The Color Of Water by James Mcbride, tells a story of a woman named ruth and her struggles with racial tension. Ruth was born into a Jewish family, but married a black man. therefor she is shunned from her own family. Her son James grows up as a child not understanding why his mother is a different color. He doesn't understand this until later in his life because his mother refused to acknowledge the difference in their skin. James Mcbride is an award winning writer. He was a staff writer for the Washington Post, Boston Globe, and People Magazine.
Ruth decided to not reveal her racial background to her children. They had no idea of who her family was or even where they lived. This altered her children's sense of ethnic background. Ruth's children didn't know really who they were because they didn't know there true race. Ruth begins the story by telling her son she is dead. This is significant because in her families eyes she is dead. The reason she is dead in there eyes is because she married outside of her Jewish blood line. Ruth wants to shield her children from the cruel racist world so she keeps that a secret. The ideals of James mother that she always told him such as, white people are very mean to black people, and that black people could be trusted more confused James very much. Although in the long run it helped him gain an ultimate understanding of things. Ruth's name is an important symbol in the story. Her name changes three times to identify with the race her family is.
Ruth and her farther had some similarities and some differences in the way they ran their household. Both ruth and her father had very strict rules for there children. They made them work and understand the value of money. The major difference in their styles of up bringing was that her father let race affect the family were Ruth did not let race affect them. James was troubled his whole life with the question of race. He decided to retrace his mothers family. He got many questions answered about his mother and himself. James discovers his mom is Jewish and that her father was a rabbi. He also finds out were they lived and how her father failed as a rabbi.
The title The color of Water is a great title. The whole story is about race and struggle between the races. The Color of Water means that all people shouldn't be identified by the color of their skin they should be identified by the type of person they are and how they contribute to the human race. James perceives the people and historical events in the story as landmarks in the ongoing struggle with racial tension.
The Color of Water tells a great story of a multi racial family and their struggle with racism. Through this story the reader can take away a new idea on this subject. Also the story provides historical information on the United States. I wouldn't recommend this book. The story was not relevant to my life. I found it very hard to relate to the story and engross myself in it.

TUCKER H.