“Raymond’s Run” is set in Harlem, New York.

The setting of the story is important.  This is the story of a young girl attending a May Day race.  We know that the story takes place in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City in the late sixties.  In this story, the neighborhood comes to life.

So I’m strolling down Broadway breathing out and breathing in on counts of seven, which is my lucky number, and here comes Gretchen and her sidekicks: Mary Louise, who used to be a friend of mine when she first moved to Harlem…

Squeaky likes her neighborhood.  She enjoys practicing her running through the streets.  She is definitely at home.  Another example of the neighborhood atmosphere is the May Day celebration. This is a neighborhood event that takes place every year.  Some girls dress up for the maypole dance, but Squeaky prefers to run.  She has a reputation for being a runner, and a good one.

Then all the kids standing on the side pile on me, banging me on the back and slapping my head with their May Day programs, for I have won again and everybody on 151st Street can walk tall for another year.

Squeaky has a tough time with the neighborhood kids.  She does not make friends easily, partly because she has to take care of her mentally handicapped older brother, Raymond.  People often make fun of Raymond, and Squeaky has to defend him.  Running is an area where Squeaky can be proud of herself.  It is something she can get better at with effort.  In this story, she learns that it is possible to make friends when you share something you care about.  She makes friends with Gretchen because she also loves running.

A good story uses its setting almost like a character.  Harlem is a unique neighborhood rich in culture and African American tradition.  This story demonstrates that richness by creating a colorful cast of characters and an endearing plot.

What is the setting of "Raymond's Run"?

Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Raymond's Run" takes place in Harlem, New York in the late sixties. In the story, Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, better known as "Squeaky," competes in the May Day races against the other neighborhood girls her age. Squeaky is the former May Day champion and is a prolific runner in her neighborhood. Squeaky is portrayed as a highly competitive adolescent who wishes to beat her new rival, Gretchen. In regards to the setting of the story, Squeaky mentions that she lives on Harlem's 151st Street, races to the fire hydrants on Amsterdam Avenue, and practices her breathing exercises while she strolls down Broadway. The May Day races take place at a local park in Harlem, and Squeaky ends up winning the gold medal by finishing first in her race. At the end of the story, Squeaky befriends her rival, Gretchen, and decides that she will train her intellectually disabled brother, Raymond.

What is the setting of "Raymond's Run"?

"Raymond's Run" is set in the 1960s in Harlem and follows the story of Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker (or "Squeaky") as she attends a May Day celebration in order to compete in a track meet. 

This setting is so significant to the story because the streets of New York provide Squeaky with a place to exercise her talents; she describes how she likes to "high-prance down 34th Street like a rodeo pony to keep [her] knees strong," and to take "early morning trots around the block." She does her breathing exercises while walking down Broadway "with not a care in the world." 

Yet, while we can see that Squeaky is full of confidence and feels like she owns the city, there are also moments of startling clarity about the reality of her environment. When Squeaky describes why she won't participate in the May Pole activities, she comments with great wisdom, "a poor black girl... can't afford to buy shoes and a new dress you only wear once a lifetime cause it won't fit next year."

It is clear that Squeaky's upbringing has left her with a great deal of responsibility; she takes care of her disabled brother as well as herself and is cognizant of her family's socioeconomic and racial background. By the end of the story, she is also able to see how other people fit into that delicate ecosystem and the importance of connecting with the people who surround her. 

What is the setting of "Raymond's Run"?

The setting of Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Raymond's Run" is Harlem, a large neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Harlem became predominantly black in the early 1900s and was the center of black culture as well as an artistic movement known as the Harlem Renaissance which began there in the 1920s. It was originally named after the Dutch city of Haarlem. While never explicitly mentioned, the story probably takes place some time in the 1960s or early 1970s. It was first published in 1971. We know that it is set around the beginning of May because the main character, Squeaky, is running in the "May Day" races. Bambara mentions a couple of streets during the story, including Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, which run parallel to each other along the length of Harlem. One of the major landmarks of this area is City College of New York where the author attained her Master's Degree in American Studies.

What is the setting of "Raymond's Run"?

The setting of the story is in Harlem, New York during the running of the fifty-yard dash at the May Day track meet at Squeaky's school.

What is the setting of "Raymond's Run"?

The setting of the short story "Raymond's Run" is Manhattan in New York. Manhattan contains a lot of people, but the area itself isn't that large; however, that's still a fairly broad location. In the sixth paragraph of the story, Squeaky narrows down the setting location. She tells readers that she lives in Harlem. Harlem is located just north of Central Park and just southwest of Yankee Stadium. I believe that the story takes place on the western edge of Harlem because Squeaky mentions two specific streets. She mentions Amsterdam Avenue and Broadway. As for the time setting, nothing specific is given to readers. The original publication date of the story is 1971, and the story is likely taking place around that date. Readers do know that the story is taking place during the months of April and May because Squeaky is running in the annual May Day races (May Day is May 1st).

What is the setting of Raymond's Run?

As always, setting is comprised of two elements: place and time.  Both are significant in Bambara's young adult novel Raymond's Run.

The setting of place is New York City and, specifically, the community of Harlem.  (Bambara grew up there as well.)  In fact, the community of Harlem is spoken of even more specifically as actual street names that comprise many of the scenes.  Raymond's actual "run" is on Amsterdam Avenue!  However, other streets set other scenes such as Broadway, 34th street, etc.  The setting of place presents an atmosphere of survival as Squeaky needs to protect both herself and her brother. 

In regard to the setting of time, it's important to realize that this was a "current" story in the time it was written.  It was first published in a collection of short stories in 1971 called Tales and Stories for Black Folks.  Considering the date of publication and that the story is modern, we can safely assume that the setting of time is "recent" which would involve both the civil rights movement and the "Black Power" movement in the 1960s and 1970s.  Specifically, this timing augments the strengths (as opposed to the weaknesses) of a community being strictly African American.

Even though the following quote is by the author, but not in the context of the story, it is the perfect way to characterize the setting of Raymond's Run:

I work to tell the truth about people’s lives; I work to celebrate struggle, to applaud the tradition of struggle in our community, to bring to center stage all those characters, just ordinary folks on the block . . . characters we thought we had to ignore because they weren’t pimp-flashy or hustler-slick or because they didn’t fit easily into previously acceptable modes or stock types.

What is the setting in "Raymond's Run"?

The setting in "Raymond's Run" is New York City, specifically, the area that is known as Harlem.

The street names are the key to identifying the setting. For instance, Hazel/Squeaky mentions Broadway, which is in West Harlem; the other street, 34th Street near what is called Midtown. Then, in the seventh paragraph of the story, Squeaky mentions that girls are headed toward her, among them

...Mary Louise, who used to be a friend of mine when she first moved to Harlem from Baltimore.

After Squeaky and her brother come into contact with these girls, they head "toward the ice man on 145th." (The boundary of Harlem on the north is considered 155th Street.)

While there are debates on the boundaries of Harlem, Ralph Ellison facetiously remarked, "wherever Negroes live uptown is considered Harlem." But, at any rate, Hazel and Raymond and their family are in a section of New York commonly called Harlem at the time of Bambara's writing. This is easily a natural setting for the story because many of the African-American residents of New York were concentrated in Harlem's neighborhoods where so many had settled beginning with the Great Migration from the South.

What is the setting in "Raymond's Run"?

"Raymond's Run" takes place in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City strongly associated since the early twentieth century with Black life and culture. The story, published in 1971, appears to take place in the late 1960s or early 1970s, because Squeaky has picked up some of the thinking of the Black power and feminist movements of that period, such as the idea that women should not be rivals. However, the story also evokes an earlier but overlapping era with May Day dances around a Maypole in white organdy dresses and white shoes.

Harlem in the late 1960s and 1970s was associated with Black poverty and overcrowding, having collapsed economically like most of the rest of the country when the capital was sucked out of it in the 1930s because of the Great Depression. It went from being a vibrant center of Black cultural and intellectual life to a place often characterized by despair.

The Harlem setting is important to the story because it indicates to us that Squeaky and her friends are Black and probably poor, or at least on the less privileged side of the economic spectrum. Place names like 151 Street, Broadway, and Amsterdam Avenue add realism to this optimistic story of triumphant pride, energy, and grit.