The Color of Water by James McBride Book Analysis Essay Example

Describing The Color of Water OAM wrote, “Sometimes tragic, often joyful, the story of Ruth McBride Jordan and her family, which we've excerpted here, is eloquent testimony to the ultimate triumph of love and prudence over hate and ignorance.” The entirety of Ruth’s childhood consisted of lies and secrets that led to a series of unfortunate events surrounding family life. Ruth essentially relied on herself, for the authoritative figures she had were uninterested in her. Seeing that she had no one to talk to, she bottled up her feelings. Ruth’s frequent night trips to cry on the balcony sheds light on the pressure she obtained. Because of this she strived to forget her past and move on. In James McBride’s memoir, The Color of Water, Ruth goes through many harsh experiences including physical abuse, anti-semitism, and early motherhood that shaped her into the person she is now.

Abuse is hard on anyone but experiencing it at a young age can influence your mental and physical abilities for the remainder of your life.  This is shown through Ruth’s childhood when, “Anytime he had the chance, he tried to get close to me or crawl into bed with me and molest me. I was afraid of Tateh and had no love for him at all.”(McBride 42) Ruth’s father tried to take advantage of her anytime he could, and she admits to having low self esteem as a child because of these events. One can only assume that this followed her into her adulthood and to her last breath. Ruth was never shown real love and looked down upon herself because of it. So it's no surprise that when a boy shows her kindness, she begins to fall in love. She reflects on this in the lines,  “I loved that boy to death and he loved me. At least, I thought he did…He was the first man other than my grandfather who ever showed me any kindness in my life…”(McBride 111) Ruth was blinded by the euphoria she experienced during her first relationship. They were both young, naive, and believed they loved each other, until the inevitable happened. Ruth was pregnant, and the father was a black man. Discrimination was heavy during this time period, and Ruth knew that if her father found out he was black, he would kill both of them. So she went to New York, where she had an abortion. This relationship was doomed from the start when Ruth was born white and when her boyfriend was born black. People in these times not only discrimination against black people, but also Jewish people. Ruth describes the discrimination she faced,  “It was a problem from the moment I started, because the white kids hated Jews in my school…I even changed by name to try and fit in more…though it never stopped the other kids from teasing me ”(McBride 80) Kids are ruthless when it comes to bullying others. Ruth glosses over this when explaining she only had one friend. Everyone else made fun of Ruth because of her name because to them it sounded too Jewish. Passing people on the street would laugh or snicker when they heard her speaking Yiddish. When people constantly ridicule a major part of you, it begins to tear you down. With all these circumstances piled upon Ruth, it would only take one thing to set you off. Therefore, after Ruth’s husbands’ deaths she would begin to detach emotionally, mindlessly riding her bike or staring at a wall while the coffee gets cold. She pondered on the pitiful occasion feeling hopeless.

Ruth was constantly being controlled by society and her father, but she didn’t care. She was stubborn and believed in what she believed in. Accordingly, Ruth went against all the beliefs of her father, marrying a black man and turning to Christianity. A deserved rebellion that gave her back the control she lost. But all she wanted was to look ahead at her children instead of looking back.