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Raymond's Run | Introduction

Toni Cade Bambara has long been admired for her short stories. ‘‘Temperamentally, I move toward the short story,’’ Bambara has said, defining herself, like her protagonist Hazel Parker, as ‘‘a sprinter rather than a long distance runner.’’ In ‘‘Raymond’s Run,’’ the young Hazel Parker relates the events of two days in her life in which she prepares for and runs a race. The story first appeared in 1971 in an anthology edited by Bambara, Tales and Short Stories for Black Folks. A year later it appeared in her first collection of short stories, Gorilla, My Love.

Bambara’s story of Hazel’s race against the newcomer Gretchen, during which Hazel comes to a turning point in her relationship with her mentally challenged brother, Raymond, has been seen as a ground-breaking initiation story. Along with others in the collection Gorilla, My Love, it has been classed as among the first to place a young black female as a central character in the bildungsroman (a novel about the moral and psychological growth of the main character) tradition.

Critics have also praised Bambara’s compassionate portrayal of the African-American community, a community in which Hazel Parker takes center stage and speaks with her own voice. The vibrant idiomatic language and upbeat tempo, which are compelling features of the story, are characteristic of Bambara’s style. Her ability to capture, translate and play in and out of the voices and idioms of black communities has been widely admired. Through the use of voice as well as theme, ‘‘Raymond’s Run’’ emphasizes the importance of achieving selfhood for young black women within the context of community.

Raymond's Run Summary

Setting the Scene
‘‘Raymond’s Run’’ plunges its readers immediately into the world of its narrator Hazel, known in her neighborhood as ‘‘Squeaky,’’ a young black girl verging on adolescence. We meet Hazel walking down a street in Harlem with her older—but mentally younger— brother, Raymond. While she guards her mentally challenged brother from dashing into the traffic or soaking himself in the gutters, Hazel resolutely keeps up breathing exercises to train herself as a runner. Known in the neighborhood as ‘‘the fastest thing on two feet’’ she is determined to maintain her reputation by winning the fifty-yard dash at the school May Day track meet the following day. Unlike her schoolmate Cynthia, who pretends to be nonchalant about her abilities, Hazel works hard to be the best and does not care who knows it.

Suddenly Hazel and Raymond come face-toface with Gretchen and her followers. Gretchen is a newcomer to the neighborhood and a potential rival of Hazel’s for the fifty-yard dash. She is a rival in other ways as well: Gretchen’s followers Mary Louise and Rosie were once friends of Hazel. Mary Louise attempts to tease Raymond, but is no match for Hazel’s razor-sharp wit. Hazel and Gretchen size each other up, but decide against a confrontation. Hazel notes that Gretchen’s smile at her is ‘‘really not a smile’’ because ‘‘girls never really smile at each other.’’

The May Day Race
Hazel walks slowly to the race the next day in order to miss the May Pole dancing that precedes the track meet. Even though her mother thinks she... » Complete Raymond's Run Summary