Preview

The Color Of Water Identity Analysis

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1386 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Color Of Water Identity Analysis
Documented Essay Spirituality is meant to take us beyond out tribal identity into a domain of awareness that is universal given by a co-worker Brittany Evans. A person’s identity is formed and influenced by man factors in life. Obstacles are everywhere with in families and one self that determined their outcome. Racial diversity; abuses; lack of achievements; and poverty affects how someone identities themselves. These functions are just a few types that can affect ones identity. The role of identity is played by each individual’s lifestyles based on self-decisions. Diversity dealing with race affects a person’s identity when dealing with their family or in a group of friends that you associate yourself with. Living with a guardian who doesn’t …show more content…
In The Color of Water the McBride family experienced this struggle. Their parents were of mixed race. The matter was not accepted by Ruth’s parents when she married a black man (2). James McBride would avoid being seen in public with his mother in fear of embarrassment because she was white. People determine their identity in the ways we are seen by others. Feeling uncomfortable in society by peers distinguishes how people are with their friends and family. Race among peers determine how a person chooses to fit in society. I choose the people I want to surround myself with based on the way I’d like to be seen. If I were to walk with a group of black people there would be less chance of myself being judged. In The Color of Water James states that he didn’t want to have children with his college sweetheart because he felt he didn’t want a child of his to grow up like himself (264). People sometimes choose a path to be seen that affects future generations. A Second example is how physical and mental abuse would affect a person’s future and what kind of person they will grow into. An abusive percent would cause damage to a child’s self-confidence and ability to function in …show more content…
In chapter fourteen of The Color of Water, James was a marijuana smoker (144). James would at times find himself inebriated on a street corner for hours on end with no desire to accomplish anything. The common occurrence with marijuana consumption is that it effects a person’s ability to function in a manner that of; if they were not under the influence. The affects done mentally by the use of marijuana causes a person to not be fully aware of their surroundings. I have been in a home where there have been parents who use drugs and are not able to boil water. The ability to process thoughts was not in existence. The house was complete chaos. The Color of Water, James McBride was a candidate for drug abuse. Any learning process is halted when a person is under the influence of narcotics. The effects of marijuana causes a person to not think logically and in a manner that could affect something vital in their life. Achievements can be lacked in areas such as in the work force and in school. In the work environment a person’s personal problems would affect their achievement goals. I have employees who tend to bring tall aspects of their personal life into the job environment. This causes things to be missed and makes for bad business. In The Color of Water, James had a phase where he dropped everything. He was a talented writer who

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In the passage from The Color of Water James McBride reveals how prejudice and judgment against Blacks is beginning to occur within the race, clashing with the part within him that believes that African Americans are actually the superior race, making it harder for McBride to find who he is as an interatial individual in a conflicting society. McBride is torn between his mother’s White background, which seems to be approved of by a majority of people, and the African American culture that surrounds him and embodies the thoughts of many near him. This creates an uncertainty in his mind of who he should become, and what his place in the world is, that many youth and adults would be unable to deal with. It also proves to increase the challenges…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mcbride recognizes how the contrasting cultures and beliefs that come with each group of people creates resentment between different peoples. McBride asserts that people hate those who are different from themselves primarily through the racism he depicts in The Color of Water. For instance, when McBride depicts how his mother, Ruth, raises him and his eleven other siblings, he depicts how Ruth is constantly abused and ridiculed by the black community. McBride argues how the black community loathes his mother due to the actuality that she was a white woman raising James and his mixed siblings.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The story The Color of Water takes place in several different regions from Suffolk, Virginia to the city of Harlem, New York. James McBride is the author and it is an autobiography of his life, and his mother, Ruth. The story reveals James’ life with eleven other siblings, the hardship of being interracial, the struggles of poverty, and his mother’s strong character. Ruth’s strong determination led her twelve kids to become successful doctors, nurses, lawyers, musicians, poets, and most importantly parents. However, it was not easy being a single white mother of twelve interracial kids. She had an unwavering faith in God and strong moral convictions. To Ruth, issues of race and identity took secondary importance to moral beliefs. The story The Color of Water brings an interesting perspective and determination to the audience. The overall value of the story is important and relevant to know, that it does not matter where you come from nor the color of your skin, but what you do in this life that matters. James McBride had the inspiration to write this story as a tribute to his mother. He realized that his siblings nor him knew anything about his Ruth’s painful past. Therefore, she refused to discuss her painful reality at first, and then she caved. He began traveling and searching on a first-hand experience interviewing people from his mother’s past. The reason, why his mother did not agree with James’ idea is because she was not ready to confront her painful reality. However, James’ vision led to an amazing inspiring story about the life of his mother, and her twelve successful children.…

    • 304 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life of James Mcbride

    • 1046 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the book, The Color of Water, by James McBride, a young colored man deals with growing up and having a white mother. James McBride always realized that his mother was different from his friends mothers, but he never understood why. He would always ask his mother why she was different but she would just reply that all people are the same. He never knew anything about the background of his mother because she never talked about it and he was afraid to ask. She would ride her old bicycle in an all black neighborhood that was run by the black panthers. James was scared for his mother because even though he was young at the time, he knew what was going on. I think that this book was an impressive view on how twelve young colored children reacted towards having a white mother during the civil rights movement.…

    • 1046 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    My own identity is based around the choices I make, society’s expectations and my experiences. I have no religious cultural guidelines to dictate my choices or identity.…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Identity. One thing people all around the world share in common. Now one might ask, what is identity? What does it mean? Well, the definition of identity is the fact of being who or what a person is. Do people know who they are? Have kids figured out their identity? The answer to these two questions are probably that you haven’t for most people. All of people’s lives they are always told “be yourself”, “find your true self” and “don’t be fake” etc. Even though everyone has been told all these things do they know how to find out their identity or even when. What about how certain things affect everyone's identity? Well outside forces can and will affect everybody's identity differently. One major outside force that will affect the identity of people all over the world is the society that we live in. The…

    • 710 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racial exclusion is a man made concept that drives people to think certain things about certain colors, and then to act upon it. It is usually portrayed and modeled by older generations and then seen by younger generations, making racism come full circle as a normality. This common problem is very evident and exposed to Ruth McBride in The Color of Water through her experience with Peter, her first boyfriend. As Ruth was white, and the world around her was not, she has to navigate if it is possible to find acceptance in a world so different from her and if it is, how to find it. Through his mother’s heartbreak and abandonment, James McBride reveals that racial exclusion is experienced by most but only felt by few.…

    • 328 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Color of Water

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3. Several of the McBride children became involved in the civil rights movement. Do you think that this was a result of the times in which they lived, their need to belong to a group that lent them a solid identity, or a combination of these factors?…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Color of Water

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    "I 'm light-skinned" (McBride xix) is what James 's mother had always told him whenever he asked her whether she was white or not. James 's ethnic/family background had been a mystery to him ever since he was a child and also carried on with him into adulthood. He never knew his mother 's history, where she came from, or relatives from her side of the family. This created confusion within James. He could not identify himself as white or black because he did not have any knowledge of his family. Resulting in, his childhood to be filled with fear, embarrassment, frustration, and isolation. Many of James 's adult years were filled with even larger problems concerning race and his own identity, he later solved the mystery of his identity through the writing of the book, The Color of Water, where James 's mother unrevealed their family 's history.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    William James has stated, there are three types of selves exist in order to form one’s identity. The material self, which is simply the physical appearance of that person. The social self, how the person looks like in other’s view. The spiritual self, which only the person himself can know. These variety parts of our identities, some we know well, others we’re yet to uncover. Therefore people begin searching. Here come the challenges that we must undertake in order to gain a sense of self. The sacrifices of identity in order to join into a group, disappointment to other’s misunderstand and loneliness. Stories from Alice Pung’s ‘Growing Up Asian in Australia’ and poems…

    • 1061 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The use of marijuana may lead to devastating effects on one’s future. Research has shown that marijuana's negative effects on attention, memory, and learning can last for days or weeks after the acute effects of the drug wear off. Consequently, someone who smokes marijuana daily may be functioning at a reduced intellectual level most or all of the time. Not surprisingly, evidence suggests that, compared with their nonsmoking peers, students who smoke marijuana tend to get lower grades and are more likely to drop out of high school. This leads to a lower achievement in the future: not being able to get into college and most likely going to have a low-paying job. Marijuana users who have taken large doses of the drug may experience an acute psychosis, which includes hallucinations, delusions, and a loss of the sense of personal identity. Marijuana use also impairs a person's ability to form new memories and to shift focus.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Race, color, how people identify themselves really doesn't cross people's mind. But, often they do not realize that it causes a tremendous diversity, which it can be sense into a astronomical differences. Therefore, people should decide if they want to mix themselves with a different race or not, because for the most part people have believe that a mix ethic can be shown as a different values and different norms of life. Families have a different perpective, as for the type of partner they wish their kid to have, but for the most time they just go with what they think is right for their own kid. Therefore,…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Racial Differences

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As a young child my mixed-race heritage hindered my development. It has also paved a way for me to put an end to the imbedded notion that differences between races should be a dividing factor. My mother is white and my father is black, making me half white and half black. Two year after I was born they ended up getting a divorce due to the fact that the love they had was lost. This withering connection mostly had to do with the racial tensions present between families. Other people in my family did not approve of the whole relationship and even the thought of me being conceived. Now of course I did not comprehend all of this as a young child. However, having to travel back and forth from these two culturally contrasting families surrounded…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many things that make up who we are today. Which include language, culture, race, personal choices, nationality, tastes in music, food, etc. I believe that the most important components of our identity comes from our race, culture, religion and socio—economic status. Race and religion play an important role in formation of our identity because these factors are the roots. The beginning of the beginning. Race is something that you can’t change, no matter what. Race isn’t just a color, it’s a lifestyle. Where ever you go in life, your race will always play an important role. On the other hand, religion also is a very important aspect of identity. It is what leads you on in life and teaches you how to live life from your ancestors’ point of view. Culture is something that falls into the same category. It is something that your parents has been following all of their lives. They do wish to pass their culture on to their children in order for their future generations to experience and follow what they’ve been living. Lastly, socio-economic status is a different type of a component of our identity. As I mentioned earlier race, culture and religion are kind of things that has been passed on from millions and millions of years. Whereas, a socio-economic status is something that can be altered from time to time. An economic status does get passed down from their parents , however it is the responsibility of the individual himself to change his/her status after entering the real world. Social status depends on the individual’s personal choices and worldviews. Whatever attracts and interests someone, they will start to build their social circle upon these aspects. Overall socio-economic status, culture, race and religion are the most important aspects that gives us our…

    • 314 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    When being asked about whom they are, people often started off by their names, and then will follow assertions such as “the son of my father”, or “a nice person who cares about others”. The statements of who they are, in fact, reflect the essence of individual’s identity, which is being mutually constituted with the context, or, in a broader sense, the culture that they are in, woven into the complex symbolic systems, social practices and engagements, and cultural artifacts. In this paper I will explain the relationship of mutual constitution between culture and individuals’ identities within that culture. More specifically, I will focus on the construction of individual identity in a specific cultural context. I will use the difference between Westernized individualistic culture and Eastern world collectivistic culture as an example to illustrate this topic.…

    • 3410 Words
    • 14 Pages
    Powerful Essays