Not being able to know one’s identity during adolescence can lead to do drugs, commit theft, fail school, and be blind on what to do with their life. This is what James McBride had to go through during his adolescence. Growing up in a black community with a white mother can be very confusing and stressful. He employs rhetorical devices throughout his text in order to develop his epiphany regarding his mother’s life and by, extension, his own. Through the use of appeals and tone James McBride reveals the importance of education and religion, but above all else McBride mostly focuses on finding his identity, trying to understand race as he was growing up, and shows how his mother played an important role in his life When was McBride was growing up, he was confused about who he was and his mother. “All my siblings, myself included, had some sort of color confusion at one point or another (52)”, It would be no surprised that all his brothers and sisters would be confused, knowing that were being raised in a black community by a mother whose skin color was light-skinned and that she refused to discuss about where she came from or why she looks different. Every …show more content…
His mother always steered him into the right direction and always warned him of avoiding outsiders. Every chance James got with his mother as a little kid was always a “high point of my day, a memory so sweet it is burned into my mind like tattoo (12).” She was a resilient and a loving woman to James. She always cared for her children and did not care what anyone did to her, but if it was towards her children she would do anything to protect them. Ruth was unique not only because she was the only white person in the neighborhood, but the fact that she could not “stand racists of either color (30).” She believed everyone should “strive for the highest professional goals (30)” no matter what color someone’s skin color is or what heritage they
As a child, McBride knew that he and his family were different. They lived in a black neighborhood with a white mother and a dozen children. The fact that his mother was white created many issues
The theory being applied to James McBride’s family is Sigmund Freud’s Psychodynamic theory. This theory is based on the grounds of the importance of early childhood experiences that shape personality and behavior (Lifespan). Applying this theory to James’ family we can begin by looking at the time period in which the children grew up. The family grew up in a time where black and whites did not marry and it was unacceptable for them to be together. This caused some of the family members to develop a defense mechanism.
“I was white, I was different; I was superior”, McLaurin said when explaining the way that whites would act around blacks (Separate Pasts p. 14). While McLaurin has observed the mistreatment that blacks were subject to, he’s not fully able to understand it as a child because he’s fortunate enough to be raised in a decent home and never missed a meal, like Wright. From the start, McLaurin never had anything negative to say about blacks. Although, McLaurin admits that he didn’t seem them as equals, but viewed them as “individuals” rather than just a typical servant (SP, p. 22). McLaurin frequently interacted with blacks since he worked at the corner store owned by his grandfather.
Honky by Dalton Conley is a contemporary nonfiction novel about a white sociologist who grew up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in a predominantly Latino and African-American neighborhood around the late 1970’s, the early 80’s. Conley details his experiences in the book Honky which serves a sort of memoir and offers the readers a unique and insightful insight into the what life was like during these times, how the social constructs of class and race affected everyday life, and how the subsections of these groups created a system in which certain groups were afforded greater opportunities than others. Off the bat, this was a very interesting read that I wish I had come across sooner. "I've studied whiteness the way I would a foreign language,"
I didn't want to be white. My siblings had already instilled the notion of black pride in me. I would have preferred that Mommy were black. Now, as a grown man, I feel privileged to have come from two worlds.”
The section of “White Woman, Black Man” further delves into his views of white women and the role that society has in shaping gender relations between black men and white women and also in influencing masculinity and femininity.
James McBride underwent an idiosyncratic life like no other; In illustration, he grew up to a penniless Jewish Jewish mom that he had a miniscule comprehension of, 11 siblings ranging in colors from chocolate black to cream white, and two fathers that would ultimately perish before he attained the age of adulthood. On the contrary, he and his siblings grew up, despite being poverty-stricken, to take on occupations such as doctors, teachers, lawyers, and journalists. This very scenario appears peculiar and odd to the general, but snugs itself well in The Color of Water ; A contentious and suspenseful memoir where James McBride, the main character, pieces the lost fragments of his unknown past. James does so in recent chapters by embarking on a travel across Virginia and New
Summer Reading Essay: The Color of Water James McBride turned out to be a very good man although his outside influences growing up would encourage the opposite. Growing up with more than one father figure in his life and many older brothers and sisters sent his life spiraling out of control but eventually came to a calm and quiet hault. A father is someone who is supposed to teach his son to be a man; not every man has the same beliefs or teaching, so having many different views in and out James’ life was probably hard to balance. The many men that took on the role of his father as he went through life had major effects on him and made him who he is today.
James McBride demonstrates that one can learn about his own identity through others opinions of him in his society. Generally, youngsters often do not care about each other’s races unless someone wants the kids to distinct between the two races. At an early age, James realized that his race has something to do with his Identity. He noticed that both black and white people glare at his white mom and her black kids with an obscene expression on their face, letting James know that his family is different than other families which the society considered more acceptable than his family. James started to compare his skin tone with his mother’s skin tone and noticed that she was white however he was black.
If you’re looking for an inspiring book, “The Color of Water”, by James McBride is the book for you, because it shows the true struggles of immigrants and black people in America in the 20th century. The story is a split plot which shows the life story of Ruth McBride and her son James McBride. James McBride is son to his Polish Jewish Immigrant mother named Ruth and his biological black father, Andrew Dennis McBride. James’ father died of lung cancer while Ruth was pregnant with him, but James’ biological father is relevant to the story because in Ruth’s timeline he plays an important role of helping her start off her life in New York City. At the beginning of reading the book I got confused, but towards the end of the book I realized that
Finding middle ground between the two was not easy, and finding myself in the midst of these intersecting identities was an even more difficult task. As Tsai (2012) mentions, “adolescents felt less close to both their mothers and fathers, identified less with their family, and felt a weaker sense of family obligation during adolescence...but family identity actually reversed direction and strengthened during young adulthood.” This comes to show that although self identification could be weak during my teenage years because of my identity struggle, it would eventually show a better turn as I age and learn to accommodate to these differences. Therefore, revisioning family ties to communities and contexts is a crucial step towards understanding the experiences of 21st century families because it realize that children of colour needs to negotiate their identity everyday as they transition from one community to the
The article Full Circle, by James McBride, is about his detailed observations of key areas in Dakar, Senegal. He uses his own experience from America to form a dominant view to reinforce his validity in his statements. This leads to his main point to fully take root that hardships have always inspired music and that rap/hip-hop, “It all comes home to Africa”. Rap has always been a genre used to show self-expression and “Rap doesn’t belong to the American culture, it belongs here. It has always existed here, because of our pain and the hardships and our suffering.”
Other people’s harsh perspective of the McBride family affected how James viewed himself as well as others. James’ biracial ethnicity subjected himself and his family to the extreme persecution and racism of his peers. Growing up in New York, James faced a variety of negative opinions and judgements due to the racial prejudices of his neighbors, teachers, and peers. A prime example of said racism can be found on page 102 when James and his mother are returning spoiled milk, "The merchant looked at her, then at me. Then back at her.
In this passage, Charlotte Perkins Gilman highlights the theme that women must use their intellect or go mad through the use of literary qualities and writing styles. Gilman also uses the use of capital letters to portray the decline in the narrators’ sanity. This shows the decline in the sanity of a person because the words in all-caps is shown as abrupt, loud remarks. Gilman uses this method multiple times in her short story and this method was used twice in this passage. When the narrator wrote, “LOOKING AT THE PAPER!”, the major decline in her mental health was shown.
During James upbringing, his experiences were more of the opposite of his mother. As seen earlier in the book, James had a loving family and caring mother and father. While Ruth’s family was completely the opposite. When it comes to school, Ruth experiences also differed from James. While James had questions and was curious, it did not affect him the way it affected Ruth.