James McBride's The Color of Water
A character's personality is often times determined by their tone of voice. If the voice or tone of a character is misinterpreted the meaning is misinterpreted as well. In The Color of Water by James McBride, he remarkably switches between his voice to his mothers and back. Using this technique, the reader is able to understand where Ruth McBride (mother) came from mentally and emotionally. In this bittersweet memoir McBride deals with the asperity of growing up in a bourgeois, biracial family in which his voice changes due to his circumstances. The imagery and diction used creates a detailed tableau of words that help distinguish the attitude in both McBride and his mother's voice. In order to match his mother's voice, McBride has to retrace her footsteps to try and understand what she went through. All though he will never fully comprehend the turmoil his mother suffered, her drive and discipline to help her children is excellently portrayed. "'You don't need money. What's money if your mind is empty. Educate your mind!'" (32-3). Her one purpose in life was to educate her children not only about school but about religion as well. Not having a sturdy education herself, she forces her children to succeed because "...her childre
He grew up with his 12 brothers and sisters in Red Hook, Brooklyn. As opposed to his mother who saw the positive side on everything he was almost the opposite. A few times he almost gave up or just didn't care anymore. "Jack will straighten your butt out," she sniffed. I told her I doubted it." (143). He did however have good morals and values and that is what would help him survive through the good times and bad times. "I knew I wasn't raised to drink everyday, to work at a gas station, and to get killed fooling around with people like Herman and his gas station knuckleheads." "Like my mother did in times of stress, I turned to God." (161) The tone in his voice was rarely that of anger. Once he went back to his mother's hometown it was as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and the truth was finally out. Growing up in Suffolk, Virginia where racism was nothing out of the ordinary, her father an Orthodox rabbi, naturally did not like black people; men in particular. "So it stands to reason that the first thing I fell in love with in life was a black man. I didn't do it on purpose. I was a rebellious little girl in my own quiet way..."(107). She began her new life not as Ruchel Dwajra Zylska but as Ruth McBride because it did not sound so Jewish. Going through 2 husbands
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Approximate Word count = 870
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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