This passage is memorable to me because Ruth McBride discusses how she was never loved growing up, something that I could never relate to in a million years. Ruth’s family was strict, and she grew up in fear. She was never loved and never felt wanted. Even though I cannot relate to this, I can connect to it. My parents love me so much and would go above and beyond for me if that is what it meant. It is sad and hard to believe that someone would not grow up this way. Although Ruth grew up in a different setting, family is still family and no one should ever be “starving for love and affection” (83). Being starving for something is being deprived of something essential in life. In my eyes, love is essential to have in life. This passage about
…show more content…
The Color of Water offers a cultural portrait of the life of the young Ruth, or rather Ruchel Dwajra Zylska’s Orthodox Jewish upbringing. Her father was a harsh, strict, no nonsense, and no time for affection kind of man. He did not love Ruth’s mother, nor Ruth or her brother. All he cared about was making money and being a Rabi. Ruth’s father was not a family man and he could care less about the family that he “ran into the ground and destroyed” (41). Ruth hated her childhood that her father completely wrecked and she says, “I was terrified of my father. He put the fear of God in me” (80). When Ruth grew old enough to leave home, she left and never returned. Neither did she ever really bring up her childhood again. Although Ruth became a Baptist Christian, she does not trash the Orthodox Jewish faith because she is one at heart. I find it very surprising that someone would become the kind of person they were told to hate growing up. Ruth said, “If there was one thing Tateh didn’t like more than gentiles, it was black folks,” and ironically, the only men she ever fell in love with were black (107). Not only did Ruth marry two black men, but she became a gentile herself. Ruth certainly does not hate her old faith, but she hates how it was the thing that tore her family apart. Although Ruth hates her past, she carried some Orthodox Jewish values in her life that she established in her children’s lives. The observations made about Ruth’s Orthodox Jewish culture helped me get a better understanding of this culture as it is portrayed in the
The Color of Water offers a cultural portrait of the life of the young Ruth, or rather Ruchel Dwajra Zylska’s Orthodox Jewish upbringing. Her father was a harsh, strict, no nonsense, and no time for affection kind of man. He did not love Ruth’s mother, nor Ruth or her brother. All he cared about was making money and being a Rabi. Ruth’s father was not a family man and he could care less about the family that he “ran into the ground and destroyed” (41). Ruth hated her childhood that her father completely wrecked and she says, “I was terrified of my father. He put the fear of God in me” (80). When Ruth grew old enough to leave home, she left and never returned. Neither did she ever really bring up her childhood again. Although Ruth became a Baptist Christian, she does not trash the Orthodox Jewish faith because she is one at heart. I find it very surprising that someone would become the kind of person they were told to hate growing up. Ruth said, “If there was one thing Tateh didn’t like more than gentiles, it was black folks,” and ironically, the only men she ever fell in love with were black (107). Not only did Ruth marry two black men, but she became a gentile herself. Ruth certainly does not hate her old faith, but she hates how it was the thing that tore her family apart. Although Ruth hates her past, she carried some Orthodox Jewish values in her life that she established in her children’s lives. The observations made about Ruth’s Orthodox Jewish culture helped me get a better understanding of this culture as it is portrayed in the