Color of Water-Post Reading Thematic Analysis

I recently finished the memoir Color of Water by James McBride, in which the author documents both his experiences growing up in the projects of Brooklyn during the Civil Rights Movement, as well as his mother's personal account of her childhood as a Polish immigrant Jew in South, where she too faced difficulties in segregation.

Throughout the book, I found a major theme was identity. I found this was true in several cases. To start off with, James struggles with ideas of racial identification, as he feels that he belongs to a "black world" where he also fiercely worries for the protection of his "white" mother, thus unable to cope with questions of race and the color of his skin. Keeping in mind that this is a time where the cultural boundaries between black and white Americans were very tense throughout the United States, we find that McBride often worries about where he personally fits into in the world. In the memoir, McBride states "...what I perceived to be imminent danger from blacks and whites who disliked her [Ruth McBride, mother] for being a white person in a black world." (page 8). This illustrates his worries over his mother's safety in regards to not only physical or verbal violence, but perhaps also on a identification level. McBride goes on to say "She [Ruth McBride, mother] saw none of it." (page 8), citing his mother's complete non-awareness of other's perception of her and of her son's underlying fears. 

Later in the story, we find that Ruth doesn't identify herself or her family members based on race or the color of their color of their skin, placing almost complete importance on moral values instead. We know this because in Chapter 6, Ruth states: "It [God's spirit] doesn't have a color...God is the color of water." This demonstrates that Ruth doesn't place any importance on the color of one's skin, but on how they are morally. This addresses James' questions regarding race, though he doesn't realize it at first. As James resolves his questions of identity, he turns to God in his final years of high school. James eventually was accepted into college and led a successful life. 

These questions of identity can often be applied to our lives. But, the real question is if what you visibly notice about a person can be considered their identity, like James' color of skin. In my opinion, your identity is based on your morals, similar to what Ruth conveys to James.

I enjoyed this memoir a lot and it inspired me to read additional memoirs, such as my current book, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. Sayonara