Essay on The Book The Color of Water Text

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It is about a jewish, white woman named ruth who married a black man and had many children. Later in life james becomes the author of many famous books like the book miracle at st. Ruth refuses to tell her children about her past, because she wants them to believe that everyone is equal and fears they will think differently if they hear about her past. Ruth begins telling her son that she is dead, because her family has told her she was dead in their eyes because she went against their heritage by marrying a black man.

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I believe ruths contradictions confused her children when they were younger, but i believe as they grew into adults they better understood the hurtful side of racism and what their mother dealt with. They could appreciate their mothers experiences since she dealt with both racism and religious prejudice. Even though she was white, her own family had been evil to her and though she thought blacks could be trusted more, she knew they may not have the same advantages as whites. Ruths name changes three times in the book first it is rachul dwajra zylska which was her hebrew name then her name became rachel deborah shilsky which was her second name, then her name became ruth mcbride jordan which was her married name.

Her style of parenting was better because she let her kids have more freedom than her they and had let his kids have like not allowing her to marry the person that she loved but trying to make her love someone that he wanted her to love. So she had to leave her family do marry the man she wanted to marry and they basically disowned her because she married this man because he was a black man and they wanted her to marry somebody of the jewish heritage. Mcbrides recounting of his mothers life helped him answer questions about race and identity that had troubled him his whole life because he realized how hard his mothers life really was after he looked back at all the things she did. The title the color of water is significant because shows that it doesnt matter what color you are and people are always asking what color is god and in this book she gives the view that god is neither black nor white but he is the color of water. Mcbride perceives the historical events as continuing battles of race and his family was ones of the families that had to go through the racial battle. I would recommend this book to someone that is highly interested in the racism debate but i myself did not enjoy this book because it was very hard to get into the book and be excited to read the next chapter.

To me the book did not have any exciting parts and i just couldnt get into it touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son. who is ruth mcbride jordan? a self declared light skinned woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James mcbride, journalist, musician and son, explores his mother 39 s past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, the color of water: a black man 39 s tribute to his white mother. The son of a black minister and a woman who would not admit she was white, james mcbride grew up in orchestrated chaos with his eleven siblings in the poor, all black projects of red hook, brooklyn. Mommy, a fiercely protective woman with dark eyes full of pep and fire, herded her brood to manhattan 39 s free cultural events, sent them off on buses to the best and mainly jewish schools, demanded good grades and commanded respect.

As a young man, mcbride saw his mother as a source of embarrassment, worry, and confusion and reached thirty before he began to discover the truth about her early life and long buried pain. Mcbride retraces his mother 39 s footsteps and, through her searing and spirited voice, recreates her remarkable story. The daughter of a failed itinerant orthodox rabbi, she was born rachel shilsky actually ruchel dwara zylska in poland on april 1, 1921. Fleeing pogroms, her family emigrated to america and ultimately settled in suffolk, virginia, a small town where anti semitism and racial tensions ran high. With candor and immediacy, ruth describes her parents 39 loveless marriage her fragile, handicapped mother her cruel, sexually abusive father and the rest of the family and life she abandoned.

At seventeen, after fleeing virginia and settling in new york city, ruth married a black minister and founded the all black new brown memorial baptist church in her red hook living room. God is the color of water, ruth mcbride taught her children, firmly convinced that life 39 s blessings and life 39 s values transcend race. Twice widowed, and continually confronting overwhelming adversity and racism, ruth 39 s determination, drive and discipline saw her dozen children through college and most through graduate school. Interspersed throughout his mother 39 s compelling narrative, mcbride shares candid recollections of his own experiences as a mixed race child of poverty, his flirtations with drugs and violence, and his eventual self realization and professional success. the color of water touches readers of all colors as a vivid portrait of growing up, a haunting meditation on race and identity, and a lyrical valentine to a mother from her son. See, my family, if you had a been part of them, you wouldn 39 t have time for this foolishness, your roots, so to speak.

You 39 d be better off watching the three stooges than to interview them, like to go interview my father, forget it. He 39 d have a heart attack if he saw you, he 39 s dead now anyway, or if not he 39 s 150 years old. I don 39 t remember the name of the town where i was born, but i do remember my jewish name: ruchel dwajra zylska. My parents got rid of that name when we came to america and changed it to rachel deborah shilsky, and i got rid of that name when i was nineteen and never used it again after i.

When he asked her if she was white, she simply replied that she was light skinned , triggering a long standing confusion about his own racial identity. As an adult, mcbride offers the reader his story by alternating between his mother 39 s voice and his own. Ruth mcbride jordan was born in poland to an orthodox jewish family that immigrated to the united states when she was two. Her name then was rachel deborah shilsky, and her father was a traveling rabbi who abused his family and forced them to settle in the small southern town of suffolk, virginia. It was a violent time: schools were racially segregated, and there was pervasive discrimination against both blacks and jews. Ruth 39 s father, opened a grocery store, and became rich off of his black customers. Ruth suffered from teasing and discrimination as a jew in the largely protestant school, and the house in which she was raised was bereft of love.

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Her own mother had been crippled on the left side from polio when she was younger, and became a source of embarrassment to ruth because she could not speak english and was visibly handicapped. After graduating from high school, ruth moved to new york city and began working in her aunt 39 s leather goods factory. She returned to suffolk when she learned that her mother was sick, but in the end refused to stay. Upon resuming her life in new york she fell in love, and in 1942 she married a black man named andrew mcbride. By the time ruth learned that her mother had died, she had been disowned, considered to be dead by her jewish family.

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