Raymond's Run

A foil character is one whom the author describes as the direct opposite of another character in order to emphasize the differences between the two. The most pertinent example is the foil of the narrator, Squeaky, and her classmate, Cynthia Procter. Squeaky describes Cynthia as being “just the opposite of her” (Paragraph 5). Cynthia likes to let on that she is naturally gifted and can perform her schoolwork and hobbies with little to no effort. Squeaky knows from passing by Cynthia’s house every morning—where she hears her practicing the same phrases on the piano, repeatedly—that like herself, Cynthia does put work into honing her craft. Squeaky, on the other hand, is not ashamed of the labor she puts into her schoolwork or her running. The foil in this context helps readers gain a better understanding of Squeaky’s personality and beliefs by comparing her to someone she considers to be her direct opposite.

Bambara’s use of imagery in the story is most effective during the scene in which Squeaky is about to compete in the May Day race. Squeaky likens the feeling she always gets before she competes in a race to that of being in a dream, one in which “you’re sick with fever and feel all hot and weightless” (Paragraph 23). Before she erupts into her sprint, Squeaky dreams that she is “…flying over a sandy beach in the early morning sun, kissing the leaves of the trees as I fly by” (Paragraph 23). In this daydream “…there’s always the smell of apples, just like in the country when I was little…running through the fields of corn and chugging up the hill to the orchard” (Paragraph 23). This imagery reflects Squeaky’s desire to step away from reality and to experience the beauty of life with the same childlike wonder she once had as a little girl, before she was tasked with the responsibility of looking after her brother. Interestingly, Squeaky’s imagined world mirrors the fantasy world that Raymond prefers to live in.