The Color Of Water Analysis

James McBride’s The Color of Water shows us that challenges bring family unity together. In order to get a better understanding of what kind of family unity is in James McBride’s book we will first look at some examples, such as being dependable, family support, religion, and hardworking. First, James McBride’s The Color of Water shows us that challenges bring family unity together. TheMcBride family is dependent on one another this means that the family is relying on someone else to be there for them and to help them when it is needed. An example of this would be when James was going off to college and his mother gave all she had to James to further his education. As stated in the book “ As I stepped on the bus, she squeezed a bunch of bills and change into my hand. ‘It’s all I have,’ she said. I counted it. Fourteen dollars.” (McBride 189). I too related to this because even when times were tight for my parents, they were still able to get me the things that I needed even if it meant them giving …show more content…
Religion kept the family together. As stated in the book, “ My husband wanted to start a church, but we had no money, so he said ‘let’s start it right here in our living room.’ We clean up the house and set up a pulpit with a white tablecloth and invited [the neighbors] over and that’s how we got started” (McBride 257). Another example would be at the beginning of the book when the children are performing the easter story during church and James forgot his lines. Ruth was upset and slightly disappointed that her own son didn’t know the lines. While everyone else in the church was reasonable and told James that it was okay. I too can relate to James because when I was about twelve I was forced to be in the Christmas program at church and I was saying my line and I blanked; I simply forgot my line and my mother was slightly upset but not as upset as Ruth was with