Does adversity always make people feel negative throughout their lives? In “Raymond's Run” the main character Squeaky faces a great challenge. His brother Raymond has a mental disability. So she has to take care of him, which causes her a lot of difficulties. In "Locked Up", Zach, Craig and Ellen visit teenagers who are locked up. Ellen's goal is to lift teenagers out of poverty and give them hope. Their crew helps incarcerated teenagers and convinces them to change and be more positive. The teens of Boysville and Squeaky have had their identities shaped by adversity. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The main character of "Raymond's Run" is Squeaky. He lives in Harlem, a city in New York, and is 14 years old. In her rank, she is an exceptional runner and has not lost a race in which she has participated. Raymond, Squeaky's brother, has hydrocephalus, which has left him mentally disabled. For this reason he must protect his brother throughout his life. Sometimes he even calls him his younger brother, when in reality he is older than Squeaky. Raymond gets bullied or teased in Harlem because of his disability and Squeaky also gets in trouble if Raymond gets hurt. For this reason, Squeaky has to defend the city's bullies and sometimes even ends up getting into fights. This causes many misfortunes for her and Raymond. Since she is a runner she also needs to practice running. While exercising she also has to watch over Raymond, she fears Raymond will interrupt her training, but Raymond is forced to keep up with her and surprisingly he does. However, when Raymond runs he is teased for running with his hand in his pocket. She considers herself Miss Quicksilver. It refers to mercury, which is how fast liquid mercury flows. However, even though she is the best runner for her age in the city, she is not celebrated, instead the city wants other people to win and Mr.Pearson, the man who organizes the races in Harlem, thinks that Squeaky should let other people win for once and you should stop being selfish. So these had caused her a lot of problems, harm and misery and had significantly affected her identity due to Raymond's disability. The article "Locked Up" tells the story of Zach, Craig and Ellen who help teenagers who have ended up in prison. All three go to Boysville, which is a prison for teenagers. Their goal is to talk to the kids and try to give them hope. Ellen listens to how the boys were sent to Boysville and hears about the boys' hardships. Many kids had problems with where they lived according to Ellen, many teenagers were sent to Boysville because of where they grew up. However, most of them were sent there to avenge the violence. So their goal is to encourage them to have hope to change their past. Ellen listens to the teenagers and at first they don't seem interested, but eventually they seem to have changed. Ellen said, “My goal when we go to Boysville is to bring them out of their shells and give them hope.” He has a great time in Boysville and won't stop asking when he can go back to Boysville. Boysville teens were deeply touched by Ellen, Craig, and Zach. They tell teenagers that they can change their identity, forget past difficulties and move on to having a more positive life. In both stories the teenagers and Squeaky ultimately improved positively. In Raymond's Run, Squeaky learns that he can help his brother achieve goals like Raymond. He also admitted that he could convince Raymond to become a runner.