The Color Of Water Analysis

* This chapter was written in Italics because it was written from a different point of view which was Ruth’s perspective who talks about her past as a child.

Ruth felt connected to black culture in Harlem because she was never part of a group where she felt welcomed. She would support the Civil Rights acts as if they were her own. On the other hand, she felt rather excluded from the people living in the South. As she had a growing family to take care of, she would be in need of family and financial support, but they would purposely shun her. At a young age, Ruth a practicing Jew was ridiculed and bullied by classmates who were gentiles. It affected her so much she changed her name so she could fit in more, “My real name was Rachel, … but I used the name Ruth around white folk, because it didn't sound so Jewish, though it never stopped the other kids from teasing me” (McBride 80). Her parents forced Judaism on her, causing her to resent religion; therefore, she converted to Christianity when she was an adult. This conversion helped rediscover herself and create a new relationship with God. Ruth’s adult life changed significantly from her life in Suffolk. She needed some relief after separating from her family so she embraced her new religion and found the relief in practicing Christianity. Lastly, Ruth had two integrated marriages that changed her life and brought out the best of her; unfortunately, both died and Ruth was a widow who had to raise and support

As, he becomes older he realizes, he needs to understand who his mother is and where she came from. Knowing who she his will help him understand himself and find his true identity. James really struggled for a long time trying to find his identity. After many years he came to a realization, “There are two worlds bursting inside me trying to get out. I had to find out more about who I was, and in order to find out who I was, I had to find out who my mother was.”(McBride 266) He finally realized that it was because of his mothers hidden past that he was struggling with his identity. This is important because here, he was enlightened and was very motivated to find out where his mother came from and who she was. Ruth’s hidden past throughout James childhood made it difficult for him to understand himself. In the begging in the book Ruth tells the reader, “You want to talk about my family and here I been dead to them for fifty years… They want no parts of me and I don’t want no parts of them.”(McBride 1) Right off the bat Ruth blocks her family out of her life, she is “dead” to them. This is important because James knows nothing of her past. He doesn’t know anyone from his mother family or even where they once lived. He knew nothing. She has no past to share with James and this doesn’t help along with being biracial and his mother was open, maybe James wouldn’t have had such a hard time growing up trying to find his

James retorts, " I never knew who I was. It wasn 't ' so much of a question of searching for myself as it was my own decisions not to look." It was only when James uncovers the life of his mother does he begin to understand the complexity within himself, noting that, "the uncertainty that lived inside me began to dissipate; the ache that the little boy who stared in the mirror felt was gone." By uncovering Ruth 's earlier life, James could understand his own singularity, thus creating the identity he sought his life to achieve.

Ruth was a source of knowledge that James trusted growing up. James, being a mixed child, is confused about what skin color God would have, so he asks his mother,”

Throughout the whole novel, Ruth is a tough and brave woman, yet she has a big

In chapter nine Ruth was discussing the type of schooling she had received as a child. In her small town they had three schools, each designated to a group; whites, blacks, and Jews. According to Ruth, “, “The Jewish school didn’t really count for the white folk’s so [she] attended the white school” (page 61).She

James grew up in a racist and segregated part of history. Often times racial slurs were used to describe people of African descent during the time James was growing up. Even during school James would be called these horrendous names: “...someone in the back of the class whispered, “James is ni**er!” followed by a ripple of tittering and giggling across the room” (McBride 89). The fact that small school children call blacks these names shows how racist the many people are and the hatred and discrimination that blacks face. These experience taught James how people treat those that appear to be different. Another experience that taught James this was when he and his family went to the Jewish store and were discriminated against. McBride had many experiences in which he and his family were discriminated against whether it was by the police or store owners: “Some of these Jews can’t stand you” (86). All in all, incidents with people who have a particular dislike for blacks shaped James into the way

This is fueled by, not only the changing emotions that teenagers typically endure, but also by the death of his stepfather, whom he saw as his own father. After his death, James cannot bear to see his mother suffer, for she no longer knows how to control the dynamics of the family and "wandered in an emotional stupor for nearly a year." James instead turns to alcohol and drugs, dropping out of school to play music and go around with his friends, which James refers to as "my own process of running, emotionally disconnecting myself from her, as if by doing to I could keep her suffering from touching me." Instead of turning to his family and becoming "the king in the house, the oldest kid," James "spent as much time away from home as possible… absolve[ing] [himself] of all responsibility…" As a result, Ruth sends James to live with his older half sister and her husband, in an attempt to straighten her out her son's life. James distracts himself with the life he found there, spending the summers on a street corner with his half sister's husband, Big Richard, whom he adores, and the unique men that frequented the area. During these summers, James discovers "[He] could hide. No one knew [him]. No one knew [his] past, [his] white mother, [his] dead father, nothing. It was perfect. [His] problems seemed far, far away." Instead of facing the realities of loss and anger in his family, James seeks distractions

Whenever Ruth or James McBride face any forms of racism, especially for being related to each other, having different skin colors, they can always look to religion to aid them through these tough times. It appears so that in the book, religion knows no race, and therefore is very accepting

The book begins talks about other conflicts that arose with James and Ruth. James took a downward spiral during his teenage years,

During his life, James experienced a great deal of racism. At school, when he was bothered by his classmates, he sat quietly and did nothing. James was a shy and passive as a child. He says that later, anger would come to him, fiery and powerful. He was surprised by it and wondered where it came from.

In the Color of Water, Ruth Mcbride has an important significance, because her complex past is what propels the book. Without her, the book would not be nearly as interesting. James Mcbride, Ruth’s son and author of the book, portrays Ruth as a secretive, un maternal like, and spiritual woman. Ever since James was a child, he remembers his mother never mentioning her past or her racial identity. James notes:”She had a complete distrust authority and an insistence on complete privacy which seemed to make her and my family odder .... Matters involving race and identity she ignored (9) Ruth keeps her past hidden away from her children, so that she doesn’t have to relive painful memories or inquire her past. In doing so, Ruth also doesn’t label

Ruth’s impact on James’s racial development is negative, but she had good intentions. James never knows what his racial background is and that bothers him throughout his life. If he would have known what his mother’s background was maybe then he would understand himself in his eyes, but it does not take your race to figure out yourself, it takes learning who you are on the inside. Ruth was trying to make it a positive impact on his racial development. Ruth knew that race did not matter, it was about what was on the inside of the person, but James did not understand that concept. Race never concerned him by saying he was not going to associate himself with a person because of their background but he want to know about their race, and Ruth had no cares about their race, which is a better way to go at it.

family would not survive. Ruth’s aspirations are hindered due to the fact that she is