Impact of Racism on Characters in James McBride's The Color of Water - Admission/Application Essay Example

Impact of racism on characters in James McBrides "The Color of Water" The Color of Water, whose is James McBride’s, was first published first in 1995, and represents a Black Mans Tribute to His White Mother. The Color of Water serves as McBride’s tribute to his white mother, Ruth McBride’s life (McBride 1). James spent his entire childhood in a chaotic twelve children’s household, who had neither the outlet nor the time to ponder queries of identity and race. In order to find out his identity, he wrote this volume. James hoped to understand his social, religious, and racial identity better by delving into his own past as well as his mothers. Ruth was married to a black man, Andrew Dennis McBride, from North Carolina. She remained disinterested in discussing and revealing the details of her previous family life which she considered as extremely painful. Tateh, Ruth’s abusive father had lorded over Mameh her meek and sweet-tempered mother. Consequently, she had destroyed all connections to her Jewish family. In James McBrides memoir, "The Color of Water," Ruth and James experience battling racial discrimination in 20th century America helped shape their identities and views on race (McBride 5). In 1957, James McBride was born to a Polish immigrant Jewish mother and an African-American father. Andrew Dennis McBride, McBrides biological father died of cancer of the lung while Ruth McBride, his mother was pregnant with McBride. Hence, James regarded Hunter Jordan, his stepfather, as "Daddy." Eventually, Jamess mother had a total of twelve children. From her second marriage, she had four children, and from her first marriage she had eight. James was brought up in Delaware and New York City. James experienced the impact of the 1960s’ events via his older brothers and sisters when he was a little young to understand them fully. The Black Power and Civil Rights movements manifested themselves in the behaviors of his siblings, and sometimes they yielded conflicts between the children and their mother Ruth. In questioning the white man’s authority, the children came up against concerns of their identities as biracial society members. Racism had a profound negative influence on James’ family. His siblings were willing to rise against their own white mother just because of their devotion to the Black Power and Civil Rights movements (Drew 6). James later struggled with similar concerns to those that had affected his siblings. James’ childhood and early adolescence was plagued with questions concerning his own racial identity. James expressed his curiosity persistently to his mother. James experienced difficulties in reconciling the emergence of the black power with his white mother when New York encounters significant racial changes in the 1960s. He was always embarrassed by the whiteness of his mother, which signified how different she was from his peers’ mothers. When he eventually confronted these problems, James realized that for him to understand himself, first he had to understand the background of his mother. As he matured, he started accepting his mother embracing her eccentricities and quirks instead of resenting them. James almost destroyed his relationship with his mother due to racism. He did not embrace her whiteness and he wanted her to be like his peer’s mothers (McBride 10). Ruth McBride was born in 1921 in Poland, and she came to the United States at two years of age as Polish Jewish immigrants’ family. Ruths family traveled for numerous years within the United States, and most of her early childhood was spent on the move. As a rabbi, her father tried to make it career, but he failed. Ruths family eventually settled in Suffolk, Virginia. While there, they opened and began operating a general store located within a black dominated part of the town. Racism had a negative impact on Tateh who resulted in expressing opinions of racism and overcharging his clients because they were mostly blacks. Ruth felt for the black population and opposed her fathers prejudices (Drew 8). As a child Ruth experienced sexual abuse perpetrated by her father, Tateh who harshly demanded her, to labor in the family’s general store. Tateh had an affair and everyone in town knew about it. Sam, Ruths fifteen years old brother left home and immediately after she also wanted to leave. Ruth had the urge of running away from the abusive environment of the South and her family. Besides, she was carrying Peter’s baby; her black boyfriend and she preferred dealing with the issue far from her own family (Lowery 12). Prior to moving to Harlem permanently, Ruth had travelled to New York several times to stay with her relatives. When she left, her own family disowned her because they remained disgusted with her defiance of Tateh, her option to marry a black man rather than a Jewish man, and her failure to appreciate Judaism. Though Ruth had made a promise to Dee-Dee, her sister, of returning to Suffolk, she did not keep her promise, and this resulted in a bad break of their relationship as sisters. Ruth was not willing to reconcile the desires of her family for her life with her own. Racism could not allow Tateh to see his own daughter with someone else who was not a Jew. He was so deep into racism that he disowned his own daughter because of marrying a black man. He even considered it defiance. For Tateh sexually abusing his own daughter was not a terrible thing compared to her marrying a black man. The rest of the family also disowned Ruth and broke ties with her because they were too deep into racism to tolerate her actions. Ruths life of the 1930s and 1920s in the South formed her character. She realized that the white people and the Ku Klux Klan fostered violence, tense, atmosphere. Ruth faced exclusion from the South’s white world because she was a Jew; hence, she partially identified herself with her black neighbors’ hardships. As such, it can be argued that both Jewish and black people underwent hardships. Ruth alongside others stayed with a constant threat and the fear of violence. The South became permeated with desperate prejudice and poverty. An impact of racism is felt because it made her and others live in constant threat and the fear of violence. This is because though she was white she was also a Jew. The white community of non-Jews discriminated against Jews regardless of whether they were white hence; Ruth and her fellow Jews faced a constant threat and the fear of violence (McBride 15). Ruths adult life was far different from her life in Suffolk with her family. She had become Ruth McBride after marrying Andrew Dennis McBride and together they had made a family that resided in Harlem for years. While, at Harlem, Ruth did not enjoy the privileges she had previously enjoyed while at the South, whereby she worked poorly paid jobs. Eventually, she exclusively socialized with the black population and lived like a black woman. Ruth goes further to describe Harlem in the 1950s and 1940s. She captures not only that period’s racial tensions, but also the humor, culture, and vitality of the neighborhood of New York City. Though Ruth tries to bring out both sides of Harlem city, an impact of racism is felt because being a white in a mostly black community, she lost her south life privileges and resulted to working odd, low paying jobs. Besides, Ruth had to transform her lifestyle in order to fit in at Harlem. She had to socialize with the black community and become ‘a black woman.’ Dennis provided Ruth with the faith and stability she required following her previous difficult life with her family, and the New York City’s harsh beginnings. He guided Ruth gently to acceptance of Christian faith. She describes him glowingly, and their love was true. Dennis overlooked the racial aspect and opted to be with Ruth despite that she was a white woman, and he was black. He went further to guide her into Christianity and offered her a shoulder after her previous difficulties (Lowery 16). The Color of Water brings out the impacts of racism on its characters. Racism had a negative impact and a positive impact on some characters. For instance, Tateh was negatively affected by racism. He resented the black community and preferred giving up his own daughter who had found happiness in a black man to accepting her decision. Andrew Dennis McBride was positively impacted by racism. He sympathized with Ruth’s past and offered her a better life overlooking the fact that she was white. Ruth and James shaped their identities and views on race following the effects of racism they had endured. Both mother and son had endured painful moments because they belonged to a certain race. Later, at some point in life, they both changed their views on racism because they fully understood its negative impact. Works Cited Drew, Bernard A. 100 Most Popular African American Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. Print. Lowery, Malinda M. Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010. Print. McBride, James. The Color of Water: A Black Mans Tribute to His White Mother. London: Bloomsbury, 1998. Print. Read More