Premium Essay

Raymond's Run Squeaky Quotes

Submitted By
Words 969
Pages 4
Many kids in the world suffer from emotional pain and not having the freedom they deserve. One such person is Squeaky, the protagonist of “Raymond’s Run”, a short story written by Toni Cade Bambara. Squeaky is a very diligent person, but like everyone else’s life, she has to live with difficulties. For example, she has to deal with Gretchen and her gang—bullies who include one of her former friends—until she betrayed Squeaky. She also lives with her overbearing mother who always expects her to behave properly and conform to society's gender stereotypes. Similarly, the song “Believer” by Imagine Dragons closely relates to and describes one person’s emotional pain and the search for independence. Both the song lyrics and “Raymond’s Run” reflect …show more content…
This quote shows Squeaky’s feeling of betrayal and emotional pain. Along with a feeling of betrayal, Squeaky does not feel free as everyone else. “Believer” states, “Don't you tell me what you think that I can be.” This line from the song shows the independence that one is wanting. In the same way, Squeaky relates to these lyrics, in her desire to choose what she wants to do: she struggles to be herself. This is because her mother forces Squeaky to behave properly and wear clothes she does not want to wear. This struggle is reflected in the following …show more content…
As Squeaky lives her life, she has to try to live up to her mother’s expectations, while also dealing with “Gretchen and her sidekicks” (p. 29, lines 108-9) making her suffer. If that were not enough, Squeaky has to deal with taking care of her brother Raymond—even as her mother criticizes her due to her lack of “girliness”. Because of this, it seems as if Squeaky has a black hole in her heart eroding away her happiness. Having this hole in her heart is a burden and affects her attitude toward others. Maybe that is why at first read, “Raymond’s Run” is a story where the reader supposes that Squeaky is a sassy and bossy person, but then later in the story, the reader slowly starts to understand Squeaky’s situation more clearly; in fact, the reader learns that Squeaky is justifiably sassy because life has thrown her a lot of lemons—despite being very hard-working, she is an embarrassment to her mom, and thus, like the protagonist of “Believer” experiences a lot of emotional pain. Yet, as we slowly read through the short story, we realize that Squeaky learns to overcome all these adversities and learns how to deal with them, ultimately leading her to realize the truth about people and

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Raymond's Run By Squeaky Quotes

...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

Premium Essay

The Importance Of Masks In 'Raymond's Run'

...Many people are pushed to 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

Technology

...ethics, feelings, and behaviors than them. In the stories “The Scarlet Ibis” written by James Hurst, and “Raymond’s Run” written by Toni Cade Bambara, the authors depicted the relationships with disabled siblings. These relationships could have a significant impact on these siblings’ life later on. Notwithstanding bearing the fact that Doodle’s brother and Squeaky previously displayed infinitesimal tolerance towards their younger siblings’ incapacity, the differences that it unfold in their stages of tolerance as the stories continue are relatively remarkable. Initially, a similarity relating to tolerance found in “The Scarlet Ibis” and “Raymond’s Run” is how both Squeaky and Brother both take care their disabled sibling. In the short story “The Scarlet Ibis,” Doodle was the younger brother who was born with physical disabilities. The narrator, who was known as Brother in the story supervises Doodle because he was determined to make Doodle to become his ideal brother. Specifically on paragraph 10 Brother remarked, “ When Doodle was five years old, I was embarrassed at having a brother of that age who couldn’t walk, so I set out to teach him.” This indicates that Brother teach Doodle how to walk because for his selfish motives. Brother was worried about his own reputation because he could not bear the fact of having a disabled brother. Likewise, in “Raymond’s Run,” Squeaky was the sole protector of her younger brother Raymond. Especially on...

Words: 880 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Squeaky In Raymond's Run

...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 Character Analysis

...This quote means that we assume other people have easy lives, we do not think about how others can have hard lives too. We just assume that a person’s personality is just part of who they are, not because of what they go through. This corresponds with Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, the main character in “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara. In “Raymond’s Run,” Hazel is a very good runner. The older kids even call her Mercury because she is very fast and swift. This year in the relay race she plans to come in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, by herself....

Words: 1386 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Manager

...Learning with Cases INTRODUCTION The case study method of teaching used in management education is quite different from most of the methods of teaching used at the school and undergraduate course levels. Unlike traditional lecture-based teaching where student participation in the classroom is minimal, the case method is an active learning method, which requires participation and involvement from the student in the classroom. For students who have been exposed only to the traditional teaching methods, this calls for a major change in their approach to learning. This introduction is intended to provide students with some basic information about the case method, and guidelines about what they must do to gain the maximum benefit from the method. We begin by taking a brief look at what case studies are, and how they are used in the classroom. Then we discuss what the student needs to do to prepare for a class, and what she can expect during the case discussion. We also explain how student performance is evaluated in a case study based course. Finally, we describe the benefits a student of management can expect to gain through the use of the case method. WHAT IS A CASE STUDY? There is no universally accepted definition for a case study, and the case method means different things to different people. Consequently, all case studies are not structured similarly, and variations abound in terms of style, structure and approach. Case material ranges from small caselets (a few paragraphs...

Words: 239776 - Pages: 960