The Color of Privacy
James McBride’s stunning book tells the story of how his white mother was capable of successfully raising twelve black children. Coming from a Jewish, cruel, and dark past with an abusive father in the family, James’ mother, Ruth, finally opens up to his son after decades and decides to tell him the story of how she managed to run away from home, find happiness, and deal with strong emotions. Ruth lives through a lot of tragedies, sorrows, prohibitions, judgment, and little compassion or love. It was hard for her to manage with these feelings, yet she was able to find a – successful but unhealthy– coping mechanism: keeping her feelings to herself and keep her mind busy. She hid everything from her family: from her relationships …show more content…
He explains he left everything he had at that moment to write this book because he felt it was time to finally find out what happened in his childhood and why things were the way they were with Ruth; he “got tired of running, and partly the ache [he had] known as a boy was no longer a little age when [he] reached thirty” (266). This shows that he finally needs to tell his life to release all the secrets that were bottled up hurting him. Even though James was raised to be secretive and later changed his manners and learned to express himself better, his mother still gave him complications when writing the book. He explains he believed that it was going to be fast and a piece of cake to get her past out of her chest since time had passed and they were both older. However, he says how even after “eight years later, [he] was still getting this: ‘Mind your own business . . . Leave me alone. You’re a nosy-body!’” (268). This shows that she still cares about her privacy and does not want to explore her memory. However, things improved, even after trying for eight years to come up with enough bravery and strength to retell her story. If Ruth did not open up at all, then there would not have been a story to tell, and James would not have published The Color of Water if his mother was not completely sure that it was time to tell her story. Ruth agreed to tell the story of her childhood and the new life she was able to put together after many traumatic experiences, pain, joy, a new past, and an old future. Publishing a fictional book to the world is hard to do. However, showing the world the past that you have been trying to get away from is something that only the strongest people can
James McBride’s stunning book tells the story of how his white mother was capable of successfully raising twelve black children. Coming from a Jewish, cruel, and dark past with an abusive father in the family, James’ mother, Ruth, finally opens up to his son after decades and decides to tell him the story of how she managed to run away from home, find happiness, and deal with strong emotions. Ruth lives through a lot of tragedies, sorrows, prohibitions, judgment, and little compassion or love. It was hard for her to manage with these feelings, yet she was able to find a – successful but unhealthy– coping mechanism: keeping her feelings to herself and keep her mind busy. She hid everything from her family: from her relationships …show more content…
He explains he left everything he had at that moment to write this book because he felt it was time to finally find out what happened in his childhood and why things were the way they were with Ruth; he “got tired of running, and partly the ache [he had] known as a boy was no longer a little age when [he] reached thirty” (266). This shows that he finally needs to tell his life to release all the secrets that were bottled up hurting him. Even though James was raised to be secretive and later changed his manners and learned to express himself better, his mother still gave him complications when writing the book. He explains he believed that it was going to be fast and a piece of cake to get her past out of her chest since time had passed and they were both older. However, he says how even after “eight years later, [he] was still getting this: ‘Mind your own business . . . Leave me alone. You’re a nosy-body!’” (268). This shows that she still cares about her privacy and does not want to explore her memory. However, things improved, even after trying for eight years to come up with enough bravery and strength to retell her story. If Ruth did not open up at all, then there would not have been a story to tell, and James would not have published The Color of Water if his mother was not completely sure that it was time to tell her story. Ruth agreed to tell the story of her childhood and the new life she was able to put together after many traumatic experiences, pain, joy, a new past, and an old future. Publishing a fictional book to the world is hard to do. However, showing the world the past that you have been trying to get away from is something that only the strongest people can