In this story “The Color of Water”, the various member of the McBride’s family confronted personal issues of race, identity, family, and religion. Those personal issues were played out in various locations in this story. One example of this was on page 23, when one of the family members Ruth McBride (Mommy) was hiding her true race of being a white woman. Her son James McBride would, constantly be asked why his mom looks different, and if he was adopted from his classmate, and teachers due to the fact the area where they lived was mostly black, and the mom was white. Another example was on page 42, when Ruth McBride (Mommy) father “Tateh” used to do sexual things to her at night. Growing up, Ruth McBride was very afraid of her father, and grew
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Those personal issues were played out in various locations of this story. One example of this is on page 23, when Ruth McBride (Mommy) hid her true race. The text said, “Yet Mommy refused to acknowledge her whiteness”. The text would also say on page 23, “…Billy’s mother was black and my mother was not”. Ruth McBride (Mommy) did this to ensure her son James McBride, wouldn’t be segregated due to her whiteness. Another example is on page 42 when Ruth McBride (Mommy) father “Tateh”, would do sexual things to her. The text said, “… supposedly to teach me how to swim, and hold me real close to his body near his sexual parts and he’d have an erection”. She didn’t tell anyone about this because she was scared of her father. In fact the text even said, “I was afraid of Tateh and had no love for him at all”. A final example is Ruth McBride (Mommy) had an abortion. At the time she was pregnant to a black man. This was looked as a sin for the whites in the south. The text said, “The law wasn’t for the black man in Virginia in those days, it was against him”. The text would also say on page 114, “…If white folks find out you’re pregnant by me, I will surely hang.” This showed that if Ruth McBride was to tell anyone she pregnant by a black man, the black man would of most likely experienced
Those personal issues were played out in various locations of this story. One example of this is on page 23, when Ruth McBride (Mommy) hid her true race. The text said, “Yet Mommy refused to acknowledge her whiteness”. The text would also say on page 23, “…Billy’s mother was black and my mother was not”. Ruth McBride (Mommy) did this to ensure her son James McBride, wouldn’t be segregated due to her whiteness. Another example is on page 42 when Ruth McBride (Mommy) father “Tateh”, would do sexual things to her. The text said, “… supposedly to teach me how to swim, and hold me real close to his body near his sexual parts and he’d have an erection”. She didn’t tell anyone about this because she was scared of her father. In fact the text even said, “I was afraid of Tateh and had no love for him at all”. A final example is Ruth McBride (Mommy) had an abortion. At the time she was pregnant to a black man. This was looked as a sin for the whites in the south. The text said, “The law wasn’t for the black man in Virginia in those days, it was against him”. The text would also say on page 114, “…If white folks find out you’re pregnant by me, I will surely hang.” This showed that if Ruth McBride was to tell anyone she pregnant by a black man, the black man would of most likely experienced