Toni Cade Bambara

about the ancient Chinese belief of yin and yang. It represents the balance of good and evil in the world. However, yin and yang also represents a person - no one is completely good or evil. Squeaky, the dynamic protagonist of “Raymond’s Run” by Toni Cade Bambara, is a perfect example of this. She has many problems in her life: taking care of her mentally disabled brother, Raymond, and not living up to her mother’s expectation of being the typical girly girl. This makes her tough, confident,…

Challenging the Inclusion of Intersectionality in the Academy Introduction With this paper, I will explore the inclusion of intersectionality in the academy. To do so, I will provide a genealogical analysis of the ways in which intersectionality has been taken up and implemented by the neo-liberal academy and feminist scholars. The purpose of this paper, then, is to trace the history of intersectionality in relation to the academy in order to consider a future that is beyond inclusion. My…

Readers typically enjoy a work of literature more when it is something they are able to relate to. The short stories, “The Sky is Gray,” by Ernest Gaines and “Raymond’s Run,” by Toni Cade Bambara both encompass young children who have figured out the cruel and unjust world around them. Both written by African-American individuals and published in the late 20th century, the stories give us a look into the lives of colored individuals, specifically children, in this case. The two protagonists,…

to accomplish things in life, but one of the hardest things to grasp is the concept of success. Success is the opportunity to be taken and completed with a purpose, just like in the stories “Ragged Dick” by Horatio Alger and “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. In “Ragged Dick”, a boy named Dick wants to escape poverty and tries to learn many things so he can be well prepared for success. He is able to do this after saving a little boy from drowning and getting a job from the boy’s father, Mr.…