Ernest Squeaky Character Traits

Squeaky is a proud sister, she’s sassy, she is protective and takes care of her brother Raymond in the book Raymond’s Run by Toni Cade Bambara. Squeaky is proud of Raymond because after she finishes the race, he comes running to her, showing he keeps up with his sister and she realizes he is a very fine runner. She takes care of him because she is the one looking after him taking him out and helping him. She does love him and takes care of him because when Mary Louise Williams asks a question to Raymond, Squeaky chimes in to tell her if she has something to tell Raymond, they will have to tell it to Squeaky first. She is also sassy when Mary Louise asks a question.

She relies on her tough girl image to make sure that people don’t mess with her. Not one for talking, she relies on her fists to defend herself. She says, “I’m ready to fight, cause like I said, I don’t feature a whole lot of chit-chat, I much prefer to just knock you down right from the jump and save everybody a lotta precious time.” Squeaky is especially protective of her status as “the swiftest thing in the neighborhood,” as “Miss Quicksilver herself,” and she expects everyone—even her competition, Gretchen—to acknowledge this. When Rosie suggests that Squeaky won’t win the Mayday race this year, Squeaky stares Gretchen down and says, “I always win cause I’m the best.”

I think running is important to her because when the girls tried to embarrass Squeaky and discourage her, on of the girls named Rosie said this: “I don’t think you’re going to win this time.” Though the responding of Squeaky comes out with pride and dignity. She responds this way “ I always win cause I’m the best.” This shows that Squeaky wants to win and she won’t let anyone in her way. Though, Squeaky can’t just say she’ll win and she’ll win.

She prides herself at protecting her brother Raymond from other people and being self-confident. This is when she mentions, “… if anybody has anything to say to Raymond, anything to say about his big head, they have to come by me.”(Bambara 26). She takes dignity in herself, in being a very fast runner when she says, “And as anybody can tell you, I’m the fastest thing on two feet.” (Bambara 26). As you can see, Squeaky describes herself as someone who is genuine. When a specific task is difficult for her, she practices and studies. She is never ashamed of the arduous work she has to put in to be successful. Also, when she says, "Now some people like to act like things come easy to them, won’t let on that they practice. Not me” (Bambara 28). In more explanation, she describes herself who doesn’t take shame in showing who she really

The first reason why Squeaky is a memorable character is because she is a confident character. For example, Squeaky will always say, “ There’s no track meet I don’t win the first place medal.” This shows Squeaky is confident about her running and anytime she is in a race she doesn’t believe but, knows that she is

Because she saw Raymond running along the sidelines, something sparks inside of her. “Cause if I’ve lost this race, or if me and Gretchen tied… I can always retire as a runner… and coach with Raymond as my champ” (Bambara 111). Squeaky doesn’t care about her win anymore. She is thinking about Raymond’s potential as a runner. Her heart is growing fond at the thought of her brother following behind her footsteps. “My brother Raymond, a great runner in the family tradition” (Bambara 111). This shows that Squeaky is excited for her brother’s future. He is no longer the annoying ‘little’ brother he always was. Now, he is a person with the ability to run like she can. Finally, even after the man announces that Squeaky won, she looks over at Gretchen. There is no longer venom boiling between them. “And I smile. ‘Cause she’s good, no doubt about it. Maybe she’d like to help me coach Raymond” (Bambara 112). There is a newfound respect between the two girls. Gretchen even smiles back. The walls Squeaky spent so long building up are now crumbling down piece by piece as her mind

Since she is serious about running, she practices a lot. And doing so makes her even more confident. At this point in the story, Squeaky is thinking of the new girl in town called Gretchen, Gretchen is going to give her a little competition this year. She is also thinking of the big race. She thinks about the race, and about Gretchen, the new girl, who is actually going to give her a little competition this year; that scares her a little, so she is trying to build up her own self-confidence. Squeaky shows confidence in this quote: “I’m the fastest thing on two feet. There is no track meet that I do not win the first place medal.” (p.26, lines 22-25). Squeaky thinks this because she wants to motivate herself and prove to herself that she is not afraid for the race. This quote also means that she has a reputation for being fast and knows that nobody can beat her. It really shows how she is confident in herself and that even though she might be scared a little because of Gretchen, she supports herself by thinking motivating, confident

Squeaky herself is very determined to win when it comes to running. On page 30, she says, “I’m serious about my running and I don’t care who knows it.” This statement shows that she’s willing to practice in public, in front of

She normally goes on her walks to practice her breathing exercises and, “[keeps] Raymond on the inside of [her]...which is OK by [her] so long as he doesn’t run [her] over or interrupt [her] breathing exercises” (Bambara 2). When the race is finished, she decides that she is going to devote her attention to helping Raymond develop into a skilled runner. She decides she's going to “begin a whole new career as a coach with Raymond as my champion” (Bambara 6). From the beginning of the story to the end, she goes from thinking of herself as the main priority to recognizing that she has the capability to help others, and she is going to put her skills to use on Raymond. Finally, Squeaky learns to have respect for other girls. Squeaky believes that girls have the inability to be true friends with each other. When Gretchen smiles at her, she misinterprets it for a fake smile because, “girls never really smile at each other because they don’t know how and don’t want to know how and there’s probably no one to teach us how, cause grown-up girls don’t know either” (Bambara

Another common theme in this story is gender stereotypes, which Squeaky follows and believes, is that girls don’t necessarily get along with each other. In the story, the stereotype presented is that They fight with each other, sometimes alone, and sometimes in groups. That is why it is surprising that Squeaky learns to get along with the antagonist of the story, Gretchen, at the end of the story, as seen in the following quote. We stand there with this big smile of respect between us. It’s about as

Squeaky has a special brother named Raymond who she has to take care of, which is her main and only chore. To prove the point, it is stated on page 24 by Squeaky, “All I have to do in life is mind my brother Raymond, which is enough.” The story mostly revolves around Squeaky in a first person view with Raymond not mentioned often during the a large chunk. This proves that the girl isn’t paying much attention to Raymond. If she weren’t so prideful of herself, Squeaky would probably have paid more attention to Raymond. Her pride can be shown on page 24 as Squeaky states, “There is no track meet that I don’t win first-place medal.” Since Squeaky knows that she usually wins, there is no chance of her losing. She doesn’t even give credit to the other members in track.

As Squeaky got older she had found another puzzle piece, it was the moment of when she was given the job of protecting her brother that caused her to become caring/protective and

In a all Squeaky is a great character she is my favorite out of the story. She wont back down from anything and she reminds me of myself because she has a big heart and the heart of a lion. No matter what she never gives up and she is willing to fight who ever also she will go through any challenge to be the best she can be. She is a great person and she takes care of her brother which I also like about her. She doesn't care who you are or how big you are she will go at you with everything shes got she knows her size but she doesn't care she is a young

In “Raymond’s Run,” Squeaky is known to be independent and confident. In the beginning, she’s seen to not care what others think of her, and instead focuses on her running. However, she’s not truly herself until the end after she sees her brother running the race that she realizes she has to break down the wall she’s built around herself to become her real self and allow others to be like

She even admits that she calls Raymond her “little brother” (14) even though he is bigger and older. There are “a lot of smart mouths [that] got lots to say about [Raymond’s mental disability]” (14), yet Squeaky still sticks up for him. This quote demonstrates that Squeaky really cares for Raymond, even being motherly. Thinking of one’s older brother as younger implies that she cares about him a lot. Also, when Mary Louise Williams, a bully, teases Raymond, Squeaky replies, “You got anything to say to my brother, you say it to me, Mary Louise Williams of Raggedy Town, Baltimore” (16). Despite Raymond being different than everybody else, Squeaky still protects and helps him when there are bullies, something only a kind caring sister would do. When Squeaky noticed Raymond running towards her, she thought, “I can always retire as a runner and begin a whole new career as a coach” (19). She stands up for her even though he’s “not quite right” (14). The fact that she is willing to stop running, which she has done her whole life, to coach Raymond expresses that Squeaky really cares for Raymond and wants him to have a good