The Color Of Water By James Mcbride

This world is filled with many troubles including racism. Society often depicts whites as superior to blacks. However, this is not precise, because every race has both good and bad within it. The world is trying to break away from racism to become a better place for everyone around the world. Racism is not only about the color of one’s skin, it can impact individuals around the world due to their race or religion. The title of this novel is “Black and White” by Paul Volponi. In this coming of age story, two friends, Marcus Brown and Eddie Russo, who are black and white (respectively), are senior basketball stars at their high school. Marcus lives in community housing which is fraught with crime with a single mother. On the other hand, Eddie lives in a private house nearby where Marcus lives. Both Marcus and Eddie are in financial hardships and need to find easy money to cover their school and basketball fees. The two agree to start pulling robberies when they unintentionally shoot a black man. They are left in anxiety trying to avoid getting caught while trying to lead a normal life after the incident. They both end up going through the justice system, and Marcus must serve jail time while Eddie gets to go free. While all of this transpires, Marcus and Eddie manage to keep their friendship strong and overcome any barriers together. Any true friendship can overcome racial stereotypes put in place by society including the racial barrier between Blacks and Whites. The novel

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.

* James notices that his mother’s skin color than his friends’ mothers’ skin color are different, so Ruth tells him “Who cares about your friends’ mothers’ skin color? Just educate your mind.”

It is always around, it is impossible to back away from it, but what it is? Racism is a very strong force, it has captivated the world ever since humans existed. It is hard to back away from racism, to avoid it all together. Whether you are black, white, Jewish, Catholic, Irish, etc. you will be discriminated against by a group of people. No one can hide from the hatred, it is just there. The Color of Water shows that no matter where you are or who you are, that you can face racism. Rachel faced it when she was a Jew in an all white, Protestant school. James and his siblings faced racism when they were in an all-Jewish school. In the memoir, The Color of Water, by James McBride, racism is a powerful presence that can severely affect those who are victims of it.

James grew up as a black child living in a black neighborhood with a white mother during one of history’s biggest era’s for civil rights movements. The title “The Color of Water” correlates to the issues about religion and race that occur in the book with major characters such as Ruth and James. The aspects that had the most significant impact on James’ identity is environment because of the racist and segregated times, the poor neighborhood he was raised in and his mother, Ruth.

James McBride has faced many obstacles in his life and that consisted of facing discrimination throughout the majority of his youth, having an overall sense of being lost, being embarrassed by his mother’s appearance (being white), and questioning life in general. As the novel progresses, James begins to overcome the obstacles he has faced by embracing God and Jazz. He turned to Jazz in order to escape his drug use and drinking. James’ life has proven to be highly inspiring because he grew up during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. There were many conflicts surrounding interracial marriages and anything against Black Culture.

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

His most perfect love in all the world was on that train. So he’d run to the end of the earth if he had to(Pg. 120). Juan Villasenor, one of the two major characters in Rain of Gold, a nonfiction novel by Victor Villasenor, faces many problems throughout the book that have a significant impact on the skullduggery little boy we knew from the beginning to the scrupulous and surreptitious man at the end. In Rain of Gold, it follows the sides of 2 characters, Juan, Lupe, and their families during the time of the Mexican Revolution, as they travel from Mexico to America, and go through many struggles on this voyage. In these obstacles, Juan faces from beginning to end, he learns many things on this journey and meets new people that change his

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 world. It is

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

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,

Throughout the book Ruth mentions an abundance of instances on how she doesn’t have an interest in race and always ignored insults and remarks from others. For example, Ruth states, “If it doesn’t involve your your going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no to whatever it is.” This quote illustrates how Ruth ignored the mention of race and was determined to have her kids not end up as “nobody’s”. Furthermore, Ruth didn’t just ignore race she loathed the idea of it. For instance, James recalls, “She couldn’t stand racists of either color” (McBride 30). This points out how Ruth showed much hatred for anyone that was was racist and didn’t care what race a person was. Thus, she married two black men, went to an all black church and sent her mixed race children to all white schools. To put it briefly, Ruth went against her stereotype because she was different from the rest by ignoring remarks and not taking a side in regards to

Throughout James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water, James takes the reader and the audience on a journey to the past, present, and future of his life as he tributes his success to his mother Ruth. He not only tells his life’s story through his eyes and point of view, but also looks to his mother as she describes how she developed into the loving, compassionate person she is today and shows her morals of raising a family. Ruth has a vast impact on James’ life and helps him show his true characteristics and personality. Despite the similarities represented by James and Ruth, they still have their differences.

The book, The Color of Water, is a memoir of James McBride as well as a tribute to his mother. In the book the mother, Ruth, grew up in a Jewish household. Judaism was all she had known since she was born, but eventually she changed her religion to Christianity. When she had children, she didn’t force her religion on them like her father had done to her. She hoped her kids would follow in her footsteps because she believed with all her might that Jesus Christ saved her from her sins. She introduced them to Christianity, and took them to church when they were little. Her faith was a tremendous part of her life and she wanted her kids to share that faith with her.

Ruth, the mother of James, and eleven other children, was an orthodox jewish girl from Eastern Europe who immigrated to America in the early 1900s. Being a Jew in an American school gave her enough racists remarks, but then having mixed race children caused more racism. James, on of Ruth’s many kids, was terrified for his mother during the Black Pride movement. (Page 27, chapter 4) James saw a clip of the Black Panther rally on TV. The people in the march were chanting “Black power! Black Power!” and James was worried that those people would kill his mother because she was white living with mixed kids. But those people didn't seem to both Ruth because as she said “If it doesn't involve your going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no whatever it is” (page 27)