The Color of Water
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Writer-musician James McBride's life was a search for the means of reconciling his multicultural, multiracial heritage. Trying to understand where he fits in causes him to undergo an identity crisis that is not resolved until he is in his 30s. His 1996 memoir, The Color Of Water, centers on McBride's search and its resolution. Central to the theme is how human beings are categorized in society based on their racial, ethnic and religious beliefs and origins. The book is structured in alternate chapters describing the life of the author's mother Ruth and his own, and the intertwining of both. Ruth is a Polish/Jewish immigrant who grew up in the South, and after moving to New York and marrying black men, she hides her heritage from her children and her community. McBride's confusion stems in part from his mother's denial of her heritage. She prefers to be part of black society because of the harsh home life she had, and the prejudice she underwent as a Jew. "Jews were different from white people" (87). This is passed onto her children, and is an example of an essentialist position. The book takes place from the 1930s to the late 1990s, and the search for identity of mother and son is bound to the way in which people, and society, view and label individuals according to their color, religion and ethnicity. Certain traits are ascribed to individuals and groups based solely on their race and ethnic type (such as European Jews are not white). Many of these traits are expressed in
. . .
rs" (144). He puts workingmen and hustlers together in a single group of "honorable drinking men, with their own code of ethics," although their activities include crap games, fistfights and sometimes gunfights (145). He finds these traits admirable and insinuates these are innate traits and that the men on the corner are better than powerful white men. He does not take into consideration the impact of environmental factors, including racism on these men. In a way, his thinking here is also racist.
McBride's mother also views blacks as having innate traits. "Blacks have always been peaceful and trusting" (110). That is a sweeping statement, the kind that could only come from seeing people as a group, not as individuals with differences.
Another example of McBride's essentialist viewpoint relates to his belief that Jewish people as a group honor education. He believes that education as a priority is a particular Jewish trait, and uses his mother as an example. Ruth insists on "excellent school grades" for her children, and bussed them to better white schools although she chose to identify herself as black (27). He states that although his mother hid her Jewish/white heritage from her 12 children, "It was in her sense of educati
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1474
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)
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