Raymond’s Run” and “The Treasure of Lemon Brown”. Ponyboy Curtis’s internal turmoil over being a Greaser exemplifies this point elegantly: Ponyboy is born to a family of Greasers, lives among Greasers and loves his Greaser gang, though his identity ostracizes him in the Greaser world. Because of this, Ponyboy feels misunderstood and alone, saying, “[N]obody in [his] gang digs movies and books the way [he]...

Words: 827 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run - Essay

...Raymond’s Run (handout edition) - Essay Raymond’s Run is a short story written by Toni Bambara Cade in 1960. The story is about a girl named Hazel, and her brother Raymond who is “not quite right”. Hazel loves running and she is always first in competitions. She is always looking out for Raymond and takes him with her when she is practicing, and also to the May Day race where Raymond starts running in his own unique style which changes Hazel’s view on Raymond, herself and the people around her. In my essay I would like to analyze the main character, setting, language, theme and finally compare to other similar texts. Raymond’s Run is told by a first-person narrator who also happens to be the story’s protagonist. The protagonist is named Hazel but bears the nickname “Squeaky” because she is skinny and with a squeaky voice. She’s a black girl from a poor environment and spends most of her time looking out for her brother Raymond and practicing running. Hazel has a negative view on other people, especially Gretchen and her “clique”, which is clearly pointed out by the way she thinks about them and talks to them. She also states that she does not like fake things and people trying to be someone they are not, “…trying to act like a fairy or a flower or whatever you’re supposed to be when you should be trying to be yourself ” p. 2 ll. 42-43. Hazel prefer fighting before arguing, thus knowing she is skinny and not very strong. She says that the big kids call her “Mercury” because...

Words: 826 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Analysis

...Theme Essay “Raymond's Run” written by Toni Cade Bambara is about a girl nicknamed Squeaky that is having problems about how she can’t make friends. She is different from everyone else because of a family problem. In the story” All American Slurp” Lin is a girl that lived in a different country and she had a different way of living and when she moves to a different country she finds out that what she learned was not what the others did. Lin faces a problem just like Squeaky where she is different from most people and not many people like having friends that are different . The problem that Squeaky is facing is that nobody likes her and they don’t want towanna be friends with her because she is competitive with everyone she meets and that...

Words: 616 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Scueaky In Raymond's Run

...If you ever want to be like Squeaky in Raymond’s Run you must be honest. Honest hearts produce honest actions anyway. Squeaky is a honest young girl. First of all, she talks honestly about getting hit at home. Secondly, she tells Gretchen that she won't win. As well as, she is very honest about how proud of Raymond she is. Toni Cade Bambara included these details to show she is honest. There is no doubt that squeaky is honest. She talks honestly about getting hit at home! If anyone in got hit at home they would most likely not tell anyone unless they are also getting hit at home. A lot of people would also find it good that she'll take a beating for Raymond. For example in paragraph 4 sentence 3 it says, “After a rain he likes to step off...

Words: 393 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Compare And Contrast

...Compare/ Contrast Essay It might seem like “Everything Will Be OK” and “ Raymond's Run” are very different kinds of stories. One is a story about a boy who is soft, sensitive and the other is about a girl who is tough and confident. When you dig a little deeper, you will see that both stories actually share a common theme. In both stories , “Raymond's Run” and “ Everything Will Be OK” the authors teach us that it is important to have courage to be an individual. In “Everything Will Be OK” the author shows us that it is vital to have courage to be yourself . In the beginning of the story James shows little courage to be himself . For example, when James says he can feel tears welling up. This evidence shows that, James is really sad about the kitten, maybe being too sick to keep but he won’t show it because he’s afraid of what is brother’s will think if he cries. This shows very little courage. Another example is, when James says “ I want to go because I want my father to like me, but I don’t want to kill animals” This evidence suggests , that he has to courage to just say he doesn't want to because he is so busy...

Words: 899 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

The Importance Of Masks In 'Raymond's Run'

...hide who they really are when they mean to impress others because the want to appear “normal”. All this affects their self-worth and self-esteem, pulling them under a veil of regret and self-doubt. Similarly, the character Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker (also known as Squeaky), the protagonist in the short story “Raymond's Run” by Toni Cade Barbara, uses a mask to hide her feelings from others. She resides in poverty-stricken Harlem taking place in the 1960s....

Words: 1431 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Squeaky Analysis

...“Raymond’s Run,” is about a girl named Squeaky who protects her brother, Raymond. “Everything Will Be Okay” is about a boy named James who wants to make him family proud but thinks very differently from them. In the stories “Everything will be okay” and “Raymond’s Run” the authors teach is that it is okay to be your own person. In “Raymond’s Run,” Squeaky is very protective of her brother, Raymond. Because of this it is hard for Raymond to be his own person. Squeaky keeps him on the inside of the road so he doesn't run off. He has to stay by Squeaky’s side every minute of the day. She doesn't even let him talk to other people because she is afraid that Raymond will get hurt. For example, when Mary asked, “what grade are you in now Raymond.” Squeaky didn’t even let him defend himself, when she yelled “You got anything to say to my brother, you say it to me, Mary Louise Williams of raggedy town Baltimore.” This shows that Raymond can’t even stand up for himself, without Squeaky jumping in. If Squeaky won’t even let Raymond talk to other people then Raymond can’t become his own person. By the end of the story Squeaky gives him a...

Words: 572 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Overcoming Stereotypes In Raymond's Run

...Almost everybody has heard of the bright-eyed, smiling Barbie doll. The fashion doll is extremely famous, and has been part of many childhoods, giving girls a role model to look up too. Since the 1960’s, Barbie’s goal and purpose has been to show girls and women that they can be anything they want to. However, with this positive mindset comes Barbie’s looks. She has set an ‘ideal body shape’, and is often criticized for her unrealistic figure. When one puts their mind to something, there is often no stopping them. Especially when it comes to overcoming stereotypes and achieving one’s dreams. A character who faces these problems is Squeaky, the protagonist of “Raymond’s Run”, a short story written by Toni Cade Bambara. The story takes takes...

Words: 288 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run 'And Everything Will Be Ok'

...Compare/Contrast essay It might seem like “Everything Will Be Ok” and “Raymond's Run”are very different Kinds of stories. One story is about a boy who found a animal and wanting to take care of it And the other is about a girl who is being overprotective and not wanting anyone else in. If you look a little closer you will find out they are kinda in common themes. “Raymond's run” and “Everything will be ok” the author teaches us that it is important to have the courage to be an individual. In “Everything Will Be Ok” the author and main character, James Howe shows Us that it is vital to have the courage to be yourself. In the beginning of the story james found a kitten in The woods and thought he would bring it home and take care of it. All of his family said mean things but, his mom understood how he felt. His father said it would be a waste of good meat. His brothers teased him but, his mother thought the opposite she said You don't have to eat it and took the grey meat off his plate. This is important because It tells us he doesn't have the courage yet to have courage and tell how he feels about it. In the middle of the story, James mother cleans the cat up and leaves the cat in a box...

Words: 567 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Short Story

...In the world, many people struggle with making friends. In this short story “Raymond's Run” by Toni Cade Bambara the third grader Squeaky learns that being vulnerable to others can have a positive impact on your life. She alway walled herself off from other people to avoid them. In the beginning Squeaky has always walled herself off “You got anything to say about my brother you say it to me Mary Loise of raggedy town Baltimore”. She has become over protective over her brother Raymond. She is so caught up guarding Raymond from people making fun of him that she doesn’t make any friends because she thinks that everybody will try to make fun of Raymond but that doesn’t happen all the time and now she is going to start learning that. She will...

Words: 277 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Valuable Lessons In Raymond's Run

...A range of diverse lessons can be gleaned through participating in competitive sports, some of which may lay the groundwork for future successes in other areas of life. This is expressed by Toni Cade Bambara in “Raymond’s Run.” and by Lorne Zeiler in “Lawrence (Larry) Lemieux Lifesaver”. While both protagonists learn valuable lessons from participating in competitive sports, Hazel of “Raymond’s Run,” gains the most from her experience when compared to Lawrence Lemieux. In Toni Cade Bambara’s piece, Hazel Parker learns several valuable lessons due to her involvement in competitive sports. Hazel discovers that helping others may bring more happiness than personal achievement. This revelation can be observed through her sudden insistence on pursuing the idea of abandoning her running career to coach her brother in the same...

Words: 558 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Squeaky Analysis

...The stories Everything will be okay and Raymond's run are toes, but have some similarities like, be your own person and the importance of individualism. Raymond's Run Squeaky shows a lot of individualism and she is a very unique person. The beginning is where squeaky is very protective and she is also very stubborn and she quotes that “I would much rather take my chances than talk it out!” But in Everything will be okay James is a very compassionate person and doesn't like fighting is also very competitive she does a lot of training to prepare for her competitions and her running. But throughout the story and she sees Raymond running and she realises that she needs to train Raymond ins She also becomes more friendly, she sends a smile at...

Words: 421 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run By Squeaky Quotes

...In the short story "Raymond's Run'' by Tori Cade Bambara, the protagonist Squeaky is a young girl who is in charge of taking care of her handicapped brother. Her real name is Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, she got the name Squeaky because her voice is well squeaky. From what the author wrote I think the setting is in NYC. Squeaky proves to be a memorable character because she is a nonconformist, protective and mostly because she is very confident. One main reason that Squeaky is a memorable character, is that she is a nonconformist-a kindof bad way to say that you are very different from everybody else. For incense, she says "I take my time getting to the park on May Day because the track meet is the last thing on the program. The biggest thing on the program is the May Pole...

Words: 623 - Pages: 3