By Toni Cade Bambara
Raymond’s
Run
Pre reading discussion
Authorship
 What are some reasons authorship
might be important in a story?
 Read quickly through the short
excerpt about Toni Cade Bambara
on page 11.
 How might her experiences affect
the style in which she writes, the
topics about which she writes, and
the characters about whom she
writes?
Styles of writing
 How are formal writing and
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informal writing different?
Could you give some examples of
each?
What differences might there be in
purpose?
How would you classify narrative
writing?
Into which genre would narrative
writing fit?
Style of writing
 Let’s read together the first page of
our story on page 3 .
 What do you notice about
Bambara’s style of writing?
Bambara’s style
 Did you notice the idioms which she
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uses? Discuss these and come up with
some of your own.
Did you notice the slang she uses?
Discuss why the use of slang is acceptable
in some forms of writing and not others.
Did you notice the sentence structure and
syntax? What kinds of things are
allowable in narrative informal writing
that wouldn’t be allowed in formal
writing?
As you read the rest of this story, look for
and jot down some more examples of
these styles of writing.
Look for the longest sentence in the story.
Point of view
 What is point of view?
 How many kinds of point of view
are there and what are they?
Point of view
 First-person point of view is in
use when a character narrates the
story with I-me-my-mine in his or
her speech. The advantage of this
point of view is that you get to hear
the thoughts of the narrator and
see the world depicted in the story
through his or her eyes.
Point of view
 Second-person point of view, in
which the author uses you or
you’re, is rare; authors seldom
speak directly to the reader.
Point of view
 Third-person point of view is that of
an outsider looking at the action. The
writer may choose third-person
omniscient, in which the thoughts of
every character are open to the reader,
or third-person limited, in which the
reader enters only one character's
mind, either throughout the entire
work or in a specific section. Thirdperson limited differs from firstperson because the author's voice, not
the character's voice, is what you hear
in the descriptive passages.
(Understanding point of view For Dummies)
Point of view
 Having just read the first page of
the story, what do you believe is the
point of view of Raymond’s Run?
 Look for any exceptions to this
point of view. See if you can find
where our author slips into a
different kind of point of view and
write it down.
Voice
 What is voice and how does it differ
from point of view?
Voice
 Definition:
 Voice has two meanings as it concerns
writers:
 Voice is the author's style, the quality that
makes his or her writing unique, and
which conveys the author's attitude,
personality, and character.
 Voice is the characteristic speech and
thought patterns of a first person narrator;
a persona. Because voice has so much to
do with the reader's experience of a work
of literature, it is one of the most
important elements of a piece of writing.
 (Fiction writing.com)
Voice
 As you read the story, see if you can
determine some things about the
voice of this piece. Remember, the
author’s attitude and style reflect
voice.
Conflict
 What is conflict?
 How many of you have conflict in
your lives?
 What are some different kinds of
conflict?
 Can you separate the conflicts you
have into two major kinds? What
are they?
Conflict
 Conflict
A struggle between opposing forces in
a story or play, usually resolved by the
end of the work. The conflict may
occur within a character as well as
between characters.
 External conflict – arises when there
is a struggle between two characters
or a character and some other external
force such as nature.
 Internal conflict – arises when there is
a psychological struggle within the
mind of a character as to a decision
he/she must make.
Vocabulary
 Many of the vocabulary words are in the
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footnotes; some are slangs, some are new
words, some are allusions, some are
shortened forms of the word. Pay close
attention to them.
hustling
play the dozens
Mercury
PAL
interrupt
island
prodigy
Chopin
Harlem
Dodge City
Reputation (rep)
signify
ventriloquist
Quicksilver
May Day
organdy
glockenspiels
periscope
Assignment
 Write notes on the following and be prepared to discuss
them in class:
 In what ways does the story reflect Bambara’s life experiences?
 What are some distinctions in Bambara’s style?
 How would you classify the point of view?
 What would you say is the predominant voice in the story?
Does the voice change throughout the duration of the story?
 What are the main conflicts in the story? Which are internal
and which are external? Which do you think is more
important?
 Describe Squeaky’s character. How does she change from the
beginning of the story to the end? What brings about this
change?
 Explain why you would or would not like to have Squeaky as a
friend.
 What is the significance of the title? Would you have titled it
the same?
 Explain how taking care of Raymond was not an easy job.
 What do you think of Mr. Pearson’s suggestion to Squeaky
concerning the race?
 Our unit title is “We all need somebody to lean on.” How is this
significant in Raymond’s Run? Who leans on whom?
 Study the vocabulary words and be prepared for a fun type quiz
on them.