The Color Of Water Analysis

Aristotle once theorized, “Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” The book, “The Color of Water” describes the lives of James and Ruth McBride and their journeys to find this happiness. Both of these characters, among other characters in the book struggled for the majority of their lives with the issues of race. They felt as if they were caught between two different worlds; the world of blacks and the world of whites. These struggles left all of the characters feeling forlorn. In McBride’s memoir it is made clear that in order to find happiness, the characters must first be able to confront and then overcome the racial divisions that were so prominent in their lives.

* The author gives the story from two different perspectives one from the mother’s perspective, Ruth, and the other from the son’s perspective, James.

Ruth’s father (Tateh) was charging Black people more than the actual cost of the products. The quote means that he was robbing people of their money without them knowing it at all. He didn’t like Blacks and yet his own daughter separated from her family because of the black boyfriend she had. Religion is tied into this quote. Ruth was an ordinary Jew and she preferred being with a black man which her father didn’t like. The connection portrayed in this quote is that Ruth being white wanted to be with black and in the future causing her kids to live a life of color confusion.

At the beginning of The Color of Water, James McBride’s mother Ruth goes on to introduce particular aspects about her upbringing. She mentions how she grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family and begins to describe both her parents. Ruth’s father was a very cold and hard individual who didn’t care too much for his children’s overall well-being, while her mother was very sweet and kind in nature. She also goes on to talk about how her family was originally from Poland but decided to move to the United States from fear of oppression from the Russian government. Along with outside forces that proved to be a problem for Ruth’s family were similarities in oppressive behaviors in their family as well. Since Ruth’s family were Orthodox Jews,

Another way to deal with past regrets that is brought to light is the idea of repressing that memory in the first place. Unlike her sisters, Rachel Price is the only one who ignores her guilt. After Ruth May’s death and their departure from Nathan, Rachel rarely ever brings these major events up again. Instead she talks about her new life, speaking about her newest boy toy and complaining about the African’s culture. The night of Ruth May’s death, since Rachel is

Have you ever felt like a minority? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this status?

Ruth McBride was born a Jewish, white immigrant who came to America at age two. Her family was poor, so they never stayed in one place for more than a year, causing Ruth to have problems making friends. Ruth never felt nor witnessed love from her family until she was a teenager. Like any other child, she was curious, but was never allowed to ask questions. Growing up, Ruth McBride faced abuse from her father, and racism from other people, causing her to be insecure. Despite all of Ruth’s hardships, though, she became a strong, Christian mother of twelve.

Ruby lived in the black community, they were the only white family in that part of town. Since Ruby’s family lived there, they often were looked down upon for living near such people. Society made them feel like it was wrong, and a disgrace. Ruby’s father was separated from the family and lived in Tennessee away from the family. Ruby’s mother, along with Ruby, had to make a living to provide for all the children.

She had to endure people’s prejudice against Jews, working in her family’s store, and sexual abuse from her father. There was no family life for the Shilsky’s, just working in the store. During that time, she was ashamed because they were poor, Jewish, and her mom was handicapped (from the polio she had). Of course, this would change during her time in Suffolk, but only her family’s economic status would change. As she said, “[…] had plenty of money and we were all miserable” (61). Her older brother Sam, couldn’t take all the pressure and ran away from home and later died in WW2 in a plane crash. Luckily, Ruth did have one friend. Her name was Frances and Ruth was always welcome at Frances’ house. She didn’t care that Ruth was Jewish and with Frances around, Ruth wasn’t bullied (it was a different story when Frances wasn’t there). Ruth soon sets the reader up for what happens next by telling the audience “If there was one thing Tateh didn’t like more than gentiles it was black folks” (107), with Tateh being Ruth’s father. Then she talks about how her first boyfriend was a black teen named Peter and a few pages after introducing that, Ruth tells the reader that she was pregnant. What made it worse was that she was 15 and that she lived in the South where if a black person even looked at a white person the wrong way, there was going to be

"Ruth is a sensitive and studious African American. Ruth’s mother has been serving Sam Hallowell and his family since before the birth of her sister. Sam Hallowell has been the background voice on TV for a long time. Rachel, Ruth’s older sister, and Ruth were born poor and their father left them before Ruth’s birth. Since Ruth is lighter than Rachel in skin tone, she has always been given favors and priority over her older sister. Rachel changed her name to Adisa when she grew up and embraced her African American roots more than Ruth.

It is said that it takes a village to raise a child, but that village includes community, school and the parents. Every village contains many different types of people, with different beliefs, morals and as a parent of a child that has attended school in Redwater for ten years, I have found that those different aspects of the village is what truly aids in preparing our children for the real world outside of our village. Not everyone in that village is going get along, the same as everyone in each workplace is going to like each other. If there is an issue that cannot be resolved within our village, or a problem a Doctor can’t solve, we look elsewhere and we keep looking until we find an answer. We cannot have our children live in a bubble where they don't experience bits and pieces of real

Even though slavery was illegal after the Civil War, discrimination and racism were still a problem in America, especially in the south. The play which is set on a Georgia plantation, explores the social roles of blacks and whites during this time period. Many of the whites believed that they should be superior to the blacks, who often worked for them in cotton fields as their past relatives had when they were slaves in the 1800s. For the most part, blacks accepted their fate because they knew that there could be disastrous consequences if they tried to challenge the status quo. William (Robert’s brother) says it best, when he is speaking to his mother, Cora: "A n****r's just got to know his place in de South, that's all, ain't he, ma?" (Hughes 1359). It is important to note that Mulatto reflects the reality of language in the south in the 1930s. Hughes's blacks, except for Robert and Sallie, use southern black language called "darky talk" by Hughes. The introduction of such speech in literature was controversial at the time. Many black intellectuals who also had been a part of the Harlem Renaissance believed that dialect should be shunned, on the principle that it reinforced negative black stereotypes. However, Hughes believed that using the language was above all truthful and realistic, enabling writers to demonstrate that blacks are not stereotypes, that they face human problems just like

Ruth and her family were heavily controlled by heredity and their environment. The color for their skin kept them from getting higher paying jobs, and because of that they were stuck living in an apartment that had belonged to their family for over twenty years. Hanberry showed society keeping Ruth in a tight spot throughout the show, but gave a “dream come true” ending for a happy conclusion for the family. These ideals were represented in Black Performing Arts History.

Love is as important as living. Rachel’s code ethics are important. The things that are important are loving, Loving is very important. Loving is loving no matter what happened. Rachel loved everyone and with love comes forgiveness. Rachel, she died because she loved god and showed it.

Colors Dropped into water by Sanja Tosic appears to everyone as silky ink into smoke. What many may not see is the hidden message future creates within Sanja Tosic artwork for his album cover. Future incorporates his album title into his name because he is “DS2”. Future turns Tosic art into his face because of the cool color scheme she used that also represent many habits Future has. The blue smoke at the top of his face represents his strong narcotic background. Future is a heavy smoker and is constantly blowing clouds of smoke into the air. The liquid splashes at the bottom of his face portrays his codeine habit he will always make mention of in his music. Future mentions codeine in almost every song but in one song particular he states “I