Raymond's Run Bamueaky Analysis
What people experience in their childhood reflects on their personality and how they behave. In this short story called Raymond’s Run by Tony Cade Bambara, the protagonist Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, known as Squeaky minds her older brother who has mental retardation. Looking after her brother and keep herself up as a fabulous runner really make her strong physically and mentally; she is a girl who strongly believes in practice to get anything better, and she respects anyone who works hard as well. Squeaky, who is known as the fastest runner in her school always takes care of her mentally challenged brother Raymond, and that makes her personality confident and tough. She is very proud of herself as a runner because “there is no track meet that [she doesn’t] win the first place medal”(21), and even “the big kids call [her] Mercury. Her running skill is built by
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plenty of practice; working hard and committing results can prove that she is actually a fast runner, and no one could complain about it since she has the proof. She also puts effort to minding Raymond with both sympathy and pride, which is not an easy task and even takes her social life away. As minding her older brother, she takes good responsibility of it by let him tag along with her to running practice. If anyone has “anything to say about his big head”(21), she would contradict the person to protect Raymond; because of his disability, he is easily picked on by others and Squeaky does not appreciate seeing or hearing anything bad about him at all. Even though Squeaky, herself sometimes makes fun of Raymond, she claims that she is the only person who can tease him. When someone curses about Raymond, Squeaky defends him with her sharp tongue and possibly “knock [the person] down”(23). Those altercations between her and her friends helped her to be tough. Some other children do not behave well around Squeaky because they do not like how she defends her brother and the fact she is the fastest runner. Gretchen and her sidekicks, Mary Louise and Rosie give Squeaky invectives and so she does to them; she is also afraid of the fact, which Gretchen could get the first place of thirty-yard dash this year. However Squeaky does not afraid or hate to be alone; she rather be by herself than hang out with phony people who “never really smile at each other”(23) because “[she] could [even] kill people like that”(22). Because of her conscientious personality, she can not stand people who tell lie or act fake, even if it is about small thing such as studying for spelling tests. She prefers to be friends with people who can respect each other and believe in hard work like she does. Squeaky sees Gretchen with respect after the race and “sort of like[s] [her] a little for the first time”(26). Gretchen admits that Squeaky is a fine runner and they give “real smile” to each other, both hoping to start a real friendship. Even though Squeaky takes care of Raymond well, she was not so grateful to take him everywhere with her and keep her eyes on him at the beginning of the story.
However, at the end of he story, she sees “Raymond would make a very fine runner”(26), and decides to “retire as a runner and begin a whole new career as a coach”(26). She remembers that Raymond always keep up with her when she practice, and knows how to breath in counts of seven; her conviction that he would be a great runner is confirmed when she sees his form of his own style running and climbing up the fence. After the race, Squeaky realizes that winning is not everything, but to teach someone to be successful. Also she got enough medals and ribbons for running races, so now she thinks that she could be better at other activities such as spelling words or playing piano. As coaching Raymond, Squeaky thinks that Gretchen would be a good partner since she is also “serious about running”(26) and practices a lot like Squeaky does; this could be a big turning point for both Squeaky and Raymond, focusing on something they never be so serious
of. Stop working on something one is really good at and change a career to something else is a hard decision. Nevertheless, Squeaky switches her career for her loving brother Raymond. She wants him to be successful as a runner because she sees good potential in him and has never really get anything to call is own. Squeaky learns from this race that winning the best place is not the most important single thing; starting to like Gretchen and give big smile of respect to each other is also a big step-up for Squeaky.
plenty of practice; working hard and committing results can prove that she is actually a fast runner, and no one could complain about it since she has the proof. She also puts effort to minding Raymond with both sympathy and pride, which is not an easy task and even takes her social life away. As minding her older brother, she takes good responsibility of it by let him tag along with her to running practice. If anyone has “anything to say about his big head”(21), she would contradict the person to protect Raymond; because of his disability, he is easily picked on by others and Squeaky does not appreciate seeing or hearing anything bad about him at all. Even though Squeaky, herself sometimes makes fun of Raymond, she claims that she is the only person who can tease him. When someone curses about Raymond, Squeaky defends him with her sharp tongue and possibly “knock [the person] down”(23). Those altercations between her and her friends helped her to be tough. Some other children do not behave well around Squeaky because they do not like how she defends her brother and the fact she is the fastest runner. Gretchen and her sidekicks, Mary Louise and Rosie give Squeaky invectives and so she does to them; she is also afraid of the fact, which Gretchen could get the first place of thirty-yard dash this year. However Squeaky does not afraid or hate to be alone; she rather be by herself than hang out with phony people who “never really smile at each other”(23) because “[she] could [even] kill people like that”(22). Because of her conscientious personality, she can not stand people who tell lie or act fake, even if it is about small thing such as studying for spelling tests. She prefers to be friends with people who can respect each other and believe in hard work like she does. Squeaky sees Gretchen with respect after the race and “sort of like[s] [her] a little for the first time”(26). Gretchen admits that Squeaky is a fine runner and they give “real smile” to each other, both hoping to start a real friendship. Even though Squeaky takes care of Raymond well, she was not so grateful to take him everywhere with her and keep her eyes on him at the beginning of the story.
However, at the end of he story, she sees “Raymond would make a very fine runner”(26), and decides to “retire as a runner and begin a whole new career as a coach”(26). She remembers that Raymond always keep up with her when she practice, and knows how to breath in counts of seven; her conviction that he would be a great runner is confirmed when she sees his form of his own style running and climbing up the fence. After the race, Squeaky realizes that winning is not everything, but to teach someone to be successful. Also she got enough medals and ribbons for running races, so now she thinks that she could be better at other activities such as spelling words or playing piano. As coaching Raymond, Squeaky thinks that Gretchen would be a good partner since she is also “serious about running”(26) and practices a lot like Squeaky does; this could be a big turning point for both Squeaky and Raymond, focusing on something they never be so serious
of. Stop working on something one is really good at and change a career to something else is a hard decision. Nevertheless, Squeaky switches her career for her loving brother Raymond. She wants him to be successful as a runner because she sees good potential in him and has never really get anything to call is own. Squeaky learns from this race that winning the best place is not the most important single thing; starting to like Gretchen and give big smile of respect to each other is also a big step-up for Squeaky.