Grauer is a professor of Canadian Literature at Okanagan University College, in Kelowna, British Columbia. In the following essay, she examines how the character of Hazel Parker in Bambara's "Raymond's Run" attempts to deny "false roles of femininity."

In her preface to the anthology in which "Raymond's Run" first appeared, Tales and Stories for Black Folks, Bambara notes that her stories are intended to present black young people with an opportunity "to learn how to listen, to be proud of our oral tradition, our elders who tell tales in the kitchen." Bambara suggests that both the form and the content of the stories, their language and their potential lessons, have something to reveal about the strengths of the African-American community. "Raymond's Run," and other stories published in Bambara's first collection Gorilla, My Love, have been admired for the construction of vibrant African-American voices and communities. Young Hazel...