"The Color Of Water" is a memoir, written by James McBride about a biracial man, his white Jewish mother, their family, and their struggle from the early 1900s till the mid 1900s. The main characters in the memoir are the author and his mother; they tell their stories and alternate chapters throughout the memoir. the memoir begins with the author's mother explaining her earliest memories of her parents, the details of their marriage, and their coming to America. James's life was a chaotic mess, the only order in his life came from his stepfather, who was named hunter, Hunter was a strong good natured man who was the only father figure James had ever known.
Others serve food with love; however, Tita serves food with her lustful emotions. All Tita's life she has been extremely emotional, considering she was born in the kitchen, she pours her emotions into the dishes she creates. The author conveys multiple symbols throughout Tita's journey and uses her love for food and waterfall of tears to create a suspensful mood. In the novel, "LIke Water for Chocolate" the author utalizes various symbols like tears and food to enhance the purpose of feminism throughout the story. To begin, Tita being born in the kitchen flowing from a waterfall of tears from her wet, swollen eyes.
The story The Color of Water is a memoir by a young boy who lives with his 11 black siblings and his white mother. The book was written by James McBride later in his life after he had been successfully raised by his mother Ruth, despite the fact she was the only white person he knew. James credits Ruth with molding him into the excellent man he grew up to be, in his early years he viewed her as unable to understand him but in reality she was trying to do the best she could for him. Thought the memoir James slowly transitions into a stellar young man who takes advantage of the opportunities life hands him. James biological father had died when he was young and therefore James did not have a strong memory of him.
Religion plays a fairly big part in many people’s lives. Ruth in The Color Of Water comes to terms with her religion (to be precise her former religion) through several defining moments including being restricted to do things by her parents, converting to Christianism and finally going back to her old synagogue. Along the way, Ruth gets more and more comfortable in her own skin and with who she is. While being a little child and teenager Ruth got influenced pretty heavily by Judaism.
Have you ever felt uncomfortable about yourself? Well James did, he didn’t know himself as a person. In The Color of Water, James goes through a very important journey in order to know who he is. He faces many obstacles but gets through all of them.
“When I asked her if she was white, she’d say, “No. I’m light skinned,” and change the subject again.” (Ch.4, pg.15) Ruth’s changing the topic of racial issues caused even more perplexity and insecurities within James. Because of his uncertainty, it was very difficult for James to decide how he fits into his conservative society. Also, in his community it was only the McBride siblings who seemed to come from the interracial family which made them partially feel like
Being lost psychologically is one of the most overwhelming challenges to overcome in one’s life. In both “Blue Against White” by Jeannette C. Armstrong and “The Shivering Tree” by John Mcleod, the trickster are shown as two extremely different characters, but both demonstrating a despairing side of human nature. In “Blue Against White,” the protagonist Lena prescribed the trickster as a coyote that is lost within a building after entering an elevator, a symbolism for indigenous people that are lost within the colonised dominant society. Whilst John Mcleod describes the trickster as one that is lost within one’s arrogance, overwhelmed by a sense of pride and confidence that it was unable to see the obvious lie from the protagonist, Nanabush.
Beth E. Brant's "Swimming Upstream" uses a variety of symbols to explore complex issues such as addiction, trauma, and resilience in the lives of Native American communities. Her three key symbols used throughout the story are torn fins, alcohol, and water, representing different aspects of these themes and providing insight into the struggles and challenges the characters face. The torn fin, which is discovered on Anna May's son after he drowns, serves as a metaphor for the damage and trauma he has experienced in his life. The symbol represents the obstacles and challenges that he faced in his constant struggle against the forces that threatened to overwhelm him.
After converting to this new religion, church became a huge part of her life and her future children. Andrew also brought her lots of happiness and love, something she didn’t receive much of in Virginia. Sadly, he died after battling lung cancer. Months after his passing, Ruth met Hunter Jordan, a furnace fireman for the New York Housing Authority. On page 118, James recalls the ways of his stepfather and states, “He made no separation between the McBride and Jordan children, and my siblings and I never thought or referred to each other as half brothers and sister; for the powerless Little Kids, myself included, he was ‘Daddy’.”
“Greasy Lake” is about the idea of being free spirited and having the young freedom to feel energetic and do whatever comes to mind, including rebellion. This story is about a journey in experiencing risk taking and learning from ones mistakes. In the story, the narrator describes their trip to Greasy Lake as an adventure that started off with a group of friends having fun to the situation escalating into something dangerous. The narrator says, “I was terrified. Blood was beating in my ears, my hands were shaking, my heart turning over like a dirt bike in the wrong gear” (Boyle 307).
One example of how Ruth’s sorrow is shown to the reader is early in the story when the narrator introduces Ruth, saying that “Ruth’s arm, linked with Matt’s tightened, he looked at her. Beneath her eyes there was swelling from the three days she had suffered” (111). This introduction to Ruth’s character is able to display her feelings of loss because of the fact that one of the first traits the reader learns about Ruth is that she had cried for three days after the loss of Frank, which does clearly show her sorrow because of the fact that three days is definitely a strangely long time to be crying for, especially since it seems like the entire family, besides her, had already moved on from crying about the loss. Another example of how Ruth is affected by loss is shown the night of Richard’s murder when Matt reflects on how “he believed Ruth knew... When Ruth said good night she looked at his face, and he felt she could see see in his eyes the gun, and the night he was going to” (116-117).
In the movie Moonlight, the significance of water in Chiron’s life appears multiple times, like his christening experience when learning how to swim, to dipping his head into ice water, to his first sexual experience with Kevin by the ocean. While growing up, Chiron had been found by Juan, his mother's drug dealer. Although Juan was supplying to his mother, He and his girlfriend Theresa had befriended chiron and had cared for him. Chiron, realizing that Juan had been a cause for the trouble in his life at home, had caused somewhat of an internal conflict, but he had continued to grow affection for Juan after time. After an argument between Chiron and his mother, he had asked Juan “What’s a faggot?”.
Why are the multiple recounts of Ruth’s relationship with Dr. Foster? Roshni Babal Prior to reading Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison, I had established a very clear view of what was true and what was not. In my head, there was always a definitive division between the two ideas; there was either the full, unexposed truth or a dishonest representation of events. However, upon reading the novel, I was faced with multiple recounts of Ruth’s relationship with her father- Dr. Foster- leading to me wondering about whether Ruth really did have an incestuous relationship with her father.
Instead of giving in to the man’s racist ways, Ruth holds her ground and honors her husband by displaying her pride for him and their relationship publicly. She was undeterred by the possible negative outcome of her bold actions, which is key in an effective leader. Her courage and confidence lead her to making daring decisions, like marrying a black man, moving away from home, and helping her husband create a church from scratch. “‘What color is God’s spirit?’ ‘It doesn’t have a color,’ she said.
In Moby Dick, white is used to disguise the truth, so it would only make sense that in addition to being fascinated what the truth is, the narrator of Moby Dick, Ishmael, also explores the meaning behind the color white. In fact, Moby Dick has an entire chapter dedicated to the color white and is called, “The Whiteness of the Whale” which explores the concept of the color white or what white means if taken at a face value. Melville or rather the narrator Ishmael, notes that in most cultures, white is used to represent “the symbol of the divine spotlessness and power” (Melville 190). In general, white does, indeed, represent holiness and all that is good. However, to Ishmael, white has a deeper meaning behind it.
