Toni Bachaymond's Run Analysis

Toss Your Barbies For Women’s Rights

Every girl has been bullied. Whether it is because she is too fat or too skinny, too fast or too slow, too innocent or too bad--no girl is perfect against the expectations set by society. While in some ways the famous doll Barbie helps children learn to be whatever they want to be, in others ways Barbie sets the perfect image, giving girls the need to be skinny and having tiny waists and perfect faces--not showing who they truly are. This relates to Squeaky, a young girl from the short story ¨Raymond's Run¨ by Toni Cade Bambara. Squeaky wants to be a runner, but according to her mother she should be wearing, ¨a white organdy dress with a big satin sash¨ and ¨new, white baby doll shoes.¨ Squeaky suffers from the expectations set by society and her mother, but she ignores the message and instead pursues her dream.

For example, Squeaky believes she can be athletic and run--even though she is a girl and her “mother thinks it’s a shame I don't act like a girl for a change” (p. 31, lines 177-178). This shows that Squeaky believes that she can be who she wants to be no matter what anyone else says. Another example of Squeaky believing in being herself can be seen in the following quote, when she thinks about how she used to follow her mother's gender expectations for girls:

I was once a strawberry in a Hansel and Gretel play when i was in nursery school and I didn't have no better sense than to dance on tiptoe with my arms in a circle over my head doing umbrella steps and being a perfect fool just so my parents could come dressed up and clap. You'd think they know better then to encourage that kind of nonsense I am not a strawberry. I do not dance on my toes. I run. (p. 32, lines