Love In James Mcbride's The Color Of Water

In James McBride’s The Color of Water (1996) the author examines his mother’s love, and the ways that she influenced him and his siblings through her ability to give for her children, disciplining them, and by finding the best possible education for them. The first way Ruth showed love for her children was through the long hours she worked. In the book, McBride states “She worked the swing shift at Chase Manhattan Bank as a typist, leaving home at three P.M. and returning around two A.M.” (McBride 28). Ruth worked those long shifts only because she loved her children and knew they were counting on her to provide for them. Another quote from the book is “The cafeteria at the Chase Manhattan where she worked served dinner to the employees …show more content…
One example is “Finally Mommy sent me to stay with my sister…‘Jack will straighten your butt out,’ she sniffed” (McBride 143). The previous quote gives a great example of how Ruth didn’t want James to continue causing trouble and knew that she needed to send him to Jack for punishment. Another example is “Despite the orchestrated chaos of our home, we always ate meals at a certain time, always did homework at a certain time, and always went to bed at a certain time. Mommy also aligned herself with any relative or friend who had any interest in any of her children and would send us off to stay with whatever relative promised to straighten us out, and many did” (McBride 98, 99). The quote shown before exemplifies just how much control she had over the family, along with her ability to straighten any child who got out of hand by using the help of relatives. Through all these examples it is noticeable that Ruth showed love by her ability to punish her children since she knew to turn her children into successful people she had to …show more content…
An example to support this is “Every year…the New York City public school system …slipped a little notice to parents giving them the opportunity to have their kids bused to different school districts if they wanted…Mommy stood poised over that like a hawk. She invariably chose predominantly Jewish public schools” (McBride 88). Ruth clearly has a strong desire to get the best possible education for her children. While it may have inconvenienced her, she knew the value of a good education and decided to make the necessary sacrifices for her children. Another useful quote is “When she saw the tattered books we brought home from school, she rose up like the Mommy of old. ‘You’ll be a nothing, with this kind of education,’ she said. She bought an old, used Toyota for nine hundred dollars, took a driving course…She opened up the phone book, ran her finger down the list of private and Catholic schools…and drove me up to one” (McBride 183, 184). Ruth clearly went great lengths for her children to gain a strong education, even in this case when the main concern was over an old textbook. Through these examples, the meaning of a good education to Ruth is evident with the efforts she made. With all the sacrifices Ruth made for her children, one sees the clear love she had for all of them. Her love is best of all demonstrated by her ability to put twelve children