Writing A Literary Essay On Raymond’s Run In 6 Simple Steps

“Raymond’s Run” is one of the more popular stories written by African American author Toni Cade Bambara. It depicts the story of a young girl who develops platonic connections between characters based not on family relationship or common identity, but on empathy. The main character, Squeaky, is concerned with her mentally disabled older brother, Raymond, and needs to connect with her adversary Gretchen to help him. The story has many themes and topics on which to build a great literary essay assignment. Here’s how to do that in six simple steps:

1. Understanding the writing assignment

The first step in writing a great literary essay on Raymond’s Run is understanding what you are being asked to do with the assignment. Carefully analyze and evaluate a specific topic or theme in Bambara’s story and present a central idea of what you have concluded.

2. Developing a thesis statement

Develop a strong thesis statement that presents the central idea you have developed from your readings. Your thesis should be original and concisely state the focus of your paper. You may want to start with a draft then revise the statement later when you have further developed your work.

3. Creating a literary essay outline

In your analysis you have probably come up with several pages of notes. Brainstorm your main arguments and organize them in an outline. The outline should list each topic in support of your thesis and list the strongest pieces of evidence from the text and your evaluation of it. Use your outline as you write your first draft so that you don’t stray far from topic.

4. Writing your first draft

The next step is to start writing a first draft. This should be done as quickly and efficiently as possible in order to get all of your ideas down on paper. Don’t break your momentum by making corrections to the draft. This is generally discouraged as it might keep you from getting your best ideas down by interrupting your thought process.

5. Revising your content

Set your literary essay aside for a few hours. You want to revise your first draft with a fresh set of eyes and a clear mind. Look for ways to improve on your work by removing content, adding content or rearranging content to better present your analysis.

6. Proofreading and editing

The last step in writing a great paper is proofreading and editing. It’s a good idea to do this with a fresh set of eyes as well, so give yourself a few more hours before starting this last phase. Be sure to proofread and edit on multiple levels to ensure that you catch the smallest mistakes.