Conflicts In The Color Of Water By James Mcbride

* 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.”

When Hunter Jordan passed away in the Color of Water, both Ruth and James were affected by his death. Hunter died of a stroke at the age of seventy-two. Ruth and James were affected similarly but yet differently. Starting with Ruth, she contrasts from her son James because she was more nonchalant about the situation. For instance, James, the narrator, says that “I would see my mother pedaling her blue bicycle. She would ride in slow motion across our street… It was her way of grieving” (McBride 2). Ruth seem to not let the past get at her best nor the present. She simply cruises through life, on her bicycle, as it continues. On the other hand, James was the opposite of Ruth because he committed crimes. As proof, he states “I virtually dropped

The author James Mcbride uses diction in chapter 5, of the book “The Color of Water”, to prove the theme. The author displays Ruth’s low self-esteem due to her father killing her self-esteem

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.

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

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.

After Andrew`s death Ruth asked her family if they can help her with her and her eight children but they ignored her and they didn’t want to have any connections with her. But in the same year she found another man name Hunter Jordan and fall in love with him and he help her and her children. In same year (1958) she got married with Hunter and had four children together. They taught their children that school and God will bring them a better future. Hunter became like a father to James so in the year 1972 when Jordan Hunter died James started to do drugs and drink beer. When his grades started to drop, Ruth moved him and the whole family to Wilmington, Delaware. In 1973 James was in Louisville and work. When he was there he meets a man name the chicken man. The chicken man sets James right by pointing out his failures in his life and told him to stay in school to have a better future than him. James goes back to school and took chicken man advised to do better and he graduated high school and went to Oberlin College and in 1979 he graduated Oberlin college. Ruth goes to college in 1989 and gets a degree in social work from Temple

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 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'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 Color of Water: A Black man's tribute to his white mother depicts many characteristics of Ruth. One of the book's major strength is that Ruth does not view color as an issue. She grew up with a racial father and grew to love people of all color. She endured exclusion and ridicule as a Jew living in the South, and later as a white woman living in black neighborhoods during the black power movement Ruth lives in New York City in a black neighborhood and attends an all black church. Ruth was very courageous, modest, courtesy, and very determinant she made sure her kids had a good education but also good morals.

Though it is in different manners, one rebellious, the other silent, it is still grieving. instead of being the tough lady she used to be she (Ruth) became “intent on playing piano [and] forcing [her children] through college [with]sheer willpower” (McBride 7) James goes from sweet little boy who is worried about his mother and the Black Panthers killing her (McBride 36), to avid drug user and petty thief. In this way it is the same how Ruth and her son grieve because they turn into complete opposites if their old

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,

“Rachel Shilsky is dead as far as I’m concerned (2)” according to Ruth, she is expressing her erased her identity. She has erased her past, so much she even has to relearn how to drive.Her growth impacts the book as a whole, because it gives more insight how Ruth became the strong person that she is today. Without her growth, the book would be meaningless. One of the most meaningful changes was her self esteem. Ruth expresses, “I’d like to say I didn’t care about my classmates, and what they thought of me. But when I was a teenager I wanted to be like them” (109). James states ”She had absolutely no interest in a world that seem incredibly agitated by our presence. The stares and remarks, the glances and cackles that we hard went right over her head, but not over mine” (100). The first quote proved how Ruth was insecure and wanted to be accepted in her teenage years. However, as Ruth ages she could care less what people think of her. As Ruth mentions more and more of her past, important messages occur. After her mother dies, Ruth proclaims “That’s why you have to say ‘all of your sorrys’ and ‘I love yous’ while a person is living because tomorrow isn’t promised” ( 217). This may seem a like a simple act, nonetheless many people don’t say these words enough. Furthermore, Ruth teaches readers that people to be themselves, since she was individualist. All these message drive the book, because as Ruth makes these sudden realizations, so does James. Ruth’s important messages help James discover who he is and what his intentions are in life. Ruth makes the Color of Water a meaningful book, not only for fascinating, complex past but also her character journey that produces meaningful life

This can be seen in this quote of the book, “…right from the beginning they started beating poor James for almost no reason at all” (Page 2) this shows that he was being abused. He also expressed many times in the book about wanting to go away to a “better place”. At the end of the book, he did get to his “Happy Place”, he finally made friends, he could go wherever he wanted to and was finally from his horrid aunts and their