The Color of Water by James McBride: Literary analysis and themes

¶ … racism investigated and a paradox that is inherent in a family that had a mixed race was also identified. Illustrations of these concepts can be found in the book the Color of Water written by James McBride. To provide contrast, this book was also considered in respect to another article published in 'The new York Times' in 2011 that explores similar issues. The article quotes a white woman at the supermarket commenting on the apparent disparity in the skin color of the mother and child says, "It's just not possible & #8230;You're so...dark!" (Saulny). Even though decades separate the two pieces, it is astonishing to realize that many of the issues pertaining to families of mixed race are essentially the same. Some members in a mixed race family can be treated differently than other members of the same family depending solely on their appearance and their complexation and this paradox will be further explored.

Body

In the book 'The Color OF Water', James McBride essentially writes his own biography coupled with the life of his mother. McBride was dark in complexion and had typical features of a black man. On the other hand his mother, Rachel Shilsky -- a Jew by faith, was fair skinned and was considered to be a white woman. Rachel had got married to a black minister and gave birth to 8 children in the 1950s and then after she got widowed she married a black blacksmith and gave birth to 4 more children. McBride got his black complexion from his black father.

Even as McBride grew up, he found that there was racial discrimination all around him. He was taught to see danger from whites and not to trust white colored people. This was a kind of a paradox for him. As a child the issues of race, religion and identity reigned supreme in the mind of McBride. He also failed to understand what he was doing in a family with a white member-his mother. He was confused. In his words in the book, McBride writes, "I thought it would be easier if we were just one color, black or white. I didn't want to be white. My siblings had already instilled the notion of black pride in me. I would have preferred that Mommy were black. Now, as a grown man, I feel privileged to have come from two worlds" (McBride). It is clear form the words that McBride was completely confused by his mother being white when he saw all around that white mothers had white children and black mothers black children. He, as a child and as an adolescent, failed to understand why his mother.

In another part of the book McBride writes how people viewed their family. When they would go out together people would point to his mother and say, "Look at her with those little niggers!" (McBride). McBride writes that his mother's color often made him feel danger from her as he had, since childhood, perceived danger from whites. The whites in the neighborhood disliked his mother for being in a black world with white skin color. They could not understand how or why this happened and were skeptical about the entire issue.

In comparing the same thoughts from a modern world situation, a report in the New York Times titled 'In Strangers' Glances at Family, Tensions Linger' published on October 12, 2011, talks about how people reacted when a browned skinned mother took out her biological white child outside in the public. The article quotes a white woman at the supermarket commenting on the apparent disparity in the skin color of the mother and child says, "It's just not possible, You're so...dark!" (Saulny) When compared to the book, similar reactions were received from people about 50 years ago by McBride's mother while she took out her black children. The author of the article, Susan Saulny says: "It was not the first time someone had demanded an explanation from Mrs. Greenwood about her biological daughter, but it was among the more aggressive" (Saulny). Mrs. Greenwood, like Rachel had been a part of a family that had inter-race marriages. Mrs. Greenwood was the daughter of a black father and a white mother and she had a dark complexion. She was later adopted by a white family and she married a white man and hence her child was white skinned. The difference in the colour of the skin between herself and her child has made Mrs. Greenwood say, "People confront you, and it's not once in a while, it's all the time," (Saulny)