Discussion Director-Raymond's Run

We read a short story called Raymond's Run. And we had question to choose from to answer.

The questions I chose are:

What is "playing the dozens"? It is a game played in front of an audience of bystanders, who encourage the participants to reply with more egregious insults.

Why does Sqeaky say she prefers action to talking? She wants to get straight to business by punching someone who is teasing her brother. 

In the story, which conflicts are addressed through action, which through words? Everything is expressed through words but she tells a couple of things she would do if she wanted to get straight to business. 

Are you more likely to use words or actions to resolve your conflicts? I am more likely to use words than fighting because I could get into more trouble if I fight and I try to fix things with words. Fighting just makes it worse.

Is Sqeaky confident or cocky about her talent for running? She is cocky because she keeps showing off about her running. She is a bit too confident thinking she is the best in the world. 

How does her attitude affect her performance? It does affect her because she is getting cocky making her faster to prove how good she is.

How does it affect her relationships with family and friends? It affects only her brother because she runs ahead when they go on their morning jogs and people start bullying her brother.

Do you have a talent, gift or ability that you are proud of? I have many talents but my three talents that I am most proud of are playing soccer, speaking more than 5 languages and playing the piano.

Did anyone encourage or discourage your talents? Nobody has ever discouraged my talents but people always encourage my soccer. And they definitely encourage my piano skills, especially my father. and people always are very encouraging of my language talents. They want me to always learn a word or two of the language in the country we are in. 

How do those talents affect your relationships? Soccer or my language talent do not affect my relationships but when I play piano, I usually get tired of it and get mad at my parents for making me do it. 

Raymond's Run- #4-Discussion Director

Raymond's Run
Blog Post #4
Discussion Director


     The short story that my group read for this post is called Raymond's Run. It is about a poor black girl talented in running (nicknamed Squeaky) and her disabled brother Raymond. Her brother is disabled both physically and mentally due to a condition called Hydrocephalus. His brain is underdeveloped however his head is larger than usual.
     Question 1. Why do you think the author, Toni Cade Bambara,* wrote her the story using street language and slang? Do you think she wanted to express something with this?
     Vishesh: Vishesh's reply was that she wrote this way to express freedom. (After research I found out that all her stories were written this way, I also discovered that she is a freedom writer.) My opinion on the question is the same as Vishesh's, she wrote it that way to show that she has freedom, she can write differently to everyone else and she is free to do it that way.

     Question 2. How do you picture Raymond, not only physically but also as a person? How do you think he is disabled?
     Anastasis: Anastasis's though the same as Vishesh and me. We all thought that he would have a slightly larger head than everyone else. As a person we thought he would be relatively normal, except that he would still act much younger than he is.
     After some research I discovered that Raymond was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus, which is when the protective fluid CSF builds up in ventricles within your head. This extra amount of CSF causes head enlargement (which can be severe or barely noticeable) and increases pressure      
in the head, stopping the brain from fully developing. Hydrocephalus is not extremely rare, it occurs in about 2 in every 1 000 births.

     Question 3. Why do you think that Squeaky was scared of Gretchen and her gang^? Do you think that Squeaky had bullying issues?
     Vishesh: Vishesh's answer was that yes, she probably did have bullying issues, or she may have just been scared of getting bullied because she had seen the effects it had had on her brother. In his opinion Gretchen was probably good at hurting Raymond's feelings, and seeing her brother upset also made Squeaky feel hurt. So for the benefit of her brother and herself she tried to avoid them. This seemed to make sense, so Anastasis and I agreed.

     Question 4. When you found out that the protagonist, Squeaky, was a poor black girl, where you surprised? Do you think her entire neighbourhood was like her?
     Martin: I was relatively surprised by the fact that she was poor, however the fact that she was black had no effect on me. I was shocked when she mentioned that she was poor because nothing in the text before that had made me think of her that way. On the other hand, there was no text to support the fact that she was rich. My answer to the second part of the question is that I do not think her entire neighbourhood lived under the same conditions. This is because she mentioned the May Pole Dance, and she acknowledged that it is relatively expensive (to her family). Yet, there were people in her neighbourhood who signed up for it each year, making me think that they were not living the same way as Squeaky.

     Question 5. In your opinion, what do you think the theme of the story was? Did it end the way that you expected it to?
     Anastasis: Anastasis, Vishesh and I all agreed on the theme(s) of the book. We came up with two major ones. Be yourself and no matter who you are you should be treated like a human. We decided on the first theme because Squeaky shows that she does not care what people think of her, she just wants to be herself. The second theme revolved mainly on Raymond and the end of the book. Yes Raymond was disabled, but people had no right to make fun of him or try to hurt his feelings about it. Squeaky expressed this when she protected her brother and loved him.

*Toni Cade Bambara was an African-American author. She was also a social activist.
^Gretchen and her gang are a group of girls from Squeaky's neighbourhood. They seem to have some sort of conflict going on between them.

Illustrater-The Westing game-Prachi

I drew picture of Angela and her partner, Ms. Pulaksi, discussing about their clues. I chose this scene because it is kind of important, when they are trying to figure out the clues, that Mr.Westing has given them. In this scene Ms. Pulaksi was looking at everyone's clue, so that she can figure out her clues, while Angela was just sitting there admiring the smartness of Ms. Pulaksi. 

Westing game- Literary Luminary

1.      Sam Westing was not the type to let him-self get killed. Not unless he was insane. 

This sentence sounds kind of creepy because it says Sam is not someone himself get killed.

2.    That’s where the real clues were buried among the veiled threats and pom pous promises, the slogans and silliness in that hodge podge of a will.

This sentence sounds funny and the words that the author used are pretty funny.

3.     It was the secretary’s turn to seal her lips. She wouldn’t put it past the uppity Grace Windson Wexler to steal the notebook and unfortunate cripple.

It sounds funny and mysterious because the words the author uses at first makes it look like the seceratry is the murder but late at the ned of the sentence it is kind of funny.

4.    Turtle was slumped on the couch, scornful of dumb grown-up parties.

It sounds like Turtle dosen't like grown-up parties and he thinks that they are dumb. 

5.    Flora Baumach’s pudgy fingers, swift with a needle were clumsy with a comb but after several tangled attempts she ended up with three equal strands.

This phrase sounds like that Flora is not good with hair and you kind of get know the characteristics of this person.

Summary of Chater 8 - 14

Summary
In chater 8 the players of the Westing Game wake up to see they are snow bound with the murderer. There was no power in the Sunset towers. Everyone was snow bound some where. Everyone was working with the game. The theif was on the loose. Many things had gone missing like papers, clocks, pears, and many more things. There was a sign which was saying that you were invited to a party which was at Jurge Ford's house. Everyone went to find which person was murder. The bomber was also on the loose which set the frist bomb in the coffe shop breaking everything. The bomb also set the second bomb in the ....... causing a accient 

The Westing Game-Rin (Illustrator)

I drew this scene because this scene is starting of the drama in this book.  This scene is at the very beginning of the book when he 62 year old mailman puts mail to 6 people saying you are a lucky person and you get to go to a luxury apartment you have always dreamed of from Barney Northrup. So in my drawing there are the houses and the mail box with letter from and Barney Northrup and the mail man at the end. 

The Westing Game

Words:
Chandeliers:
A decorative, sometimes ornate, light fixture suspended form a ceiling, usually having branched supports for a number of lights. Pg 3
Look there are some nice Chandeliers up there!

Specializing:
To purse some spical line of work etc;have a specially. Pg 7
I am specializing that horse back riding

Resentment:
The feeling of displeasure or indignation at some act, remark, person etc; regarded as causing injury or insult.  Pg 35
You are resentment me!

Beneficiary:
A person designated as the recipient of funds or other property under a will. Pg 21
Many people are under a will

Tenants:
A person or a group that rents and occupies, land, a house. Pg 6
This tenants rents and occupies my house.

Putrid:
Smells or Rotten
This house smell Putrid