Hazel Elizabeth Deborah Parker, known as "Squeaky", is an African-American girl from a poor background. A long distance runner and caregiver to her disabled brother Raymond, she rejects feminine gender roles, seeing social expectations of women as a pretense concealing women's true selves, and is protective of her brother and willing to fight those who mock him. Hazel particularly abhors another girl, Gretchen; eventually, though, after the girls race against each other, they acknowledge each other as worthwhile opponents. As well as recognising her own need to be true to herself, she comes to recognize Raymond's worth and potential as an individual, rather than simply as someone she must protect, after he shows himself able to keep pace with her when she runs.