The Color of Water
James McBride grew up in Red Hook, an all-black housing project in Brooklyn. James was among twelve siblings who were born to Ruth. Ruth had moved to Brooklyn and married a black man. She did not reveal her past to her children due to fear of discrimination and hid her white identity. The author was embarrassed and afraid of her safety. James McBride only discovered about her mother as an adult. He wrote the book “The color of water” to her mother because of her inspiration. She managed to educate her children despite the challenges. Ruth was the daughter of an orthodox Rabbi in Virginia. She ran away from Virginia and married a black man with whom she founded an all-black Baptist church in Red hook. Ruth hid her past experience to establish a separate version of herself by erasing her earlier version, shape her children’s views, and avoids discrimination.
Ruth McBride refused to reveal her identity to her children in order to shape the views of her kids. The hidden past was a source of mystery to her children. Moreover, it denied them the opportunity of knowing a piece of their history which was important for self-satisfaction. James faces difficulties in trying to understand her mother’s life, who spends her decades changing from one type of life to another. Ruth spends her life “moving as if her life dependent on it.” James curiosity about the ancestry from his mother’s side led him to search about her. He wondered who he was as a person. For the first thirty years, James life is surrounded by identity crisis. Lack of adequate knowledge about her mother causes James to seek knowledge about both Judaism and Whiteness. Ruth thought that the black community would accept them and proceeded to create her own identity as a black woman among the black people.
Ruth chooses not to revisit her past to avoid the adverse effects of discrimination, which she had initially suffered. During that time there was discrimination in the United States and the Jewish community felt that they were not white. Her decision was due to the fact that she wanted her children to enjoy all the privileges in the United States and live productive lives. In her upbringing in Virginia she faced racial discrimination. She wanted to protect her children from racial and ethnic divisions she endured in her childhood. This really affected her self-belief and identity. She tells James that the color of God is the color of water. God was not connected to ethnic and racial identities.
Ruth represses her past memory and focuses on the present and future to protect her children from suffering mentally. She did not have a happy life growing up. She grew up with a handicapped mother and an abusive father. In her childhood she was molested by her own father, which greatly affected her. Though, her motives may be reasonable, she robs her children of much needed identity. She had independent children who felt strongly about different subjects. She educated them in white schools and therefore as they grew, they became stronger. The lesson we learn is that truth, whether good or bad, is very desirable. James sets out to find the truth by himself. He did not want to continue guessing about her identity. As a child she was isolated. She was Jewish in a largely Baptist community. She also had to work very hard after school. When she moved to Redbook, she wanted to start a new life. She was ashamed and unhappy about her dark past. The children were confused about their identity and who they really were. They did not understand their race or their mother’s race. Ruth’s argument is that she was protecting her children from the negative past, but this protection really affected them. She also affected how some of her children grew up by not revealing the identity of their father. The positive from this protection is that the children did not care about race. This could have been worse for them particularly during the period of black movement. The knowledge about your heritage is important to your self-image. History connects us and helps us to learn from our past. To avoid having a distorted self-image it is important to know your past.
However, a sad past may affect you psychologically going to the future. To avoid guessing our identity it is important to know our past, but we should be aware of our circumstances and how our past will affect our future.