The Color of Water by James McBride Essay (Book Review)

Exclusively available on Available only on IvyPanda® Made by Human No AI

This book is a story of James McBride and his experiences with the mother, Ruth McBride. James had a hard time while growing up as he was inquisitive on racial identity, yet his mother never wanted to share racial information with him. As a result, James asked his mother too many questions about her identity, but she gave insufficient answers.

This caused lots of confusion to James as he never got to realize his real racial identity. After he had grown, James decided to pay tribute to his mother by sharing her experiences together with his own experiences in a book. He wrote his personal encounters as a child with a mixed race, together with his mother’s persuasive narrative.

Ruth McBride, then known as Rachel Deborah, belonged to a Jewish family in Poland that later moved to America. Her father was a rabbi, and he travelled to different parts of the world, with his family, in search of employment. However, he later neglected his family when he could not find a job and forced them to find a home in Virginia at a small town called Suffolk.

At some point, he abused Ruth sexually and engaged in an affair with another woman, despite being a married man. As a result, Ruth thought that his father was an exceedingly cruel man. She considered him as uncaring, violent and disloyal to his wife, who had physical disabilities. She also thought of him as a hypocrite who was full of racism.

Ruth opted to join any religion that would totally draw her away from Judaism as she hated her father deeply. She deserted Judaism and became a truly powerful woman. She led her family against the norms to grand success. Most outstandingly and paradoxically, her son linked their achievements to her Jewish customs. Although Ruth escaped from the Jewish origin, she instilled Jewish norms in her children, which made them thrive in life.

Ruth lived when segregation was rampant in schools as the Jews together with blacks became discriminated. She experienced intolerance and mockery in school since other children were Protestants while she was a Jew. Besides, Ruth experienced discrimination in school due to the status of her family. Her mother was a cripple, and she could not speak English. She also suffered from visual impairment as well and this embarrassed Ruth.

Following high school graduation, Ruth transferred to New York City. She went back to Suffolk when her mother became sick, although, she refused to stay. After travelling back to New York, she found a lover and, after a while, she got married to Andrew McBride, a black man. It is at this point that she learnt that her Jewish family had disowned her.

Ruth later transformed to Christianity to cope with her grief and guilt sentiments. She began a new life with McBride despite many criticisms due to their interracial marriage. Together with her husband, they founded a Baptist Church, where Ruth’s husband became the first minister in the church. They had seven children, but when Ruth was pregnant with James, her husband died of terminal cancer.

Ruth mourned and sought help from family members and friends but in vain. Finally, she found another man called Hunter Jordan, and she remarried. Jordan acted as James’s father, and the couple got four other children. Ruth and Jordan instilled church and school significance to these children, and they grew up with discipline and love. The children were bright in academics and Ruth suggested that they should attend Jewish public schools. Later, she advised them to leave school so that they could learn to survive in the outside world.

James started drinking alcohol and became rebellious, towards his mother, to cope with grief and his confusion on racial identity. He was a teenager then, and his performance in school began to drop. He moved to in Louisville, where he worked before winning a scholarship to study music. Later, he took a degree in journalism and began a career in writing, jazz performance and composition.

One reason why James wrote “The Color of Water” was due to his persistent confusion about his mother’s identity. By tracing her past, living at Suffolk, and interrogating his mother, he gives the reader a spectacular skylight into the days of a woman and a family that endured and succeeded, outshining religious and racial segregation all for family, society, love and friendship. He demonstrates how he and his mother Ruth experienced prejudice in their lives.

Ruth experienced mockery and segregation as a Jew residing in the South and afterwards as a white female living in black environs. Similarly, James saw the cruel treatment and the unfair labeling of black people in his neighborhood and family. Eventually, both James and Ruth learnt not to discriminate others simply due to their race, or religion.

In conclusion, McBride writes sincere memories of his personal encounters as a child with a mixed race, together with his mother’s persuasive narrative. He shares his experiences of poverty, violence, drugs as well as his professional success and self-realization. McBride‘s book is relevant to readers of all races. It is a memorable meditation on identity and race and a dramatic representation of growing up in a community full of discrimination.

More related papers Related Essay Examples
Cite This paper
You're welcome to use this sample in your assignment. Be sure to cite it correctly

Reference

IvyPanda. (2018, December 11). The Color of Water by James McBride. https://ivypanda.com/essays/book-review-the-color-of-water-by-james-mcbride/

Work Cited

"The Color of Water by James McBride." IvyPanda, 11 Dec. 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/book-review-the-color-of-water-by-james-mcbride/.

References

IvyPanda. (2018) 'The Color of Water by James McBride'. 11 December.

References

IvyPanda. 2018. "The Color of Water by James McBride." December 11, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/book-review-the-color-of-water-by-james-mcbride/.

1. IvyPanda. "The Color of Water by James McBride." December 11, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/book-review-the-color-of-water-by-james-mcbride/.


Bibliography


IvyPanda. "The Color of Water by James McBride." December 11, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/book-review-the-color-of-water-by-james-mcbride/.

If, for any reason, you believe that this content should not be published on our website, please request its removal.
Updated:
This academic paper example has been carefully picked, checked and refined by our editorial team.
No AI was involved: only quilified experts contributed.
You are free to use it for the following purposes:
  • To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
  • As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
  • As a template for you assignment
Privacy Settings

IvyPanda uses cookies and similar technologies to enhance your experience, enabling functionalities such as:

  • Basic site functions
  • Ensuring secure, safe transactions
  • Secure account login
  • Remembering account, browser, and regional preferences
  • Remembering privacy and security settings
  • Analyzing site traffic and usage
  • Personalized search, content, and recommendations
  • Displaying relevant, targeted ads on and off IvyPanda

Please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy for detailed information.

Required Cookies & Technologies
Always active

Certain technologies we use are essential for critical functions such as security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and ensuring the site operates correctly for browsing and transactions.

Site Customization

Cookies and similar technologies are used to enhance your experience by:

  • Remembering general and regional preferences
  • Personalizing content, search, recommendations, and offers

Some functions, such as personalized recommendations, account preferences, or localization, may not work correctly without these technologies. For more details, please refer to IvyPanda's Cookies Policy.

Personalized Advertising

To enable personalized advertising (such as interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. These partners may have their own information collected about you. Turning off the personalized advertising setting won't stop you from seeing IvyPanda ads, but it may make the ads you see less relevant or more repetitive.

Personalized advertising may be considered a "sale" or "sharing" of the information under California and other state privacy laws, and you may have the right to opt out. Turning off personalized advertising allows you to exercise your right to opt out. Learn more in IvyPanda's Cookies Policy and Privacy Policy.

1 / 1