Blue Water: A Short Story

This is Water, was a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in 2005. Ever since this speech has been given it has become well known. Because of the length, it can be hard to read through the speech while trying to understand the whole idea of it. Wallace fills the speech with stories, examples, and vivid ideas while trying to convince these college graduates how to view life in a positive perspective. While this speech is packed full of ideas he manages to give it in a way outside of the norm for commencement speeches. Yet still gets all the information to the graduates and anyone else who listens to it.

An old Chinese proverb says to fish for the moon in the water. In Lan Samantha Chang’s short story “Water Names”, a grandmother tells her granddaughters a story as a way to introduce them to their cultural heritage. This frame story was about Wen Zhiqing’s favorite daughter whose fascination with water escalates after she claims to see a prince in the reflective water. The daughter comes to the conclusion that her prince is real, wants to marry her and wants to take her away to his underwater kingdom. Her parents try to convince her otherwise and keep her from going to the river but after a flood, they lose track of her and she disappears. The grandmother ends the story and leaves the girls to wonder about what actually happened to the

In James McBride’s “The Color of Water,” a young James shaped an imaginary world for himself where he believed his true self was the boy who lived in the mirror. He sought this young man in the mirror, as an outlet for his poignant aggravation and a flight from his agonizing veracity. Thus, James could take out all his fury and irritation into the boy in the mirror, who would pay attention to him without any awful judgments towards him. On the other hand, James needed the boy to be a precursor of what he could be or cover in other life—his imaginary world—. “To further escape from painful reality, I created an imaginary world for myself...” (McBride 90).

In the book Color of Water a Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother James McBride, the author, (who is also the author) had a significant shift in opinions and personality. When James was young, he was absolutely mortified when a black man mugged his mother. But as he grew older, he found himself becoming just like that black man. James was always terrified of his white mother living amongst so many blacks when he was a child. If Ruth, (James mother,) came home late from work he would stay up late waiting for her to make sure she got home safe and wasn’t bothered by anybody (McBride 33). As Ruth and James were walking home from a bus stop, a black man ran up from behind them and knocked all their belongings to the ground and wrestled Ruth for her

James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water, compares two troubled, young lives in which they are victims of racial prejudices and alienation. In this novel, Ruth McBride, the mother of the author, encounters the most alienation of all characters mentioned because of her religion and family decisions and social circumstances. Ruth endured several struggles that impacted her perspective on her religion, Judaism, and the society where she feels unwelcome. Ruth’s relationship with Dennis, a black man, was an impediment to her keeping close contact with her family. Coming from a Jewish heritage, “They said kaddish and sat shiva. That’s how Orthodox Jews mourn their dead” (McBride 2). Realizing that starting a new life would be better than tending

For my cultural cache book report I chose to read the book, The Color of Water by James McBride. I learned several things about what life was like in the mid-1900’s and in which may be why we still face issues with racial differences. McBride does a great job of illustrating his internal and external challenges that he faces throughout his life. I also learned more about African American culture in the United States and gave me a desire to be a part of positive change to this particular racial group.

In The Color of Water by James McBride he faces plenty of obstacles in his life. One that I think was very important during his childhood is in chapter 14 where makes a few bad choices after his stepfather, Hunter Jordan, dies. Since James didn't get to know his biological father, Hunter was the closest he ever came to having one. He makes it clear that his family loved Hunter and when he died they were all devastated but none as much as their mother. It's safe to say she wasn't the same and that can be seen when McBride says "She sent us off to school and tried to maintain her crazy house as usual, ranting about this and that, but the fire was gone" (McBride, 137). I think his mother's behavior no doubt had some effect on the way he acted.

In The Color of Water by James McBride there are many conflicts that can be found involving Man vs Society. Throughout the book there is a lot of discrimination between the main characters and society that, Ruth and James both struggled with. Ruth grew up in a small town in Virginia learning the ways of an Orthodox Jew. She was not accepted by the society that she lived in, in her early life because she was Jewish. Ruth also had a lot of family problems that she escaped from when she moved to New York and converted to Christianity. Ruth ended up married to a black man named Dennis but once he died she remarried Hunter Jordan. Ruth was also not accepted by her society because she lived in Brooklyn raising 12 children of the opposite race as her. James is one of her sons and at one point in his life rebels against his society because he is upset about his stepfather’s death and doesn’t care about being successful. Throughout the book the conflict, Man vs. Society deals with a lot of racial discrimination. The society that James and Ruth are living in discriminate against their race, religion and decisions.

James McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, demonstrates a man's search for identity and a sense of self that derives from his multiracial family. His white mother, Ruth's abusive childhood as a Jew led her to search for acceptance in the African American community, where she made her large family from the two men she marries. James defines his identity by truth of his mother's pain and exceptionality, through the family she creates and the life she leaves behind. As a boy, James questions his unique family and color through his confusion of issues of race. Later in his life, as an adolescent, his racial perplexity results in James hiding from his emotions, relying only on the anger he felt against the

The spreading of information is the mold to which society’s viewpoints are created. Depending on who or how this information is spread, it may be phrased to garner a specific meaning or arouse a specific reaction. W.E.B. DuBois once hinted towards this manipulation of information in his statement, “Thus all art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purists… I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda.” DuBois hints towards the fact that forms of expression, are when a specific thought or emotion is brought to reality to cause viewers to feel a specific way. Art would serve no purpose if it had no message to convey. Fahrenheit: 451 by Ray Bradbury depicts this message of propaganda as throughout

The book The Color of Water is an example of realistic literature. James McBride presents several characteristics of this genre in his book, such as moral issues, unpleasant aspects of life, and shows us how people handle problems.

In The Color of Water, author James McBride writes both his autobiography and a tribute to the life of his mother, Ruth McBride. In the memoirs of the author’s mother and of himself, they constantly face discrimination from their race in certain neighborhoods and of their religious beliefs. The trials and tribulations faced by these two characters have taught readers universally that everyone faces difficulties in life, but they can all be surmounted.

In this memoir, the author chooses to have two narrators, himself as one, and his mother as the other. This style makes for quite an interesting story, skipping back and forth in time, from the child's life, to that of his mother. Although many time changes occur, they are quite easy to keep up with, as the two narrator's of the book, James, and his mother, alternate chapters. For this reason, it is also very easy to compare the childhood of each of the main characters. Although the chapters aren't always during the same time periods of the respective characters, they are close enough that similarities can be seen, and parallels can be drawn. This is one of my favorite parts of the novel, seeing the

One cannot truly change the world around without first mastering the art of looking beyond oneself and into the outside world. This idea of looking beyond oneself has been the focus of ancient and modern philosophers throughout the world. In “The Is Water”(2005), a commencement address, David Foster Wallace, a modern day philosopher, implies that people generally view the world from a selfish perspective and elaborates on how the world should work to reverse its self-centered ways. Wallace reveals his topic through a series of anecdotes, each highlighting a different way we are focused on ourselves and then providing a way to view each situation from a different perspective. Wallace’s purpose is to point out the faults in thinking only for

The salty smell of Ecuador's ocean water assaults my nose. A slight gale whips my hair around my head as the ocean breeze hits me in full force. Cool blue water is on my right, the unmistakable color and texture of the sand to my front and back, and to my left, mountains, tall and green as they rise into the azure sky. As I slowly walk along the beach, contemplating what just happened, a light fog descends. Then and there, my life changes. I had no idea the effect that one word could have on my future.