The Color of Water

James McBride is a well known writer. He has worked many places; the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal, The Boston Globe, and The Washington Post. James McBride is also an accomplished composer and saxophonist. In one of his best selling novels, The Color of water, he tells a moving story about his journey to find out about himself and his white mother. Through out his childhood, James tries to find out about is mother. She will not reveal her past and that makes him try harder and harder to find out what she won't tell him. Ruth McBride, his mother, must deal with her twelve children and her past, which James does not want to keep to far from her memory.

Ruth McBride refuses to reveal her past. This complicates the lives of her children. They know nothing of their mother and that makes it much more difficult to find themselves, especially James. She does not want her past to effect their future. Ruth McBride refers to herself as "dead". She is dead in the eyes of her family that she left in Suffolk, Va. Once she left her life as a Jew, she became a stranger to her family. She was lost and this lead her to be confused about her own identity. Ruchel Dwajra Zylska was born in Poland, in 1921. Through her life she changed her name to Rachel Deborah Shilsky so she would become , in her eyes, a normal American girl. When Ruth McBride Jordan was born, she had been married twice to two black men and was completely "dead" to the young Jewish girl from Suffolk, Va.

McBride states " Mommy's contradictions crashed and slammed against one another like bumper cars are Coney Island.....". Ruth's contradictions have contributed to the balanced of views humanity that James McBride possesses. His mother always gave them both sides of humanity; life as the white woman that she was and life as the black men she married and her children. She always made sure they saw both sides of every issue.

Having twelve children running around left Ruth with nothing to do but run her house in a tyrannical manner, just like her father. Unlike her father, Ruth succeed. Ruth would punish her children because she wanted them to learn a lesson. Her father, Tateh, was only worried about how he made his money and how he was seen in the eyes of society.

The title of the book is direct reflection of race and religion in both James and Ruth McBride's lives. Ruth McBride told her children that your race or religion should not affect how successful you are or how you treated. This message was always enforced in and recognized by her children. This powerful message should be realized by many Americans. People are not made by what they are on the outside, but what is on the inside. While growing up, James McBride was a follower of Malcom X, Martin Luther Kings Jr, Jackie Robinson, and many other blacks that left marks on the community. McBride and his siblings were caught up in the in the black movements when they were teens. This helped them to know figure out who they are.

I loved reading The Color of Water. It is so powerful and really makes a statement. Learning about the hardships of different races and religions really made me think. I couldn't put it down sometimes. Also, I thought it was cool how Ruth lived in downtown Suffolk. When she would describe everything, I would always try and figure out where the different places where. This is one book that has really moved me. I definitely recommend it.

Haley S.