Raymond's Run Theme Essay

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The theme of the book “Raymond’s Run” is that friendship, love, and respect are most important in life than the competition. This theme is supported by the fact that Squeaky is more focused on her delight at seeing Raymond after the race than on finding out who won. "You’d think she’d be glad her daughter ain’t out there prancing around a May Pole getting the new clothes all dirty and sweaty and trying to act like a fairy or a flower or whatever you’re supposed to be when you should be trying to be yourself, whatever that is, which is, as far as I am concerned, a poor black girl who really can’t afford to buy shoes and a new dress you only wear once a lifetime because it won’t fit next year." The conflict of "Raymond's Run" is about how Squeaky …show more content…

Throughout most of the story, Squeaky has a rough relationship with others. Feeling as if they are her enemies, Squeaky feels that she must defeat them by winning races. For instance, when Gretchen is smiling Squeaky thinks in her mind, “…girls never really smile at each other because they don’t know how and don’t want to know how…” Rosie is already Squeaky’s antagonist and she makes her madder by saying, “I don’t think you’re going to win this time…” Squeaky protects her brother like a beast. When one of the girls asks him, “What grade you in now, Raymond?”, Squeaky shots back saying, ““You got anything to say to my brother, you say it to me, Mary Louise Williams of Raggedy Town, Baltimore.” Until the day of the race, Squeaky feels that she must win the race for others to stop bullying her brother and taunt her. However, when she sees Raymond, run on the other side of the fence, Squeaky realizes that Raymond actually has a talent of his own of running. Squeaky understands that Gretchen is not her rival and actually is a true friend. She makes up her mind for training Raymond as a racer with

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