Skip to main content

What is the difference and the similarity between Squeaky and Gretchen?

Both Squeaky and Gretchen are similar in the sense that both are competitive girls who are focused on winning the race.


In the beginning, both are wary of each other. Squeaky dislikes Gretchen because a former friend has now taken up with the new girl. Mary Louise used to be Squeaky's friend, but she's now taken to gossiping about Squeaky behind her back. From the text, we can see that none of what Mary Louise says to Gretchen about Squeaky is complimentary. Gretchen's other side-kick isn't much better: Rosie is loud and often insensitive in her remarks about Raymond, Squeaky's mentally-handicapped brother.


However, one thing different between Gretchen and Squeaky is the way both girls relate to Raymond. Squeaky, being Raymond's sister, is very aware of her brother's presence in the background, whether before, during, or after the race. Even when she wins, Squeaky's thoughts center on Raymond; she thinks about coaching him and helping him to win medals. After all, she's won more than her fair share, but Raymond has none to his name. To Gretchen, however, Raymond is just another girl's brother. He doesn't figure much into her thoughts. The only thing she knows about Raymond is that Squeaky is extremely protective of him; she understands that Squeaky will never tolerate her treating Raymond badly (intentionally or unintentionally), so she keeps her distance from the boy.


So, Squeaky and Gretchen are similar in the way they approach winning but dissimilar in the way they relate to Raymond.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more