People. Hair. Arms. Legs. What about interior specialities, like emotions? At different situations, people have many emotions. From happiness to sadness, the variations are endless. Throughout the story, “Raymond's Run” written by Toni Cade Bambara, the main character, Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, also named Squeaky because of her voice, expresses lots of emotions from the many events that occur in the time we meet her. Besides her roller coaster of emotions during the story, Squeaky can be recalled as hardworking, sassy, brave, and caring girl who is dedicated to her skill, running. In this part of Squeaky’s life, she is recognized as one of the fastest runner in her neighborhood of Harlem, New York. Even though Squeaky is quite successful …show more content…
in running, she encounters many obstacles in life. For example, Squeaky’s only chore in her family is taking care of Raymond, her brother who is not quite right.
As a character who is sassy and cocky, she could be stereotyped to be the type of person who only cares about herself and her running skills. However, in reality, besides being arrogant and competitive, Squeaky has a soft spot in her heart that enables her to fiercely protect him, both physically and emotionally. For instance, in the beginning of the story, when she and Raymond confronted Gretchen, her biggest competitor, and Gretchen’s squad. When she encountered the “Mean Girl” squad, Gretchen’s friends confronted Squeaky and discouraged her by asserting that she would lose to Gretchen. Notwithstanding, Squeaky took action and protected herself and Raymond. Although Squeaky seems to be brave and secure, she copes with her misery through running, one of the few things she enjoys doing in her life. Throughout the story, we witness Squeaky’s true colors emerging from many different perspectives. In the beginning of the story, Squeaky is seen as cocky and aggressive; however, she is more than just that as she is hardworking, caring, and aggressive in a way that helps her deal with the trouble in her …show more content…
life. In addition to being arrogant and antagonizing her dislikes in life, Squeaky has emotions that make Squeaky who she is; however, some are not clear to readers as other traits she obtains. Throughout the story and in different situations, Squeaky is seen as a hardworking girl, always trying her best with all her effort in everything she cares about. In this point of the story, Squeaky is mentally preparing for the big May Day Race ahead of her. Although Squeaky wants to please her mother’s needs, Squeaky wants to be who she wants to be, a fast runner. Long ago, when Squeaky was little and danced in plays and dances, her parents would be enjoying the show. However, the burden of them not even wanting to watch their own daughter run, because she doesn’t meet up to their standards, is hurtful and sets an impact on Squeaky. By disappointing her mom by not being a stereotypical girl wearing fancy dresses and ribbons, Squeaky knows there is a lot at stake. As running is sort of how she deals with her obstacles in her personal life, Squeaky’s purpose, besides it being her talent, is to win to prove to her mother that running is what Squeaky does and that she is good at it. If she loses, then Squeaky will have not proven to her mother what she can succeed in. Knowing that to achieve something, you have to work for it, Squeaky is definitely seen as a hardworking girl, by always practicing mentally and physically. As an example that Squeaky is hardworking, she quotes: “I’ll high prance down 34th street like a rodeo pony just to keep my knees strong, even if it does get my mother up tight so that she walks ahead like she’s not with me.” (p. 28, lines 71-74) In this quote, Squeaky states that she will do no matter what it takes to practice her talent, running. Even though Squeaky hates to disappoint her mother by not meeting her stereotypical expectations, Squeaky wants to do what she desires to do and she knows that working hard is a fundamental. In conclusion, Squeaky is portrayed as hardworking because she takes risks and does whatever it takes to prove her prowess in running. By being a hardworking girl, Squeaky desires to prove not just herself, but to also those who unfortunately doubt her, like her mother. As the story develops more and more, Squeaky elucidates and implies that her mother wants Squeaky to be someone different than who she is. While dealing with her unbearable mother’s expectations and stereotypes, Squeaky uses her confidence characteristic and sassy nature to veil the hardships she is enduring in her personal life back at home. While dawdling on the way to the May Day Races, Squeaky narrates and recalls a moment in her life when her parents forced Squeaky into participating the May Pole Dancing with the other girls who are dressed in fancy dresses and shoes, the stereotypical outfit for a girl in Squeaky’s setting. Furthermore, Squeaky’s upsetting emotion is caused by her mother’s expectations and her society’s stereotypes that do not enable Squeaky to freely be defined by who she wants to be, a fast runner. Although Squeaky knows who she is and physically shows she doesn’t care about who knows, she has a desire to make her mother proud of her, without Squeaky meeting to her mom’s expectations and changing herself. At another flashback, Squeaky remembers how she took part in a play as a dancing strawberry. In her opinion, the revolting memory of herself dancing as a foolish child only strengthens her argument of becoming someone she wants to, not her mother. Squeaky portrays her confident independence and desire of not achieving her mother’s stereotypical expectations while still pleasing her: “I am not a strawberry. I do not dance on my toes. I run. That is what I am all about,” (p. 32, lines 199-200) Withal, Squeaky’s confidence also lets the readers know what her place is in this story of emotional conflict; she is known as a fast runner who runs to prove herself that she is capable of achieving things without wearing a fancy dress and not a dancer who dances to win people’s affection. As Squeaky states her thought, her choice of words can conclude that she has an arrogant tone. As said before, her toughness is a shield of protection from the struggles in her life. Squeaky, a girl who wants to please her mother without becoming a stereotypical girl, also desires to be independent, meaning she can determine her own identity, and also people to respect her and her running skills. While this feeling of independence remains, along with the desire to please her stereotypical mother, Squeaky has shown that her fearlessness and cockinesss is not only to prove others how skilled she is--a general conclusion--, but to also cover up the disappointment and despondency Squeaky feels when she knows that she did not fulfill her mother’s wants for her daughter, a girl. Throughout the story, Squeaky has proven to be sensitive and not just aggressive, yet only regarding towards her own issues in her own life. However, Squeaky is caring and protective of others who are in difficult situations, especially those she loves, like her brother, Raymond. As Squeaky is practicing her breathing exercises to get physically prepared for the race with Raymond along side her, Squeaky’s practice session and peace from the hardships in her personal life is interrupted by Gretchen, Squeaky’s biggest competitor, and her squad, Rosie and Mary Louise. The feeling of dread over sweeps Squeaky because she has to interact with people who are going to waste her precious time. As the conversation starts to ignite, Mary Louise and Rosie are trying to discourage Squeaky, by declaring that she will lose to Gretchen. However, being the sassy and confident character she is, Squeaky retorts a rude comment that not only protects herself, but also to imply to Rosie and Mary Louise to lose the fatuous idea of Squeaky losing. In addition, Squeaky’s confidence assures her that she will win the race to Gretchen. After the argument between the conundrum of who was going to win died out, the irritated Squeaky got ticked off after Mary Louise made a smart remark to Raymond. However, rather than lightly taking the comment like she did with the discouragement from Rosie and Mary Louise, Squeaky took action and retorted to Mary Louise to back off. Out of the few responsibilities Squeaky has in her household, Squeaky knows that it’s her main duty to protect Raymond from any physical threats, along with emotional threats, like how Mary Louise teased him. As caring as Squeaky can be towards her brother, when he is vulnerable to bullies, that is when Squeaky takes action. As the situation progressed, Squeaky portrays care for Raymond in this excerpt of the argument: ‘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.’ “ (p. 35, lines 156-163) Although Squeaky might’ve acted in a way that was no better than Mary Louise--by using strong and harsh words--, Squeaky was protecting someone she loved rightfully after someone bullied him, with no purpose. The way Squeaky reacted and took charge to protect Raymond was harsh, but it is the way that Squeaky finds the most effective. Also, her personality matches well with how she reacted because Squeaky is arrogant and tough, yet she cares for her brother.Thus, it portrays that Squeaky is caring to those she loves; besides the reason that it is her responsibility, Squeaky also loves her own brother, even though times may be difficult. All in all, even though Squeaky’s first resort to protect her brother may be harsh, the claim all adds up to Squeaky being herself, a confident and tough girl, taking care of her brother, with a bit of sibling love. To sum things up, Squeaky is a complex character who shows a range of emotions.
In regard to her true colors that are hidden underneath her aggressiveness, she is hardworking, caring, and when she is aggressive, it is only a cover for the hardships she endures. From her mother’s expectations that she does not meet to the way people treat her brother, Squeaky shows all three characteristics. As a hardworking runner, she works hard to satisfy herself and prove to others that she is skilled. To protect her loving brother, she cares for her brother when people are malicious and tease him. When times are difficult for Squeaky, she becomes aggressive to shield her from the troubles she is undergoing. In similarity to a toasted marshmallow, even though the outside crust may be a bit burnt and not very appetizing, the inner gooey marshmallow is the part everybody loves because it tastes amazing. Just like Squeaky, she may be aggressive and not as friendly on the outside, but when you dig a little deeper, she can be described as a hardworking and caring, that many care and
love.
“The thing I hate about space is that you can feel how big and empty it is… ”
In the beginning of the novel, Princess Alyss is characterized as mischievous, endearing, and naive. Alyss loves to play pranks such as “dropping jelly jellies from an open window and watching them splat on the guards below (Beddor 11). Instead of behaving like
The production of Honky is a satirical comedy, following the lives of five people and the language of racism. While it focuses on the plot of 5 characters, the storyline was well thought out and intriguing. One actor in specific, Gerard Joseph, who played Thomas, did an exceptionally well job at conveying emotion and projecting to the audience, in my opinion. The overall directing, from the actors to the soundtrack and lightning, seem to be presented with excellent detail. Overall, this production was well done.
In life, everyone makes mistakes. Some are minor, some are major, but all in all, it happens. Eddie Rake made his fair amount of mistakes in life but managed to gain forgiveness back from every player and family because of the positive impact he made on the lives of the people of Messina. In John Grisham’s, Bleachers, Neely Crenshaw, one of Rake’s former players, said, “Coach Rake was not easy to love, and while you’re playing here you don’t really like him. But after you leave, after you venture away from this place, after you’ve been kicked around a few times, faced some adversity, some failure, been knocked down in life, you soon realize how important Coach Rake is and was” (Grisham 223). This tells one that no matter how bad Rake hurt a
In the beginning of the novel, Alyss is characterized as dependent, loving, and imaginative. Throughout the story these traits mature and Alyss becomes more adult like but still is a little childish in certain scenes. One can say that the maturity that Alyss goes through affects herself later on in the story. During the story the
AP English Literature and Composition MAJOR WORKS DATA SHEET Title: A Raisin In the Sun Author: Lorraine Hansberry Date of Publication: 1951 Genre: Realistic Drama Biographical Information about the Author Lorraine Hansberry was born in Chicago on May 19, 1930. She grew up as the youngest in her family. Her mother was a teacher and her father was a real estate broker.
There are many interesting quotes of the protagonist, Harold “Peewee” Gates, that stood out to me in the book Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. There were many quotes that revealed about his life but there were two that stood out to me. In a conversation Peewee is talking to Perry about how is life in the United States and army life are different. “‘But this is the first place I ever been in my life where I got what everybody else got.’” ~Peewee (page 15) This quote reveals that Peewee came from a rough place and grew up in poverty since this is the first time he has had what everyone else has. It also shows how strict his mother was because he wasn’t allowed to have what everyone else had or what he wanted besides basic necessities.
Janie, lead character of the novel, is a somewhat lonely, mixed-race woman. She has a strong desire to find love and get married, partially driven by her family’s history of unmarried woman having children. Despite her family’s dark history, Janie is somewhat naive about the world.
Gene symbolizes inner war, while Finny symbolizes a sense of peace. Gene is the jealous one in the friendship, and he is also the one to immediately jump to conclusions. Finny is a little stubborn and manipulative, but he tries his hardest to be a good person. An example to prove this statement is when Gene suddenly assumed that Finny was trying to sabotage his achievements during school. When Gene reacted to this by being jealous of Finny, it showed that he was the type to make assumptions off of little factual evidence. Gene’s jealousy and hatred towards Finny resulted in him purposefully inflicting harm on Finny. Finny is the type of boy to try and talk himself out of anything, making him very manipulative and liked around Devon. The book causes the reader to believe that Finny was liked by most of his classmates and his teachers, this giving him an advantage when he tried to get out of trouble. The book gives us many examples of this. One being when Finny was late because of jumping off of the limb, and another when he talked himself out of trouble for wearing a pink shirt and a tie as a belt.
Personal characteristics, appearance, or natural physical function seem to be the manner in which the black girls view most of the other characters in the story. From Mrs. Margolin, the troop leader, to other characters in the story, the description includes outer personal characteristics or appearance rather than inner qualities to be admired. The description of the camp counselor is an example. “Mrs. Margolin even looks like a mother duck--she had hair cropped to a small ball of a head, almost no neck, and huge, miraculous breast” (357). The description of her attire is equally non-complementary as references to Mrs. Margolin as “Big Fat Mamma. The historical south, as the narrator describes shows white individuals in their segregated locations and blacks in theirs, with only chance meetings as both races conducted daily routines such as shopping or moving about through the streets. Therefore, having the white Brownie troop being a part of the camping trip is like being invaders as Arnetta describes--“with their long, shampoo-commercial hair, straight as Spaghetti from the box” (358). Thus, hair as well as complexion added fuel to the flame of envy and hatred, which is alive in Arnetta’s mind. A physical function such as a sneeze, which causes mucus to drip from her nose caused the narrator to wear the name “Snot” since first
In the novel, The Things They Carried, characters often share key similarities and differences between one another. Specifically, Rat Kiley and Tim O’Brien share many of the same qualities in story telling, but also display different approaches to coping with the apprehension of war. Rat Kiley is a comedian and born story teller, often embellishing his stories to give them more thrill and excitement for his listeners. Perhaps he does this because he wants to be accepted. Rat relates to the author, Tim O’Brien, because he has a flexible relationship with the truth when it comes to telling stories. For both characters, it is important that the audience understands the true meaning of the stories they are telling and that the reader feels the
The narrator of the story is Laurel, also known as "Snot." The first person point of view is important to the story because it shows the African American kids side of racial discrimination and prejudice. Laurel, the narrator of the story, is the protagonist in “Brownies.” Laurel is a dynamic character in the story, because she came to an epiphany about prejudice and racism and reaches a level of maturity in which she understands what is right and wrong. The antagonist in “Brownies” is Arnette, the leader of the African American troop. Arnette is considered a static character because she fails to accept different races. It says in the story “when you live in the south suburbs of Atlanta, it is easy to forget about whites”(Packer 186). Arnette fails to accept different races because she is not use to interacting with people of other races.
What makes Jim Casy interesting is the contradiction. Sprituality (affecting the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical thing)
Janie’s first discovery about herself comes when she is a child. She is around the age of six when she realizes that she is colored. Janie’s confusion about her race is based on the reasoning that all her peers and the kids she grows up with are white. Janie and her Nanny live in the backyard of the white people that her Nanny works for. When Janie does not recognize herself on the picture that is taken by a photographer, the others find it funny and laughs, leaving Janie feeling humiliated. This racial discovery is not “social prejudice or personal meanness but affection” (Cooke 140). Janie is often teased at school because she lives with the white people and dresses better than the other colored kids. Even though the kids that tease her were all colored, this begins Janie’s experience to racial discrimination.
The play “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry has many interesting characters. In my opinion, the most fascinating character is Ruth because of her many emotions and captivating personality. She goes through extreme emotions in the play such as happiness, sadness, anger, stress, and confusion. Ruth is very independent, firm, kind, witty, and loving.