Theme Of Raymond's Run

A lot of people believe that people can’t change, and that if they did something before, they’ll do it again. This isn’t true, though. The short story “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara suggests that people can change. In the story, Squeaky faces three problems- beating Gretchen, overcoming her own stereotypical views, and her brother Raymond. Raymond is older than she is, but needs taking care of, which creates something that bullies can poke at, while Gretchen is a bully that pokes at it. This poor black girl from Manhattan is the top runner in her neighborhood, and everyone knows it. But, Gretchen has told everybody that she’s going to win first place against Squeaky and she won’t stand for that. In the short story, Squeaky copes with

While this is a good point, it fails to account for two-thirds of the story, Squeaky’s self-doubt, and Raymond. It also leads readers to believe that the only way to respect someone is to beat them in something, which is untrue.The claim that the theme of “Raymond’s Run” is people can change shows all of the characters changes. This theme explains that Gretchen and Squeaky change as they started to respect each other, and at the same time, Squeaky realizes that girls can respect each other, taking out two birds with one stone. The theme of this essay also accounts for Raymond when he runs along the fence and Squeaky almost stops to watch him, and later decides to train him, “And on the other side of the fence is Raymond with his arms down to his side and the palms tucked up behind him, running in his very own style,...”(Bambara,6). In this scene, there is no competition and therefore doesn’t account for the opposing theme. The claim competition leads to respect is well thought, but it only accounts for one character, Gretchen. The theme people can change, however, shows all of the people in the story changing, especially