The color of water by James McBride is an epitome of struggles, trials, and tribulations that minorities undergo in New York. This memoir talks of James’ real life story together with her Jewish mother in New York.
Through his mastery in writing, James McBride brings out his story in a well-crafted manner whereby, the portrayals of theme, setting, struggles, and triumphs fall in place accurately, and they precisely depict the people involved in this story; that is, James McBride and his mother; Ruth McBride. The accuracy in this book brings out clearly the story of James McBride as he tries to understand the realities of life.
It may be a story; however, one can easily identify it with McBride’s situation; firstly, born of a white mother who seems to have everything wrong from religion to race, and then two black stepfathers; a situation that leaves McBride torn between his true self and where he belongs in the society. It is probably out of this confusion that he says, “Mommy’s tears seemed to come from somewhere else, a place far away, a place inside her that she never let any of us children visit, and even as a boy I felt there was pain behind them.
I thought this because she wanted to be black like everyone else in church, because maybe God liked black people better, and one afternoon on the way home from church I asked whether God was black or white.” (McBride 20).
Firstly, the setting perfectly adds meaning to this memoir and sheds light on James and his mother. The setting is in New York where there is a mixture of both white and black people. Born Ruth Jordan in Poland, Ruth McBride together with her family moved to Suffolk in Virginia.
Here, there is a mixture of both white and black people as aforementioned and this setting accurately depicts Ruth’s situation as narrated in the story. As the story unfolds, the setting shifts to Harlem where James was born and brought up. Through experience, the writer knows that New York is full of black and white people; therefore, this setting is a true depiction of what happens in New York.
The portrayal of the themes in this story is very accurate. For instance, the principle theme here is segregation because of racial or religious differences. Ruth’s father is a racist and he even overcharges black customers simply because they are not of his race. Moreover, Ruth had to bear with isolation and derision as a Jew in South where Judaism was uncommon.
Both Ruth and James had to live torn between their identities. Particularly; as a white woman living amongst black people especially during the black power movement, Ruth had to struggle. James witnessed the brutality that black people in his family and neighbors by the white people. This theme comes out accurately. This is a true depiction of what the minority black people went through in New York for many years.
The other theme; past versus present is also depicted clearly. Both James and Ruth are caught up in the same turmoil of striking a balance between the past and the present. They both want to cling to some parts of their past while letting go of the others.
For instance, Ruth has to conciliate her Polish culture and Judaism religious background and this can only happen by marrying a black man and leaving Judaism for Christianity. James and Ruth both want to respect their past and learn from it; however, they also want to move on with their lives and live abundant life void of legacies of traditions that bound their early families.
The encumbrance of secrets comes out clearly in this memoir. From his childhood, James knew very little about his mother’s background. On the other side, when Ruth becomes pregnant by Peter, her boyfriend, she keeps it to herself without telling her family. Moreover, even though Tateh abused her, she keeps mum about the issue. On the other side, she does not know why her two aunts have never spoken to each other for years on end.
The theme of American dream comes out clearly also. After immigrating to America, the Shilskys finally finds peace from the hustles and bustles of Europe in Virginia. Eventually, after Ruth starts her own family, she starts to live American life whereby she can determine her destiny (SparkNotes Editors para. 6).
This is true American Dream. As the story unfolds, Ruth, together with her family moves to Red Hook Housing Project in Brooklyn, a place she describes as ‘the real American life.’ However, the theme of American Dream comes out clearly, when Ruth keeps on thinking of how her twelve children will grow up; succeed in college; secure good jobs as teachers, musicians among others and establish their own families. This is a true depiction of American dream and it comes out accurately in this memoir.
The struggles and tribulations of the people involved in this memoir are depicted accurately in the book. From the beginning, struggles of Ruth are evident. She is struggling to overcome her abusive racist father who once assaulted her sexually. She struggles with her Jewish religion amidst Christian culture of the South.
On his part, James struggles to understand his place in the society. He cannot understand why some people are black while others are white. He cannot decipher the color of God, whether black or white. These incidences come out clearly in the book. There is no doubt; James McBride did a good job in putting out his story. This is san easy to read book recommend to everyone.
Works Cited
McBride, James. The Color of Water. New York, 1996.
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on the Color of Water.” SparkNotes LLC. n.d. Web.