Read "Raymond's Run." Prepare for Reading Quiz
Howard is an gorging short story reader who likes to help others find and understand stories.
Raymond'due south Run is narrated in the first-person present by Hazel. It's set in Harlem, New York, a "concrete jungle" every bit her gramps calls it.
The numbers beneath indicate the paragraph in the story where the quotation appears or where the reference is from.
What is the pregnant of Hazel's pre-race country fantasize?
Summary
Hazel, x-years-old, is out walking with her older brother Raymond, who is "not quite right". She practices her animate exercises while keeping Raymond out of problem.
She runs into Gretchen, her rival in the upcoming May Day race. Hazel makes it articulate that she volition win the race, as she e'er does.
She goes to the May Mean solar day rails see, setting upwardly Raymond on a swing earlier preparing for the race. Mr. Pearson starts to suggest she might allow someone else win this yr but doesn't finish due to the look Hazel gives him. The shorter events are completed offset, then Hazel's effect, the 50-g dash, is announced. While lined up to get-go, she imagines she'south running through a field in the country.
The starting shot is fired. She takes off, seeing no one on her left and Gretchen on her right. On the other side of the fence, she sees Raymond running along with them.
She finishes, waiting for the loudspeaker to announce the winner. She thinks nigh how Raymond would make a fine runner. Mayhap she will train him, and focus her efforts on something else.
Hazel wins the race. She and Gretchen acknowledge each other and smile.
Principal Characters
Hazel: Ten-twelvemonth-old girl. Nicknamed "Squeaky". Full proper noun Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker.
Raymond: Hazel's older but mentally younger brother.
Gretchen: A new girl in the neighborhood, and a fast runner.
Theme: Identity / Being Yourself
Hazel has a stiff sense of who she is: her brother's protector and a runner.
Hazel stands up for herself and brother. She doesn't "believe in continuing effectually with somebody in my face doing a lot of talking. I much rather just knock you down and take my chances." (2) She takes her part equally Raymond's flagman seriously. When i of Gretchen's friends asks Raymond a question, Hazel cuts in with "You got anything to say to my brother, you say information technology to me." (11)
Hazel knows that athletics isn't a very girly thing to be into, simply she is fine with that. Referring to the May Pole dancing, she says her mother "thinks it's a shame I don't take function and human activity like a girl for a change." (xiv) But Hazel knows who she is, "a poor black girl who actually can't afford to purchase shoes and a new dress you only habiliment once a lifetime." (fourteen) She'southward not worried almost trying to be something she'southward not.
Read More From Owlcation
Above all else, Hazel identifies as a runner, the fastest runner in the neighborhood. She reiterates this many times: "I'm the fastest thing on two feet." (2) "The big kids call me Mercury cause I'm the swiftest affair in the neighborhood." (3) "I'm serious about my running, and I don't care who knows it." (4) "I am Miss Quicksilver herself." (xiii) "I run. That is what I am all about." (15) Hazel knows that running is for her, and doesn't care what anyone else thinks almost it.
Theme: Importance of Work
Hazel tells united states of america immediately that everyone in her family (except Raymond) has work to do. Her mother handles the housework, her brother George runs errands and sells Christmas cards, her male parent does any needs doing, and she looks after Raymond. (1)
Hazel doesn't rely on talent alone. She works difficult and consistently at her running. The action opens with her strolling down the street practicing her breathing exercises. (4)
Hazel doesn't view practice every bit something shameful or something that detracts from her accomplishments. She criticizes a classmate who pretends non to practise for the spelling bee and music class. (5) In dissimilarity, Hazel says she tin be seen "any time of day practicing running. I never walk if I tin trot", and "I'll high-prance down 34 th street similar a rodeo pony to go along my knees potent." (v)
Questions
1. Hazel is the protagonist and she is known every bit a runner, so why is the story called "Raymond'south Run"?
Raymond'south run at the May Day race is a turning bespeak for Hazel. Later seeing her brother run, she becomes less focused on herself. She realizes she has "a big rep as the blue-chip thing around. And I've got a room total of ribbons and medals and awards. But what has Raymond got to call his ain?" (24)
This realization doesn't mean Hazel is losing herself. She immediately thinks about other things she could do instead of running—condign the best speller or piano player. She is simply expanding her focus to include others.
Hazel's human relationship with Raymond changes considerably after his run. Before, it was her duty and responsibility to look out for Raymond. Now she sees him as a peer, an athlete in his own right, thinking "Raymond would make a very fine runner." (24) (See likewise next question.)
two. What is the significance of Hazel's pre-race daydream? (23)
This vision is an escape to a simpler fourth dimension when she was complimentary. She wasn't responsible for Raymond, and didn't have whatever pressure to win a race. She imagines she is running and flight on the beach and in the country similar when she was younger. The kickoff of the race brings her dorsum to reality, with all its pressure to succeed and to care for Raymond.
While she accepts her duty to look after Raymond, it is still work and a cause for some stress. Later the race, Raymond is no longer merely someone who has to exist kept out of trouble. Now she wants him to succeed, and sees him as an private with his own talent. She doesn't experience similar she has to race anymore, and she sees Raymond differently. She has at present outgrown the demand for the escape of this daydream.
3. What change occurs in Hazel'south human relationship with Gretchen?
At showtime Gretchen is only a rival. The interaction between the 2 is simulated: "Gretchen smiles, just it'south not a smiling, and I'm thinking that girls never actually grinning at each other because they don't know how and don't want to know how." (nine)
A change occurs before the race when Hazel sees Gretchen "standing at the starting line, kick her legs out similar a pro." (22) Gretchen is now a worthy competitor.
Later on the race Hazel acknowledges that Gretchen is proficient, and even wonders if she'd help coach Raymond. They wait at each other and grin—for real this time. Now they respect each other. (25)
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Raymond's Run appears in Bambara's collections Tales and Stories for Blackness Folks and Gorilla, My Love.
Questions & Answers
Question: What is the bespeak of view of Raymond's Run?
Respond: This story is written in the offset-person point of view in the nowadays tense.
CHLOEY on Dec 05, 2019:
writting an essay on this story beloved it!
Source: https://owlcation.com/humanities/Raymonds-Run-by-Toni-Cade-Bambara-Summary-Analysis-Themes-Commentary
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