Color of Water...Post 2- Chapters 11 to the End

4/23/2013

For your final discussion about the book, please select an excerpt from the text that jumps off the page. Why? Beautiful writing? Does it reveal a theme? Does it connect to your work with Greg? Write the quote and explain...try to dig deep and discern.

13 Comments

Darija Stosic

5/10/2013 09:10:28 am

"To the very end, Mommy is a flying compilation of competing interests and conflicts, black women’s women in white skin, with black children and a white women's physical problem." This stood out at to me as beautiful writing. Moreover this is also stood out with me because throughout the book Ruthie and her family had struggled with figuring out what race they belonged with. Having this be during the end of the book was like them finally coming to peace or some kind of understanding of whom and what they are. It must have been hard for James and the rest of his eleven siblings being mixed raced. From what I have learned in Greg’s class, mixed race kids are placed as the “other” group. The other group is when society doesn’t accept you because you don’t fall into one certain group. Psychologically this has a negative effects on these people because they are never accepted, which then makes them rebel. This is proven when James and some of his siblings considering themselves African American then white society would never let them be both black and white. However no matter what raced Ruthie was or her children all that was needed to be done was that everyone obtained an education.

Rwan

5/12/2013 09:31:45 am

“ ‘…You think if you drop out of school somebody’s gonna beg you to go back? Hell no! They won’t beg your black ass to go back. What makes you so special that they’ll beg you! Who are you? You ain’t nobody! If you want to drop out of school and shoot people and hang on this corner all your life, go ahead. It’s your life!’” (page 150) This quote is significant because if someone wants to ruin their life then they can do so. It’s their life and it won’t affect anyone but themselves. Like James, some people choose to rebel because they want people to care and want that extra attention. James was getting a lot of attention from his mother but since he was one of the younger children he wanted to take advantage of the attention his mom gave him.
“She wipes her memory instantly and with purpose; it’s a way of preserving herself.” (page 271) This quote is also significant because for many years Ruth kept her past secret. She never shared her past with her children and this is the part where she finally opens up to James. Ruth’s did so, to make sure that she is able to take care as of her children and to avoid any racial issues that may come up. In a sense she was trying to keep her children safe that way. Ruth finally goes back to Virginia and she encounters her best friend Frances again.

Darija Stosic

5/12/2013 10:27:51 pm

Rwan I really like your talking point and how you talked about how you mentioned the chicken man and how he said that no one is going to care for you and such.I thought that was a good point to bring up in the book. Did you ever have some one in your life that told you something like that?

Rwan

5/12/2013 10:32:26 pm

My parents would always tell me that what ever I decide to do will only affect me. They usually tell me this when we talk about my plans for college. I don't find it very helpful because I'm seeking advice and they just tell me to do what I want. They don't want to interfere in my life so I can learn from experience or mistakes.

Tenzin Youdon

5/12/2013 10:02:41 am

"I could hide. No one knew me. No one knew my past, my white mother, my dead father, nothing. It was perfect. My problems seemed far, far away." The reason I chose this is because I was able to connect with James. Because of his identity and his color, he is constantly concerned and effected by how others see him. I was able to connect to James because when I meet new people, I have a chance to introduce myself the way I want them to see me, not by my past. Just like me, James was satisfied with the environment of the Corner because no one knew him or how he was before. One one cared which allowed him to feel free. He was able to run away from all his problems and have a open mind.

mariam m.

5/12/2013 10:31:53 am

"... I was young and trying to get away from my family and plus I discovered Harlem. I don't know what drew me there__ maybe because I'd lived around black folks most of my life, or because I'd heard so much about it." I liked this quote because it helped me to understand how Ruth was thinking. She did not think about her white skin color because she was growing up in a society full of black folks. So, as a young girl who did not think about race, Ruth did not feel strange in Harlem and started to search for job as ticket clerk the matter that led people to think she was a prostitute. The fact that Ruth lived around black folks most of her life led her to marry the black man Dennis McBride at the time where this decision was considered dangerous and unacceptable. In addition, Ruth's childhood in Suffolk and then her experience in Harlem clarified why she did not pay attention to people who stared at her while walking with her black children.She had her own point of view which was advanced from her time. She did not think about race but about personalities.

Noura Mahmoud

5/12/2013 10:41:12 am

In the Color of Water by James McBride, James was telling the story about his mother's past life but with that he was also telling a little about his own life and finding his racial identity. Through the book James was trying to find his racial identity and trying to find who he is. I believe that chapter 18 is the most important chapter in the book for James because he starts to find himself and take control of his own life. James started to play jazz that he liked it and wanted to be a musician. His mother was so happy that he is going to college that everyone she saw she would say,"My son is going to Oberlin." "...I packed everything I owned into an old green duffel bag and Ma drove me to the Greyhound bus station." I choose this quote because it shows how James moved on with his new life and going to college with the support of his mother.

Salsabil H.

5/12/2013 11:35:57 am

"...when I found myself squeezed between black and white, I fled to the black side, just as my mother had done...I began to accept the fact that the nebulous 'white man's world' wasn't as free as it looked;that class,luck,religion all factored in as well"

I chose this quote because as a journalist, McBride seems to realize how to deal with his identity after uncovering his mother's past. For ex., part of him was Jewish yet that doesn't mean that his 'roots' are perfidious as was his grandfather. This shows that there are paradoxes in identity and it roots:(class, race, religion). To clarify, McBride says about class, "White men ruled the kingdom...yet other white men were pawns like myself." The paradox reminds me of Greg mentioning the "American paradox." For ex., our founding fathers owned slaves when they actively wrote about freedom. McBride found himself seeking the black side b/c he often found help and inspiration there as did his mother when her own family abandoned her.

Ameera Khan

5/13/2013 11:51:00 am

"No one knew me. No one knew my past, my white mother, my dead father, nothing. It was perfect. My problems seemed far, far away." Being free and wandering off anywhere sometimes is the best thing to do in life. But when one is alone, and needs someone, things do fall apart. In this part of the book, James is living in his sisters' place. So he doesn't really have his mother there to tell him the right and wrong. Unfortunately he disobeyed her and that's what made him end up there. This quote stands out to me because it shows how he is a free butterfly, where no one knows him as his family past, but just as James. But it sort of made me feel sad, because he left all his past behind. No matter what happens, a person's past will always follow him in the end because that's what made a person like that. At that part of the book, James was in a situation where he needed someone's support and guidance. But right after a few pages, the story made me smile because who knew that a drunk man would know so much to give free advice to a 15 year old choosing a wrong path in life. It encouraged him to actually take life seriously and he did!

katherine remache

5/19/2013 01:42:21 pm

"As she revealed the facts of her life I felt helpless, like I was watching her die and be reborn again (yet there was a cleansing element, too), because after years of hiding, she opened up and began to talk about the past, and as she did so, I was the one who wanted to run for cover." I thought this excerpt from the book was a very important moment because it was the moment that James mother finally tells her story. Not only this but James gets to finally see what his mother has been through all her life. He had to wait so long just for this and from the looks of it, it's killing him to know the pain she has held inside. I wanted to know why didn't his mother tell them the story little by little. Dropping everything on her children just like that must have been mouth dropping for them.

Jessenia Amador

5/22/2013 01:24:27 pm

"Rachel?...Remember me?...Naw. Everybody's dead now but Molly, Helen, Margaret, and Edward.That's right..Rachel? That ain't you crying now, is it?"

This made me realize that although Ruth seemed to be strong, she did have a weak point and broke down. Having Eddie talk to her reminded her of her past and what she's been through alone. In a way it was a comfort to know that someone still remembered her and knew her true identity, which was Rachel not Ruth. This made James aware that he didn't know everything as he thought he did. It is everyday that one notices the importance of learning and going out to find answers. Yes answers may come to you, but it is up to us to ask the questions and explore every possible opportunity.

Michelle B.

6/7/2013 02:12:31 am

Erika

6/11/2013 05:08:22 am

"You have to choose between what the world expects of you and what you want for yourself." This quote stood out the most for me because of the message it holds. So far, James is having an identity crisis and is beginning to rebel his mom's rules and morals. He's trying to find himself in this segregated time period. This quote connects to what I previously learned in U.S History class about the idea of double consciousness.

Color of Water...Post 2- Chapters 11 to the End

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