Analysis On The Color Of Water By James Mcbride

"The Color Of Water" is a memoir, written by James McBride about a biracial man, his white Jewish mother, their family, and their struggle from the early 1900s till the mid 1900s. The main characters in the memoir are the author and his mother; they tell their stories and alternate chapters throughout the memoir. the memoir begins with the author's mother explaining her earliest memories of her parents, the details of their marriage, and their coming to America. James's life was a chaotic mess, the only order in his life came from his stepfather, who was named hunter, Hunter was a strong good natured man who was the only father figure James had ever known.

James finds what he is looking for by seeing how tough it is to live the life of a Jew. As to why he sees why his mom wouldn’t want

The story The Color of Water is a memoir by a young boy who lives with his 11 black siblings and his white mother. The book was written by James McBride later in his life after he had been successfully raised by his mother Ruth, despite the fact she was the only white person he knew. James credits Ruth with molding him into the excellent man he grew up to be, in his early years he viewed her as unable to understand him but in reality she was trying to do the best she could for him. Thought the memoir James slowly transitions into a stellar young man who takes advantage of the opportunities life hands him. James biological father had died when he was young and therefore James did not have a strong memory of him.

The Color or Water is a memoir about a multicultural family. This book is a memoir about James McBride’s life having a white mother. Looking at the family so far with the family life cycle, the family is in the preschool age (Allen & Henderson, 2016). The mother, Ruth is on her second marriage due to her first husband’s death. The family consist of 12 children, 7 where from the first marriage and 4 from the current marriage.

It was like James was their slaves doing everything for them and not getting a minute to himself. One day, James thought it would be a great idea if he were to run away, and that’s exactly what he did. Through his window, he went and he was off into the woods. He brought nothing but a flashlight because he didn’t have much.

My first reason is that James is protective over Isaac. When the leader of the gang asks why he brought Isaac along, James says “I told you. I can’t leave him alone. What if something happened?”

This proves that James is far more different compared to Ishmael or the other victims of bullying he is not afraid of

Throughout “The Color of Water”, James Mcbride experiences a life questioning about his mother and who they really are. Mcbride seeks for answers that he can’t find which leads them to search elsewhere. As the story goes along, James meets Aubrey Rubenstein in which he learns that he has answers towards his family. James always wanted to know why his mother never answered any of his questions. For example, “ She picked that life for herself and she lived it, that’s all,” (McBride 227).

Have you ever felt uncomfortable about yourself? Well James did, he didn’t know himself as a person. In The Color of Water, James goes through a very important journey in order to know who he is. He faces many obstacles but gets through all of them.

They might say this because a lot of colored people have gone through racism and many different cultures have gone through a lot. However, this is a coming-of-age story because it shows how James might think it's better to be diverse. At first, James believed that it would have been easier for him and his family for everyone to just be one color, one race so nobody would treat each other differently. But James can see that it is a privilege for him to have multiple races of blood in him. He can see both worlds the black and the white ones.

“When I asked her if she was white, she’d say, “No. I’m light skinned,” and change the subject again.” (Ch.4, pg.15) Ruth’s changing the topic of racial issues caused even more perplexity and insecurities within James. Because of his uncertainty, it was very difficult for James to decide how he fits into his conservative society. Also, in his community it was only the McBride siblings who seemed to come from the interracial family which made them partially feel like

He grew up with his black step father Hunter Jordan. Growing up James struggled with his own identity because he was biracial. The story is set in the 60’s, so biracial people were not very easily accepted. Just as a child James had to deal with issues with identity and the power of the white man. This caused many conflicts between Ruth and her twelve children because they wanted to go against the restrictions given to them by society.

This proves that although James is trying to or into his family, his emotion(s) put a major roadblock in his path. Another reason that supports this idea is on page 4. While and after the kitten is dying, he lets his emotions pour over and doesn’t care what his family sees of him, only about the dead kitten.

In chapter 22 of The Color of Water, James Mcbride is wanting to see inside of the synagogue because of his family history. James is interested on his family history because he is writing a book about it. “My family has a history there, because there's a part of me, whether I, or those that run the synagogue, like it or not” (221). James does not know much about his history and is trying to get to know himself and understand himself more as well. He wanted to know the truth.

The Color of Water is a memoir written about and by James’ McBride. Throughout the book James’ switches the point of view between him and his mother, Ruth. By this the reader learns about both Ruth’s and James’ life as well as the progression of the United States. Though Ruth and James’ were separated by countless years, the audience can compare their lives through similar struggles as well as similar victories. For some, growing up in the 1930’s was much different than the 1960’s, but others it was quite the same.