THE COLOR OF WATER
JAMES MCBRIDE
In The Color of Water, author
James McBride writes both his autobiography and a tribute to the life of his
mother, Ruth McBride. Ruth came to America when she was a young girl in a
family of Polish Jewish immigrants. Ruth married Andrew Dennis McBride, a black
man from North Carolina. James's childhood was spent in a chaotic household of
twelve children who had neither the time nor the outlet to ponder questions of
race and identity. Ruth did not want to discuss the painful details of her
early family life, when her abusive father Tateh lorded over her sweet-tempered
and meek mother Mameh. Ruth had cut all ties with her Jewish family.
After arriving in the United
States when she was two years old, Ruth spent her early childhood traveling
around the country with her family as her father sought employment as a rabbi.
Tateh eventually gave up hope of making a living as a rabbi. He settled the
family in Suffolk, Virginia, and opened a store in the mostly black section of
town, where he overcharged his customers and expressed racist opinions. When
Ruth was a child, Tateh sexually abused her and made harsh demands on her to
work constantly in the family store. Tateh cheated on his wife, in an affair of
which practically everyone in town was aware. Ruth's brother Sam left home at
age fifteen, and soon after, Ruth too felt she must leave. She wanted to escape
the oppressive environment of both her family and the South. She was also
pregnant by Peter, her black boyfriend in Suffolk, and wanted to deal with the
pregnancy away from her family. She took trips to New York to stay with
relatives, and later moved permanently to Harlem. Ruth's family disowned her
when she left, disgusted with her preference for marrying a black man instead
of a Jewish man, her general failure to embrace Judaism, and her defiance of
her father. Ruth promised her sister Dee-Dee that she would return to Suffolk,
but she could not reconcile her family's desires for her life with her own
desires for her life. She betrayed her promise to return for Dee-Dee, and her
relationship with her sister suffered as a consequence. This separation from
her family recurs throughout the memoir as a painful element in Ruth's life.
In Harlem, Ruth met Dennis, to
whom she was immediately attracted. She married him, converted to Christianity,
and became very involved with church activities. The couple experienced a
certain degree of prejudice as a result of their interracial marriage. However,
Ruth recalls these years of her life as her happiest ones. Dennis and Ruth
opened the New Brown Memorial Church together in memory of Reverend Brown,
their favorite preacher. They had several children, and eventually moved to
accommodate their growing family. When Ruth became pregnant with Dennis's
eighth child, James, Dennis fell ill with lung cancer, and died before James
was born. Ruth mourned his death deeply and became desperate to find a means to
support herself and her eight children. She approached her relatives for
assistance, but they refused to have any sort of contact with her. Ruth met her
second husband, Hunter Jordan, soon after. They married and eventually had four
children together.
James weaves his own life story
into his mother's story. Ruth's philosophies on race, religion, and work
influence him greatly. Ruth always sent her children to the best schools, no
matter the commute, to ensure they received the finest possible educations. She
demanded respect and hard work from her children, and always treated them
tenderly. She had an unwavering faith in God and strong moral convictions. To Ruth,
issues of race and identity took secondary importance to moral beliefs.
James's confusion over his
identity, along with his grief for the death of his beloved stepfather, drove
him to a phase of drug use and crime. After spending time with working with
black men in Louisville, Kentucky, where his sister Jack lives, James became
convinced of the importance of self-reliance and hard work. He began to trust
in God and to work toward self-improvement, honing his skills in jazz music and
writing. During his senior year of high school, James was pleasantly surprised
when he learned he had been admitted to Oberlin College. He and his eleven
siblings complete college and lead successful careers. Ruth remains close with
her children, and, later, her grandchildren, holding holiday gatherings that
remind James of his household during childhood: chaotic, but delightfully
active and stimulating.
ANALYSIS:
The Color of Water by James McBride tells two emotional stories. One of the stories is told by his mother, who is a Caucasian, and one by him, who is black. The mom talks about how hard it was growing up being Jewish. Worst of all her dad treated her harsh and sometimes even touching her sexually. Then she started her rebellious stage and started going out with black people even though he knew her dad would disapprove of it. This was the 1940's so this was dangerous for both of them. She talks about the many obstacles that she overcame in her like. For example, when her husband died leaving her with eight kids to attend to. Then she somehow found ambition to get all her kids to college. The son talks about the many challenges her mom had to overcome in order for him and his siblings to get a proper education. For example, when her second husband died leaving her with twelve kids to support she still manage to get all of them to college. This book seemed boring to me but if you are interested in how hard it is for a black person and a white person to fall in love and concur all the obstacles that came their way then you might be interested in it. This book is short but since it was boring to me, I found it to be very long. The book does not have hard language it is actually quite easy.
Logocentrism is Inherent in Saussure’s reasoning a
structuralist approach to literature began in the 1950s to assess the literary
text, or utterance, in terms of its adherence to certain organising conventions
which might establish its objective meaning. Again, as for Saussure,
structuralism in literary theory is condemned to fail on account of its own
foundation: ‘...language constitutes our world, it doesn’t just record it or
label it. Meaning is always attributed to the object or idea by the human mind,
and constructed by and expressed through language: it is not already contained
within the thing’
The Color of Water by James McBride tells two emotional stories. One of the stories is told by his mother, who is a Caucasian, and one by him, who is black. The mom talks about how hard it was growing up being Jewish. Worst of all her dad treated her harsh and sometimes even touching her sexually. Then she started her rebellious stage and started going out with black people even though he knew her dad would disapprove of it. This was the 1940's so this was dangerous for both of them. She talks about the many obstacles that she overcame in her like. For example, when her husband died leaving her with eight kids to attend to. Then she somehow found ambition to get all her kids to college. The son talks about the many challenges her mom had to overcome in order for him and his siblings to get a proper education. For example, when her second husband died leaving her with twelve kids to support she still manage to get all of them to college. This book seemed boring to me but if you are interested in how hard it is for a black person and a white person to fall in love and concur all the obstacles that came their way then you might be interested in it. This book is short but since it was boring to me, I found it to be very long. The book does not have hard language it is actually quite easy.
