Water Names Short Story Summary

The search for one's place to belong is a universal quest. Many people find where they themselves within the communities of religion, culture, and language. Others, do not easily fit into any community, and as a result, are forced to wander and be different, they don’t fit in with the rest of the people like just another puzzle piece in society. This situation applies to both James McBride and Ruth McBride Jordan in the novel The Color of Water by James McBride. In the first couple chapters, James talks about her mother’s oddities (good and bad); one of which caught my attention, her unusual habit of ridding her bicycle everywhere. I believe that the author uses this to explain her unique personality, a fun care free person that is different

“A Secret Lost in the Water”is a short story by Roch Carrier. It is a story about how young millennials are forgetting their traditional way of life and are moving in the modern era . The story takes place in a small Village where everyone knows one another. “A Secret Lost in the Water” is a story about a father tries to teach his son an important skill of how to find water with an elder branch, but the son does not values it and loses the skill. The main theme in “A Secret Lost in the Water” by Roch Carrier, is the lack of the interest of the new generation, the valuable knowledge which is a great asset is going to be lost best displayed by, the father, the son and generation gap.

At the beginning of this story, water is a pathway which helps the narrator escape from the refugee camp in Vietnam, but it also functions as a barrier because it keeps the narrator from a person who is very close to her. The narrator of the story mentions that “before the red apartment we weren’t a family like we are now” because the South China Sea separated her from her mother by thousands of miles (Thuy 3). The narrator comments that the South China Sea was the means of escape from the violence her family experienced in Vietnam, but in reality it was a barrier in her life because it caused family

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

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.

To begin with, the narrator’s emotional bond that grew with her grandmother was slow but impactful. One day she was sick and her grandmother had taken care of her, using homemade balm she describes as “sun shining through the darkness of your eyelids” (Viramontes 33). As a result of this feeling of care and warmth she became fond of her time with her grandmother. Out of all her sibling, she was the one that chose to visit her and help with chores. On the contrary to the beliefs of her sisters, the

It is important to find out who you are. In order to find out who you are, you must start you’re roots and if you have no roots or are unable to reach them, finding where you came from to help find yourself becomes really difficult. Also it’s hard to find yourself when you have others telling you who you are and who you are supposed to be. These two put together makes it extremely hard to find yourself. In James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water, James McBride has conflicting feelings of being biracial illustrates how important it is to know where you came from and who you are in order to move forward in your life.

The Color of Water by James McBride is a book that caused me to recall my life with my mother, the woman who was always there for me, my best friend and a person who I believed only cared if it was regarding my education or Buddhism. Throughout my entire life, my mom only had one idea that she drilled into my head: “Nếu bạn muốn chiến đấu với tôi, sau đó đi trước và chiến đấu với tôi. Bởi vì tất cả tôi muốn làm là giúp quý vị, con. Bạn sẽ là cái chết của tôi,” which translates to “If you want to fight with me, then go ahead and fight with me. Because all I want to do is help you, child. You will be the death of me.” In many ways, I noticed that McBride’s descriptions of his mother are very much similar to my own. It was only when McBride was an adult that he saw that his mother cared for him every step of the way and whatever she did was for him and his siblings. This makes me realize that I have someone really special in my life and that I should give my mother a chance while I still can, because there might come a day when the

In the first paragraph, the reader learns how Betty Marie’s grandmother taught her about her Indian heritage.

In the book, The Color of Water, chapter 22, by James McBride, James meets Aubrey Rubinstein. James finally found for what he was searching for, which was a long search for the Shilsky family. James found out that his grandmother Hudis was buried in a Long Island graveyard. James saw Dee Dee but he did not want to approach her because he knows she had been through so much. James stated that “ I could only imagine how painful that must have been…” (McBride 221). James felt his aunt sorrow and did not want to approach her because he didn’t want to bring more pain into her. While walking through the river, James thought of his grandmother past. James had no more tears and didn’t expect his mother's family to go through this much because his mother

The River at Night revolves around Wini, a middle-aged woman who is struggling with things that many people, especially women face -- body issues, feeling left out and not quite fitting in with her friends, and lonely after the death of her brother and her divorce. Nothing seems to be going right for her, but when her three best friends plan a fun getaway to the remote Allagash Wilderness, she's decides to put her worries behind and join them. But the fun and relaxing getaway plan turns into a nightmare no one saw coming.

As I sat next to the loud river that was bursting out of the Sylvan Dam, I noticed the water was in an invariable battle with the rocks, crashing and thrashing against each other like medieval warriors scraping for land. I looked around the edges of the river to see the copiousness of colors from the trees contrasting the sinister blue water. The rapids put off a pleasant and dulcet sound that ultimately ended in me having to relieve some building pressure down the trail. After returning to my riverside view, I noticed that farther down the gleaming river, fish were jumping and flipping like delicious pancakes on a griddle. Making the split-second decision to fish, I sprinted to my 1999 black Chevy Silverado, unlatched the tailgate and snatched all of my waterproof fishing gear. Slipping on my Mossberg max 4 Camo Gander Mountain guided series waders is no easy chore. While looking like the most incapable human being ever I finally managed to slip on the foul scum smelling waders that I so dearly should have washed. Feeling like a professional mountain climber, I started scaling the steep inclement of the river bank. Stomping my insulated waders into the frigid dour murky water, I ventured my path out onto a construction of rocks forming a beautiful approach for spotting fish. I released my light green jointed shad Rapala from my St. Croix Legend Elite spinning rod and casted the shad into pooling backwater just off of my rocky approachment. Feeling the vibration of the shad through my rod, smacking against slime covered rocks and ripping through dense weedy areas. I felt aspirant to not get hung up on a rock resulting in a line break, I successfully retrieved my lure. After casting and reeling my line several times and just started zoning out, I was abruptly startled to hear a ruckus coming from the west side embankment. Glancing quickly back to the water to see where my lure was only to hear a loud splash coming from the same place where I first noticed the ruckus. Three deer, with golden brown fur coated enrolled into the water. Realizing that the leaders of the small herd were both doe’s and a younger buck eagerly followed. The buck had a nice six-point rack, with long tines and a wide spread. He kept his

Early in their lives, two young sisters, Ruth and Lucille, experience loss and abandonment from the men in the family. Their grandfather had died in a train derailment into Lake Fingerbone before they were born, and their father leaves them while they are very young. Then their mother commits suicide, but not before dropping the girls off on their grandmother’s porch. Moreover, then, “she sailed in Bernice’s Ford from the top of a cliff named Whiskey Rock into the blackest depth of the lake (23), again into Lake Fingerbone. After only a few months their grandmother dies leaving the girls to the remainder of the family, a collection of eccentric females. The girls deal with all of this by relying on each other. Soon, their great Aunt’s,

There is a legend, so old and forgotten that almost no one knows the lines. Generations of my family have passed it down in hopes to keep it alive. Today I shall tell this tale to you: The Tragedy of Princess Mizu, The Water Princess.

“Well I’ll totally be sure to remember your name the next time I see you,” he promised. He was pretty good about remembering certain things about people - even the small details where people didn’t think he was listening or wouldn’t pick up on. Not that remembering someone’s name was the same thing, but still. Either way, she definitely had one of those faces and names that was easy to remember and even if they didn’t have all of their classes together, he was sure he still would’ve remembered her name. “I’ll hold you to that,” he retorted just as playfully.