The “Raymonds Run” and “Spending the Night with the Poor”
Introduction and thesis Society is very dynamic, making it unique in its particular way. With this in mind, there are people in the community who live at the mercy of others, while some live with everything in place. While this is attributed to many societal factors, life is not always the same for all people. Some people are in their situation because they did not want that to happen. Others live their best life while others live on their lows. Due to this dynamic of people living in varied conditions, society has its way of embracing differences or failing to embrace them. In most cases, the less privileged are socially not taken seriously and will be scarcely be embraced by the haves. The haves are most valued by society due to their influence from their resources. Typically, society tends to value the bourgeoisie at the expense of low-income earners because the bourgeoisies seem well organized and with ideas that would help someone. While this is true, there is still the bourgeoisie who are conservative, and they would never spend their time with the less fortunate, or if they spend time with them, they will not give value to them. Due to all these societal happenings, some people have no other choice than to be strong in their poverty or weaknesses, which made them who they are today. It is because they have learned the art of self-responsibility. This essay evaluates two different sources, one talking about the story of an African American girl who is a long-distance athlete and takes care of her disabled brother, but they are from a poor background. On the other hand, the source talks about two girls one from a poor background and the other from a wealthy background. This essay examines the link between the two articles and what we can learn about poverty, Alienation, Perseverance, and endurance between the two sources. In the source “Raymonds’s Run,” the aspect of poverty is brought up in the sense that Squeaky does not have a job to do, and all she has is to look for his younger brother because she says, “Raymond isn’t quite right.” Raymond is poor, and her family is poor because she has to look after his brother and at the same time to her running practice. She does not have a coach to train her or instead employs a caregiver to care for their brother. The family members are all employed, but they are not in a sustaining job that can afford a caregiver to take care of Raymond. Since Squeaky loves to run and take care of her brother, she has to practice running and take care of his brother. Squeaky has learned that people tease and could make fun of her and her brother, which made her overprotective “I much rather just knock you down and take my chances even if I am a little girl with skinny arms and a squeaky voice, which is how I got the name Squeaky.” She does not want anyone to come close to her brother and make fun of him (Bambara, Pg 1). This shows that Squeaky is not ready to receive pity from anyone, nor does she care whether someone is from a wealthy family or not. She is specifically aware that they are poor, and she understands that she does not have another job to do. She has to look after her brother and do his breathing and running exercises. This is significant because it helps us learn that one does not have to be helped to be better. Usually, poor people overlook their effort and blame others for not helping them. Instead, Squeaky helps us learn that her endurance, perseverance, and appreciation of alienation have made her attain internal toughness. Instead of poverty making her look down upon herself, it makes her reason very strongly make her way out of poverty because she is determined to be an excellent athlete despite all odds. On the other hand, Alienation due to poverty is well illustrated in this story, “Spending the night with the Poor,” it gives a little show on how poverty can sometimes be painful in the life of someone. For example, Crystal has to walk a mile and a half to school. Crystal is a friendly and welcoming friend from a poor background, while Lynn is a girl from a wealthy family who shows compassion to Crystal even though this does not come out very clear. Crystal says that her cousin is rich “my cousin has so much money.” This is an implication that Crystal believes that her cousin should help then from poverty, but this is not the thought of Lynn. Lynn does not know how to answer Crustal. “What am I supposed to say?”. This is because Lynn understands that it does not matter whether a relative has money or not. The relative has nothing to do with the situation with the family of Crustal. Crystal started to cry because she was not answered well by Lynn. “She started to cry.” This indicates that Crystal has self-pity due to alienation by their cousin, who has a lot of money (Lim Shepard, 154). The article “Raymond’s Run” and the article “Spending the night with the poor” have a relation with poverty and alienation because of poverty. Raymond’s Run talks about Squeaky and how she has an internal toughness that has made her not care what others say about her. In Raymond’s Run, Rosie tells Squeaky, “I don’t think you’re going to win.” Squeaky says in response, “I always win because I’m the best.” Contrary to this, Crystal tells Lynn that her cousin has a lot of money, but Lynn does not respond, which makes Crystal start crying (Bambara, Pg 3). In both quotations of the sources, “Raymond’s Run” has created an attribute that shows that someone does not have to feel sorry about the position they have found themselves in. Squeaky is very proud of her brother, who has a disability. She has a reputation for protecting her brother against anyone who would try to take advantage of the fun of her brother. This internal toughness is displayed by Squeaky, which makes her do her consistent running exercises and protect and look after her brother. She is determined to win the next running competition because she believes she is the best. The source “spending the night with the poor” implicates that Crystal has an inferiority complex from her situation and feels alienated. This alienation causes her to cry every time it seems as if she is not listened to concerning her low-income family. Consequently, this is significant as it helps learn how to deal with an unfortunate situation someone would be in. For instance, the two quotations show that when someone is not confident about their condition, they are likely not to receive reasoned help because they will be blaming others for why they are in a specific situation. For example, after Crystal spent the night with Lynn, they had a conversation that led Crystal to cry. Lynn was not comfortable about that. She failed to understand that Crystal could be having an inferiority complex. Consequently, the following morning, Lynn did not want to associate with Crystal and even withdrew herself from the dancing group. Summary of what we learn from comparing both sources We learn from both sources that it is essential for individual people to appreciate the state of condition they are in. For example, in the source “Spending the night with the poor,” Crystal is not outspoken about her retarded brother. On the other hand, crystal lies about their parents owning a vehicle and her father working in an office. Referring to his retarded brother, “He isn’t, but he might as well be,” and referring to her father working in the office, Lynn says, “She her father worked in an office. I did not say anything”. This indicates that Crystal did not appreciate her parents' condition, which is why she is hiding disclosing the truth about matters of affairs in her family. This is something Lynn is not happy about it, and instead, she fails to understand why Crystal had to lie about some things. Lynn noticed that Crystal’s father works at an organization that produces brake pads and, in the office, as Crystal had told Lynn. On the other hand, the “Raymond’s Run” source shows that one does not mind where one is born. Instead, they are supposed to appreciate every bit of their successes by focussing on how they can remove them from an unfortunate situation. Poverty is not easy, so both characters in the sources are experiencing hardship interacting with their colleagues. In the end, the sources show that he appreciates their situation and gathers toughness from it that ends up being helped. Everyone has to persevere and endure the condition in which they are with their family because other people will most likely alienate them because they will be seen as if they do not believe in themselves, and this is living a lie.
References
Bambara, Toni Cade. Raymond's run. Creative Education, 1990.
Lim Shepard, Spending the Night with the Poor, Pg 143-155