"The Color of Water"

For my summer reading, I read The Color of Water by James McBride. The biography deals with the touching life story of Ruth McBride, the author’s mother. James McBride digs deep into his mother’s past. And he is most interested in the origins of his white woman, who raised twelve black children. With her marriage with a black man, Ruth McBride had practically died for her orthodox Jewish family. The outcast young woman had to stand on her own feet and went through a lot of painful experiences, starting with the death of her first husband and ending with the death of her still deeply loved mother. But not only Ruth’s story is told in the book. James McBride also includes his own experience of life and contrasts it with the experiences of his mother.McBride is a composer, saxophonist and author. The passionate musician won the American Music Theatre Festival’s Stephen Sondheim Award in 1993. He worked for several magazines including People, Rolling Stone, Washington Post, Boston Globe and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In my opinion Ruth’s McBride’s refusal to reveal her past was a way of running away from herself. For a good reason (her father treated her very bad, etc.), she refused to accept where she came from and wanted to ignore her education. When Ruth decided to cut all ties to her past she also decided to never look back again. However, she didn’t realize how this decision would affect her children. They were the first who needed to know who their mother was, in order to discover themselves. I think that Mrs. McBride wanted to start a completely new life when she married, but her case shows that the past will always haunt us even if we want to ignore it. And as her twelve children were a part of her, they were also a part of her past.
Ruth McBride Jordan didn’t want to be identified with Rachel Deborah Shilsky. They were completely different persons. So when Rachel finally got rid of her family, she kind of died and the person who used to be Rachel changed into Ruth. For the family the situation was different as of the time when she decided to go her own way and marry a black man, she had stopped to exist for her relatives. Her family was able to handle Rachel but when she became Ruth she was outcast, and as of this moment on she was dead for them.

I feel that Ruth McBride Jordan’s views of the different races in the world somehow confused her children but also had a positive impact on them. Because she was related to both, black and white people she knew what she was talking about. Her children learned very early, that skin color and the parents´ income do not really matter. When her children were very young, they probably were addled, because no one they knew was as light skinned as their mother was. They didn’t feel belonging to any folks, neither black nor white. No one accepted them, because they weren’t like the others, black or white. Race was important and therefore the people around them could not come to terms with them just as they were. But slowly the McBride children were defiantly able to change people’s attitude as they knew both sides.

I think that the three name changes of James’ mother are synonyms for the three phases of her life. “Ruchel Dwajra Zylska” was a well accomplished young Jewish girl that helped in the household and went to church. The name stands for the time before her marriage and before she realized what a life she was actually living. “Rachel Deborah Shilsky” already knew she didn’t want to be imprisoned in her own home any longer, but loved her mother and sister too much to protest. She began to rebel by seeing a black man but still lived with her parents and didn’t want anybody to know. But with the third change of name she finally decided to leave this life behind and start over as a new person.

Tateh’s and Ruth’s child-rearing styles were completely different, except for the fact that they both had high requirements for their children. The biggest difference between the two was probably that Ruth combined strict rules with love; Tateh on the contrary only loved himself and often acted very selfishly. It seemed like Ruth always wanted the best for her kids. And most importantly she wanted them to have a better childhood than she had without teaching them to be thankful for what they’ve got. Even though Ruth and her husband hadn’t much money they tried to get the best education for their children in order to prepare them for the future. They knew that their children would not have an easy life due their colored skin and other peoples’ ruthlessness. Despite her strictness James’ mother still accepted her kids as they were while Tateh however left no room for his children’s desire for individualism.

James McBride never knew his roots until his mother told him about her Jewish origin and the troubles she went through with her family. He always knew that he and his siblings were different from the others but he never knew exactly why. Than finally his mother finally came to terms with her past and was able to help James to understand his own origins. Even though he never thought he’d have a connection with Jewry, he now knows that he has roots in this culture. Knowing his mother’s story he can better understand her and her acting in the past, and therefore he also better understands himself.

Water does not have any color. It can be everything, from deep blue to turquoise. It has millions of colors. When James’ mother tells him: “God is the color of water.” she wants to clarify that there’s not a better color his skin could have and that it doesn’t matter. He is who he is and people should learn to deal with that. No matter what race or religion, it should at least be respected. Pretending the world is an ocean and the water in it are human beings, there would be so many different places and as the places are different the people in it are, too. They are colored or white, they have different opinions and religions. There would be also places like America, where they have millions of different people. And they all have to get along and learn that people may look different or may have a different religion but still can be good persons. I think the biggest and best vision one could have is that one day people will accept each other and that everybody gets the same chances.

James McBride first perceived the racial issues about him and his family on his first day of school. He noticed that his mother looked different than all the other mothers that were bringing their children to school. From this day on he always felt that he had to protect his mother. James’ family mostly had dealings with black people, so he felt safe among them. But he always went to white people’s schools, so he was always the “strange looking” guy. People were treating him differently because of his dark skin.

In my opinion this is a very interesting book, and not a conventional biography. First I was a little bit confused because it contains a lot of information and is very complex but while reading I captured also the information between the lines. For me the most interesting aspect of the book is not just Ruth McBride Jordan’s life story, but how she deals with it and how her experiences have shaped her life. I also like the two different levels of the narration. In one chapter you read how James’ mother tells him her story, and the next one deals with James account of events. It’s a very captivating book but also sad. I got very thoughtful while reading it. I would recommend it, because I think this book is about a very important topic. And everybody should make up his or her mind about it. Racism is still a big problem in the world and I think books like this help people to open their eyes and see things from another perspective.

Yara H.