Examples Of Sexism In Raymond's Run

Society’s Sexist Standards

Are the typical stereotypes and standards that “all people want to achieve because they lead to great life” really that great? This must have been what Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker (Squeaky) thought when she discovered that she loved running, something almost taboo for girls during the 1960’s, and that she hated the stereotypical things girls were expected to do. Squeaky is the protagonist of the story, “Raymond’s Run”, by Toni Cade Bambara, who lives in poverty-stricken Harlem in the 1960s. Squeaky is a girl trapped in her mother’s and society’s iron grip of gender stereotypes and expectations that prevent her from being free to do what she wants (be a runner); trapped in a society that tells girls to wear “organdy

She has the task of watching over her older brother, Raymond, who has a mental disability, which she considers a burden. In the story’s plot, Squeaky reveals that she used to try to achieve society’s standards and get attention from her parents by dancing and doing other girly things, but then realized that society’s feminine expectations for girls were not for her; she tries to escape society’s expectations by being who she truly--by following her passion of running. In fact, throughout ¨Raymond´s Run¨, the reader sees that Squeaky is willing to do anything in order to be free from society’s iron grip. Her situation is portrayed in the song, “Whatever it Takes”, by the band Imagine Dragons, which shows someone that does not want to be typical, in the same way Squeaky does not want to be one of many girls trying to achieve society’s

In fact, she will do anything to be different from all the other girls that follow these gender stereotypes. Coincidentally, her situation is portrayed in the song, “Whatever it Takes”, by the band, Imagine Dragons, which is written about someone that does not want to be typical, in the same way Squeaky does not want to follow society’s gender stereotypes. This idea of being typical can be seen in the “Whatever it Takes” verse, “Always had a fear of being typical.” Squeaky also rejects being typical when she thinks:

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…….. (p. 32, lines 182-187)

Like the person in the song who hates how everyone is always expecting him to act a certain way, Squeaky hates society’s gender expectations, which everyone forces into her mind like stuffing luggage into a suitcase. The theme of gender stereotypes can be seen yet again in "Raymond's Run" when Squeaky thinks about the May Day dancing, which her parents used to make her participate in:

The biggest thing on the program is the May Pole dancing, which I can do without, thank you, even if my mother thinks it’s a