Raymond's Run Essay

573 Words2 Pages

I think that one of the themes in Raymond’s Run by Toni Cade Barbara is putting family first. I think this because squeaky defends Raymond, she throws hard work away for Raymond, and she teaches Raymond. “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 wax paper lunches in their laps.” ‘“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.”’ These two quotes show how Squeaky covers for Raymond when he can’t, or doesn’t realize what he did. In the first quote, she is apologizing to elderly people for Raymond disturbing the pigeons. In the …show more content…

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 wax paper lunches in their laps.” The first quote shows how she almost stopped for Raymond, as it says “I almost stop to watch my brother Raymond on his first run”. This shows her throwing all of her practise away for a once a year thing, just for Raymond. Then, this quote shows how she throws away any work that she put into her reputation away, as the elderly would now associate her with the “stagecoach

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Always Running By Max Rodriguez

    1299 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to determine why Rodriguez joined a gang so early in his life, we have to scrutinize his childhood up to that point. In Always Running Rodriguez provides us with a very thorough description of his childhood from the time on at which children move into a wider social context an thus learn how to treat people outside their family and build up relationships with those.

    Read More

  • JumpOff Creek

    641 Words  | 2 Pages

    She then moves on to describe each of the characters, and in doing so, their surroundings and how they fit in: "He was cold and wet, and the best part of the day had been used up anyway. He wiped his hands on the grass and let the pinto horse take him toward home. There was little enough comfort there. The house crouched dumb and blind on the high bench in the rain. Jack's horse stood droop-necked and dismal inside the strand of rope fence, but there wasn't any smoke coming from the damned stove (28)."

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Book 'The Running Dream'

    891 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout life people encounter a numerous amount of obstacles, some of these obstacles can be tougher than others. These obstacles don’t define who you are, how the situation is handled does. In the book The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen, Jessica encounters a tremendous obstacle that life could throw at her. Jessica has had to learn to adjust her life from the way that she used to live. Her life is changing and she has to decide if this accident defines who she is going to be while being surrounded by the love and comfort of her family.

    Read More

  • Walking Across Egypt

    651 Words  | 2 Pages

    "I'm too old to keep a dog," she says to the dogcatcher as he is leaving with a brown fice that showed up on her doorstep. "Besides, I'm slowing down," she says to her son during lunch. The stereotypes of the elderly are influencing Mattie's life. She is telling herself not to do things because of her age whether or not she is physically able to do them, simply because people associate age with inability and dependence upon others. Her family and friends are expecting and encouraging this dependence.Elaine and Robert, Mattie's two unmarried children, along with other family and friends, are encouraging her to be what they expect a seventy-eight year old woman to be. They talk about how she needs to get rest because she is slowing down and can't keep going as steady as she seems to think. When she decided to try and help a young juvenile, Wesley Benfield, become a better person by taking him to church and offering him to stay the night with her, Robert thought that Mattie was sick.

    Read More

  • Comparing Characters in O'Connor's A Good Man is Hard to Find and Revelation

    847 Words  | 2 Pages

    As they drove she talks Bailey, her son, into taking a detour to see an old plantation she visited when she was younger, halfway...

    Read More

  • Examples Of Egocentricism In A Good Man Is Hard To Find

    731 Words  | 2 Pages

    After stopping to eat, the Grandmother convinces her son Bailey to take a detour; the car crashes, afterwards; they encounter the serial killer and then he kills the entire family. Throughout the story, the Grandmother exemplifies that she may be egocentric, so O 'Connor 's character of the Grandmother feels that When she sees the little black boy who was not wearing pants, she proceeds to call him a "pickaninny" and "a negro". Then she puts herself in higher position, claiming that he doesn’t have pants because she felt that black people don’t have things like they do in the country. 50 's were a time of discrimination against black people because they could not receive a high paying job, education, and vote. She does not believe change which is shown in conversations with the kids and with Red Sammy.

    Read More

  • Raymond's Run Argument

    494 Words  | 1 Pages

    The article, "Overview of ‘Raymond's Run’" was a particularly effective feminist literary criticism because the claims that supported its argument were clear, well-supported, and well-connected to its argument while criticizing the short story, “Raymond’s Run” through a feminist lens. Notably, the author included the claim, "Hazel's voice and behavior reflect her strength". The claim was clear and connected to the article's argument which was that Hazel was a self-confident female character who became uncomfortable by meeting "a young, confident African-American girl." The claim described how Hazel was self-confident in the short story, "Raymond's Run" and was supported by evidences such as "she asserts that, though small and thin, she would rather act against taunts from others" which explained her self-confidence in her ability to fight and "she implies that she does it better

    Read More

  • Changes in Tone Throughout the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

    646 Words  | 2 Pages

    However as Jeanette and her siblings quickly lose their innocence and are pulled into the reality of life, her idolization of her parents, (especially her father) gradually lessens and she comes to terms with their flawed lifestyle. As she begins to lose hope in her parents, she begins describing them in a more negative light. For example, she exposes the intensification of her father's drinking problem. “He staggered off to the bathroom, came back, ordered one for the road, slammed the shot glass down on the bar, and walked to the door. He lost his footing trying to open it and sprawled on the floor. I tried to help him up, but he kept falling over”(page?) This repugnant and embarrassing description of Rex, contrasts how Jeanette tried to showcase his admirable qualities earlier in the story. In the sentence she also no longe...

    Read More

  • Good Man Is Hard To Find Misfit

    1101 Words  | 3 Pages

    She is a manipulator when it comes to any aspect of her life. Ideally, the grandmother was selfish and care about herself. For instance, when the author has her saying “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady (O’Connor). The author let it be known at that second that the grandmother was only thinking about herself. As if she was traveling with a group of strangers. Throughout the story, the grandmother shows that she can be dishonest towards her family. “She woke up and recalled an old plantation that she had visited in this neighborhood once when she was a young lady” (O’Conner). The grandmother did this to manipulate the situation causing the ride to be delayed. Thus, she was lying to the children about the secret panel in the house. Therefore, she caused chaos in the car. The author made it seem that the grandmother was very content with that she has caused. Even when she realized that the location of the house that she was referring to was not up that road at all. But she remained quiet or did she know this along. She was quick to judge and tell someone what not to do. But she never turned her eye on herself. That she was selfish and dishonest to her

    Read More

  • Raymond's Run Theme

    1974 Words  | 4 Pages

    Everyone has seen someone struggling or struggled with their own problems at some point. That person could have been your best friend, neighbor, a classmate, or it could've been anyone. While they were struggling did you help them out of the hole they are in, even if you had your own problems? Did you just leave them there for either person to help them, or did you take action and help them through it. The same type of help happens in the short story “Raymond’s Run” and the book The Blind Side. “Raymond’s Run” is about a girl who loves running and is the best runner in her neighborhood. While waiting for the announcements at the end of her race, she took a long look at her brother. She realizes that he doesn’t have anything that is completely

    Read More

  • The Journey in A Good Man Is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Grandmother often finds herself at odds with the rest of her family. Everyone feels her domineering attitude over her family, even the youngest child knows that she's "afraid she'd miss something she has to go everywhere we go"(Good Man 2). Yet this accusation doesn't seem to phase the grandmother, and when it is her fault alone that the family gets into the car accident and is found by the Misfit, she decides to try to talk her way out of this terrible predicament.

    Read More

  • A Good Man Is Hard To Find By Flannery O Connor Analysis

    1243 Words  | 3 Pages

    Not long after being on the dirt road the grandmother recalls a “…horrible thought…” that sent shock waves through her feet scaring “… Pity Sing the cat [, and causing it to] spr[ing] onto Baileys shoulder”(O’connor.428). Bailey not long after loses control of the car and crashes them into a ditch flipping the car a couple times. The author noting that “The horrible thought she had had before the accident was that the house she had remembered so vividly was not in Georgia but in Tennessee”(O’connor.428). The authors insight on the grandmother allows the reader to fully understand the grandmothers selfishness and inability to admit she was ever wrong in anything she did. It is not long after the foreshadowing catches up to the helpless family stranded in the midst of nowhere as a strange car slowly approaches them with three men in it. The grandmothers outspokenness is once again continued as she made it vocally known that she recognizes the misfit as one of the men. It is at that moment the misfit says “…it would have been better for all of you, lady, if you hadn 't of reckernized me”(O’connor.429). The reader can conclude the fate of the family at this point and lay blame everything that has happened on the grandmother. Soon after killing the rest of her family the grandmothers social order begins to vividly and rapidly change as she tells the misfit to “pray” and even tells him “…you’re one of my babies. You 're one of my own children”(O’connor.432-433). The reader can now see the grandmothers transformation as she lives the last couple minutes of her life she talks about Jesus, and even considering the misfit to be a “…good man at heart”(O’connor.430). Not long after the grand mother is shot through her chest several times and is carried into the woods and placed next to the rest of her

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: The Color Purple

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    There are numerous works of literature that recount a story- a story from which inspiration flourishes, providing a source of liberating motivation to its audience, or a story that simply aspires to touch the hearts and souls of all of those who read it. One of the most prevalent themes in historical types of these kinds of literature is racism. In America specifically, African Americans endured racism heavily, especially in the South, and did not gain equal rights until the 1960s. In her renowned book The Color Purple, Alice Walker narrates the journey of an African American woman, Celie Johnson (Harris), who experiences racism, sexism, and enduring hardships throughout the course of her life; nonetheless, through the help of friends and family, she is able to overcome her obstacles and grow into a stronger, more self-assured individual. While there are numerous themes transpiring throughout the course of the novel, the symbolism is one of the strongest prospects for instigating the plot. In The Color Purple by Alice Walker, numerous symbols influence and drive the plot of the novel.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Hero in Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut and A Perfect Day for Bananafish

    675 Words  | 2 Pages

    We were up at the Lake. Seymour had written to Charlotte, inviting her to come and visit us, and her mother finally let her. What happened was, she sat down in the middle of our driveway one morning to pet Boo Boo's cat, and Seymour threw a stone at her because she looked so beautiful sitting there in the middle of the driveway with Boo Boo's cat. Everybody knew that for God's sake. (Salinger Raise 89)

    Read More

  • Raymond's Run Squeaky Analysis

    589 Words  | 2 Pages

    The second reason why Squeaky struggles to find acceptance of other is that she has a bad attitude towards other runners. Squeaky thinks

    Read More

More about Raymond's Run Essay

Open Document