The Color of Water is a very intriguing novel about two people sharing their life story. James and Ruth McBride were those two people. James was an African American boy who had a white mother. Ruth was Jewish girl who had a rabbi as a father. Around the 1920’s to be biracial was frowned upon and not seen too often. However, Ruth had a different opinion about it and was different from all the other people. She fell in love with an African American man and married him. Soon after that she began to have kids which added up to twelve. The author of this book is James McBride. He is an award winning writer, musician, and composer. He was a staff writer for The Boston Globe, People magazine, and The Washington Post. His book, The Color of Water, sold more than 1.3 million copies in the United States. It has been published in sixteen different languages and is in more than twenty countries. It was an ALA Notable Book of the year and spent more than two years on the Bestseller list. This book was made to explain James’ struggle and confusion growing up as a biracial boy.

Ruth McBride’s refusal to reveal her past says a lot about her. She was ashamed of her past and made sure her children’s lives were going to be better. Her childhood was not an easy one. Her father sexually abused her and she could do nothing about it. She was always demanded around to do some sort of work for him. Therefore, she kept it in and instead of dwelling, she made sure they had the best future cut out for them. Ruth made sure they got the best education (whether it was a black or white school) and had the best grades they could to get into colleges. Ruth McBride begins telling her son that she is dead because to her family, she is nothing. She left her family to move to New York and start a new life with her soon to be African American husband. Not many people knew about that and she had to keep it a secret. So, there is no better way to describe that she was dead because her father were to find out, he would of killed him and herself. She was a Jewish girl who was only supposed to marry another Jew. This relates to her identity because it explains how she lives her life. Its not by what others told her to do, it was by what she thought was right for her.

The contradictions of Ruth McBride were not served to confuse her children, but to make them aware of her knowledge about race, education, and politics. She told those twelve children how it was in her eyes and to her that’s all they needed to know. Don’t believe what everyone believes is a strong phase that I think she used also. In a sense, it does contribute to the view of humanity because it is the opposite of what all the rest of the people thought, making it balanced. For example, in those times being biracial or seeing a biracial couple was not okay. However, Ruth was the opposite. She thought that African Americans were nicer than white people because no one gave them a chance, but she had a chance to see what was actually behind it. All the other people just believed what they heard and did what they were told. Ruth McBride was a brave woman for going extremely out of the box by becoming a biracial family.

Out of her three names, each one played a different phase in her life. Ruchel Dwajara Zylska was the name she was born with and what her parents named her. However, it was a very Jewish name and people picked up on it. So her family then came up with Rachel Deborah Shilsky which was to cover up her Jewish name. It stuck with her all through her teenage and upcoming years until she married. Later on her name changed to Ruth McBride Jordan when she married the African American man. She then had an identity change because her background was a Jew and now she had become a biracial couple that people frowned upon. As one could tell, it seemed that Ruth McBride went through different chapters in her life.

Ruth succeed because she got away from the ugly pain that she had as a child. Her father, Taheh, was a very selfish and non-loving person. He only cared about his shop, money, and himself. It was like he did not even have a wife because he treated her so poorly that Ruth was always the one taking care of her. Her mother was cripple, but she did everything she could do to make Taheh happy, but that never worked. He tried to get a divorce from her, but she declined it every time. If that were to happen she would have nothing. Ruth hated her father and what he did, but always did what she was told because she did not want to face the consequences later. Again, Ruth succeed by doing everything she could to help, but in the end could not take it any longer. Tateh failed at what seemed like everything he did. Being a father, husband, and a rabbi. However, their parenting was alike in one way and that was education. Tateh wanted her to go to school, but always wanted her to work after. Ruth made sure that all of her children were going to go to the best schools and get the best education that she could have for them. Unlike Tateh, she cared about their future and what it was going to bring.

All of James McBride’s life his mother kept her past to herself and only told what she wanted. She seemed so ashamed and depressed of it that I think she did not want to bring her children down too. So, that’s why she strived for the best with their lives. James discovers himself because he finally found where he came from and his background. When he was little he was always trying to figure out if he was white or black because his mother was white and he was black. When he reencountered his mothers life his questions had finally been answered. I think he found more than what he ever expected because he finally understood why his mother was the way she was. He kept a lot of details and facts about his mother to himself because he did not want to cause more pain to her. That’s what McBride needed though, a soul search of himself and of his mother. I believe he got it.

The title of the novel The Color of Water can have different meanings. Its significant to race because the color of water is always going to be the same color. Different shades of it, but in general its always going to be blue. For people, we are all going to be the same color whether we are white or black. There is nothing we can change about it nor do about it. It is what it is and I believe it makes an impact on how to treat people. The vision it gives Americans is to not judge or call out people of different race. We are all people some just look different than others, but what is so bad about that? In my eyes and hopefully in a lot of others eyes that in these days, there is no difference. McBride makes people aware of his race relations by giving his point of view and sharing his life story. It tells what was happening in the 1920’s to the 1980’s with the cultural background and how it changed over the years.

I thought The Color of Water was a very inspiring book. I got the message to be different than everyone else and go for what you want to do. If you think it is right then follow your heart, no matter if people think its wrong or not. There’s only one person who can live your own life and that’s yourself. Therefore, I would definitely recommend this book to other people. It inspired me by looking at things in life differently.

Morgan D.