The Color of Water Prompt #2 The narrator in The Color of Water changes back and forth throughout the novel between the point of views of Ruth and her son James McBride. This writing style that he uses helps you better understand how Ruth grew up and how she was raised compared to how she raised James. They also dealt with a lot of the same personal issues. They both grew up in completely different times and places but they both still were confronted with a lot of the same daily struggles. Some
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Self-Identity The Color of Water is the story of James McBride as he grows up and finds himself through his mother‚ Ruth McBride. He was born to a white mother‚ Ruth‚ and a black father‚ Andrew Dennis McBride‚ with seven older siblings‚ all black. His father died early on and his mother remarried another black man‚ Hunter Jordan‚ and had four more black children before his stepfather died as well‚ leaving him with a white mother and eleven black siblings‚ making Ruth McBride the only white in the
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James McBride‚ in writingThe Color Of Water‚ does so with a clear purpose in mind. In his book‚ through various rhetorical strategies‚ he makes it clear that his ethnicity does not matter. It does not matter if he is considered Jewish or Christian. It does not matter if he is considered black or white. He is simply “happy to be living.” He slowly comes to this realization as his story progresses and the narrative of his mother acts to bolster the realization he comes to at the end. The overarching
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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
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safety‚ and physiological. Self-actualization is the level of need that pertains to what a person’s full potential is and realizing that potential. It is broken up as morality‚ spontaneity‚ and lack of prejudice. Based on the two texts I read‚ The Color of Water by James McBride and The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told by Alex Haley‚ I consider both James McBride and Malcolm X “self-actualized” men to a certain extent. James McBride is a “self-actualized” man to a certain extent because throughout
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In The Color of Water James McBride devoted an entire chapter to his mother’s bicycle. An old-fashioned bicycle that was brought home by her late husband right before his death the bicycle was a coping instrument to his mother. She would ride the bicycle around town constantly‚ as if the constant motion would allow her to ignore what was happening in her life. The bicycle was “a huge old clunker‚ blue with white trim‚ with big fat tires and a battery-powered horn” (McBride 5). The eccentricity
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Color of Water Chapter Analysis Chapters: 13-14 The significance of these two chapters of the story revolves around the city of New York and how it fit in to both Ruth and McBride’s issues they had to deal with in their youth. Ruth’s experiences with the city were similar but yet different‚ then her son’s. When she visited New York she described it as “an eyepopper‚”(130) that consisted of so many “people rushing about‚”(130) that made it seem like everyone was “too busy to care about what
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The life story of: James McBride In the end people have the power to influence and change other people’s lives‚ in The Color of Water by James McBride; James learns many important life lessons from the people around him and in his life and how to be a leader not a follower. Perhaps the greatest influence on James is the Chicken man who teaches James to get an education‚ to help James to find determination in life‚ and not to get in to a man and woman argument if you’re not in it with them
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because he started to turn to crime‚ drugs‚ and fail his classes. He also started to notice that his mother was different and that she did not mind/care for the issues of race. James always struggled with the fact that his mother had a different skin color than him and different background as in religion. He sometimes thought of himself as adopted. He had problems with race because he grew up during the Civil Rights Era and had trouble finding himself to fit in. He finds‚ through his mother‚ that family
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Chapters 1-3 1.Analyze why Ruth begins her narrative with “I’m dead.” Ruth begins her narrative with “I’m dead” because technically‚ she is dead to her family. They do not care for her anymore now that she has “betrayed” them. Later in the book‚ Ruth recalls‚ “When Jews say kaddish‚ they’re not responsible for you anymore. You’re dead to them. Saying kaddish and sitting shiva‚ that absolves them of any responsibility for you.” Ruth basically wants to let her readers know at the beginning that her
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