Summary:
"Raymond's Run" is a sensational story by Toni Cade Bambara featuring Hazel "Squeaky" Parker, a little African-American girl with skinny arms, a squeaky voice, and a passion to run. Known as Mercury by the big kids, Squeaky is the swiftest thing in the neighborhood. That is, except for her father, who can beat her to Amsterdam Avenue with Squeaky having a two-fire-hydrant head start and him running with his hands in his pockets and whistling.
Response to Literature: Raymond's Run
"Raymond's Run" is a sensational story by Toni Cade Bambara featuring Hazel "Squeaky" Parker, a little African-American girl with skinny arms, a squeaky voice, and a passion to run. Known as Mercury by the big kids, Squeaky is the swiftest thing in the neighborhood. That is, except for her father, who can beat her to Amsterdam Avenue with Squeaky having a two-fire-hydrant head start and him running with his hands in his pockets and whistling.
Squeaky has a brother named Raymond who's infected with a disease called hydrocephalus. Raymond is actually bigger and older than Squeaky, but a lot of people call him Squeaky's little brother because he needs looking after. Squeaky often takes strolls down Broadway so she can practice her breathing exercises while having to keep an eye on Raymond the whole time. She makes Raymond walk on the inside because 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. I really admire that. I mean, I have trouble keeping my own brother inside a room without doing anything else!
The story described Squeaky as adamant, tough, loyal, proud, and determined. There are some qualities in which I am similar to her. For example, in the story Squeaky is always ready to fight and protect her brother. Even though I may quarrel over insignificant details with my little brother, he's always my number one priority whenever I leave the safe castle of home. I'm also proud of who I am and what I do. Whenever I'm really determined to do something, I would do whatever necessary to achieve it. On the other hand, I'm not nearly as tough or adamant as Squeaky is. The kinds of people I hate most are those who lag around dragging a group down. I don't really know anybody like Cynthia Procter, but I did, I probably would hate them too.
In addition to being protective of her sibling, Squeaky is probably the most competitive person ever born. She wouldn't tolerate any talks of someone else winning the fifty-yard dash. Not Gretchen, not Mary Louise Williams, and certainly not Mr. Pearson. She said, "I am not a strawberry. I do not dance on my toes. I run." Sometimes that determination and competitiveness gives you the extra boost that others don't have. Squeaky also has a pre-competition ritual. Every time, just before she takes off in a race, Squeaky always feel like she's in a dream, the kind of dream you have when you're sick with fever and feel all hot and weightless. She dreams that she's flying over a sandy beach in the early morning sun, kissing the leaves of the trees a she fly by. And there's always the smell of apples, just like in the country when she was little and used to think she was a choo-choo train, running through the fields of corn and chugging up the hill to the orchard.
To be honest, after reading this story I didn't really feel any connection to the story or emotions. Although the story was very well written, it just doesn't link itself to the reader. An example of a short story that does link itself to the reader is Gary Paulsen's "Stop the Sun." "Raymond's Run" lacks physical and mental emotions that leave a deep impression in the reader's mind.
This is the complete article, containing 569 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
