Saturday, November 22, 2014

Are there characters who don’t change?

In Toni Cade Bambara's short story "Raymond's Run," there are several dynamic characters, but I would argue there is at least one static character.
A static character is one whose character traits stay the same throughout the piece of literature. A dynamic character changes in some way; they may have an epiphany or a change of heart.
Squeaky is the main character of this story and is definitely a dynamic character. She begins the story very arrogant, focused, and with great disdain for her competitor and her friends. She finishes the story realizing that there are more important things in life than just her own success and that maybe she can help Raymond find something he can be successful at, too. She also ends the story with a smile of respect for her competitor, Gretchen. Gretchen changes, too, by returning the smile. In the beginning of the story, she is sizing Squeaky up and is not friendly or respectful. There isn't enough information to determine whether or not Gretchen's sidekicks, Rosie and Mary Louise, make any kind of change.
Raymond is what I would consider a static character. Although at the end of the story he does something that Squeaky had never seen him do before, it's an action and not a change in personality, thinking, or belief. He is the same person in the beginning of the story that he is at the end of the story. Although Squeaky says she has never seen Raymond run before, the story is really about Squeaky expanding her worldview from an entirely self-centered one to one that wants to help someone else—her brother. It is probably the first time she's seen Raymond run full speed, but probably not the first time she's seen him run. Consider this quote:

And it occurs to me, watching how smoothly he climbs hand over hand and remembering how he looked running with his arms down to his side and with the wind pulling his mouth back and his teeth showing and all, it occurred to me that Raymond would make a very fine runner. Doesn’t he always keep up with me on my trots? And he surely knows how to breathe in counts of seven cause he’s always doing it at the dinner table, which drives my brother George up the wall.

Here she mentions that Raymond keeps up with her on her trots, which would indicate that he jogs along with her.

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