The Color of Water Questions and Answers
The Color of Water
Who is Rocky in "The Color of Water" and what did he train Ruth for?
In The Color of Water, Rocky is the manager of the Hi Hat Barbershop. He is described as a heavy-set, light-skinned man in his fifties. The author also describes Rocky as being a well-dressed man....
The Color of Water
Ruth's Past in "The Color of Water" Why do you think Ruth was so elusive about her past?
Ruth's past was very painful to her, and she wanted to forget about it. She was born to a family of Orthodox Jews in Poland, but when she left Virginia to marry her husband, a Christian black man,...
The Color of Water
What are Ruth's strengths and weaknesses as a mother in The Color of Water?
In Color of Water, Ruth's strengths are her commitment to education, her ability to accept racial diversity, her refusal to adhere to religious dogma, and her persistent individualism in the face...
The Color of Water
How many children are there in James’s family in The Color of Water?
James McBride describes his large and unique family and upbringing in his memoir/autobiography, The Color of Water. There were twelve children in the household, including him. He was the youngest...
The Color of Water
What did the kids eat for dinner in The Color of Water?
The kids ate the food that their mother brought home from her job at Chase Manhattan Bank. The author's mother, Ruth, works as a typist at Chase Manhattan Bank; she works on a swing shift, which...
The Color of Water
What is the major conflict in The Color Of Water by James McBride?
The major conflict in The Color of Water has to do with racism in America and how it affects all the characters as they attempt to go about their lives. James McBride's book is about the life of...
The Color of Water
How is this quote important to The Color of Water? "But there was a part of me that feared black power very deeply...
The quotation is important because it illustrates one of the book's main themes: how difficult it was for McBride to come to terms with his mixed racial heritage and forge his own identity. Though...
The Color of Water
What is the author's purpose in The Color of Water?
The author's purpose in writing this novel is to explore and connect with his own sense of identity. This book is a tribute to the author's mother, but in being that, it is also an autobiography....
The Color of Water
In The Color of Water by James McBride, how does James's perception of himself change from the beginning of the book...
Throughout the novel, The Color of Water, James McBride searches for his identity as a black child who is raised by his white mother. Ever since he was a child, McBride was confused about who he...
The Color of Water
In The Color of Water, what two hobbies did Ruth take up when James was fourteen?
When James was fourteen, Ruth picked up two hobbies: playing the piano and riding a bicycle. The latter, however, is something James and his siblings frowned upon. Hunter, James’s stepfather, had...
The Color of Water
What kind of diction dominates McBride's work The Color of Water?
McBride's The Color of Water is actually dominated by two separate types of diction, as it is written from the point of view of two separate characters, interchanging based on odd and even...
The Color of Water
What is the author's style in The Color of Water by James McBride?
The author of The Color of Water, James McBride, uses two very distinct styles in order to convey the different points of view and backgrounds of he and his mother in his memoir/autobiography. For...
The Color of Water
In "The Color of Water", why did Ruth send her black children to Jewish public school? Why did Ruth send her black...
First, let's talk about your question. There are no Jewish public schools in the United States. If a school is Jewish, it must be a private school. If you are talking about a public school with a...
The Color of Water
Explain the irony in the chapter title, “The Old Testament,” in The Color of Water by James McBride.
The irony of chapter 5 being referred to as "The Old Testament" is, first and foremost, the many similarities it shares with the biblical text to which it is a reference. The chapter largely...
The Color of Water
What is the general topic (theme) of The Color of Water?
I assume by "topic" you mean theme--in other words, what is the primary message or focus of this book. The Color of Water by James McBride is one man's journey to discover how, exactly, he fits...
The Color of Water
Explain what James means in the book when he tells readers "I felt like a tinker toy kid building my own self out of...
Are you referring to The Color of Water, by James McBride? If so, The full quote is: "...I felt like a tinkertoy kid building my own self out of one of those toy building sets; for as she laid her...
The Color of Water
In "The Color of Water", what music could be used if it became a movie? I keep thinking of interracial music and...
McBride's white mother, Ruth Jordan, is a Polish Jew. She immigrates to Missouri shortly after her birth in the early 1920s. It might be nice to begin with some...
The Color of Water
How does James sees his mother in the beginning of the book? How does his view about his mother change throughout the...
In The Color of Water, James McBride goes through several phases of emotional connection to his mother and how she presents herself to the world. When he first becomes aware of how different she...
The Color of Water
What is a reason for Ruth's children's success in "The Color of Water"?
One major factor in the success of Ruth's children was education. McBride makes many references to this in the book. For example, he says she was "forcing us into college through sheer willpower"...
The Color of Water
What is the setting of the book The Color of Water by James McBride? Throughout the book, the setting, where and when...
This is a difficult question to answer simply because it is a multi-generational story which covers lots of time and places. The Color of Water was written by James McBride, and it is an...
The Color of Water
How does Ruth accept her past at the end of The Color of Water?
In The Color of Water, Ruth McBride-Jordan escapes from an abusive background by changing her culture, her religion, and even, as far as possible, her race. Her family was Jewish, and her father...
The Color of Water
Why won't the family let Ruth see her mother when she is in the hospital in chapter 21 in "The Color of Water"?
The Color of Water is a memoir about a family comprised of two distinct and relatively segregated cultures. Ruth, the author's mother, was raised as on Orthodox Jew. Her family kept the Sabbath...
The Color of Water
In "The Color of Water", what does the imaginary boy in the mirror represent in childhood and adulthood?
In childhood, the boy represents everything that James cannot be or have. “I created an imaginary world for myself. I believed my true self was a boy who lived in the mirror. I’d lock myself in...
The Color of Water
What effect does Tateh have on Ruth Shilsky in The Color of Water by James McBride?
James McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, weaves together with alternating segments the story of his mother's life and the story of his and his sibling's lives. The segments about his mother,...
The Color of Water
Explain what James values in The Color of Water by James McBride.
James McBride's autobiography, The Color of Water, recounts his search for answers he did not get from his mother when he was growing up. Late in her life, his mother, Ruth, shares just a little of...
The Color of Water
What struck James as odd about his father in chapter 12?
Hunter Jordan, James' stepfather, was a very unusual man. James was struck by the old fashioned clothes that Jordan wore, the fact that he was not interested in civil rights or the Mets and that he...
The Color of Water
What is Ruth's conflict in The Color of Water?
Because eNotes allows only one question per post, your other questions were edited out. James McBride's story The Color of Water relates his journey, partway through his life, to discover who he is...
The Color of Water
What does James compare his mother's singing to?
James compared his mother's singing to a car trying to start, a Maytag washer, and the shrill voice of Curly from the Three Stooges. Ruth Jordan's singing was so bad and off-key that it actually...
The Color of Water
What legal paper did Ruth keep on her person for over 25 years in The Color of Water?
The Color of Water is James McBride's autobiographical story. It is told in alternating chapters, first by his mother Ruth and then by James himself. The story is a result of the author's quest to...
The Color of Water
Please explain a quote from The Color of Water, by James McBride, which shows the characterization in the novel.
The Color of Water was written by James McBride and tells both his story and his mother's in alternating chapters. Each of them is on a journey. McBride's is a journey from boyhood to adult in...
The Color of Water
What does McBride learn from Eddie Thompson in chapter 20 of The Color of Water?
Chapter 20 of James McBride's book The Color of Water is an account of his journey to discover his mother's past. To do so, he must journey back to the place she left her family, Suffolk, Virginia....
The Color of Water
What is McBride's main argument in The Color of Water? I do not understand what it is. At first I thought about...
I think that McBride's main argument is closely tied to his title, and that while most would associate that title with race, McBride intends for his readers to realize--as he did--that in regards...
The Color of Water
Explain how the theme of self-identity is developed in The Color of Water.
Author James McBride explores the intersecting roles of race, family, and community in The Color of Water, his memoir of growing up in a biracial family. As this is his memoir, self-identity is...
The Color of Water
What was Ruth's home life like when she grew up in Suffolk, Va?
Ruth was born into an Orthodox Jewish family. Her father was a rabbi, and her mother, who was a victim of polio, was from a wealthy family. Ruth's parents' marriage was an arranged marriage, and...
The Color of Water
What causes the collapse of Ruth's parents' relationship in The Color of Water? Just as Ruth's relationship with...
Ruth's parents' relationship is collapsing because her father is having an affair. Ruth is living with Dennis when her father tells her that her mother is sick and they need help with the store....
The Color of Water
What morals can be found in The Color of Water? with support
There are a number of possible morals to be drawn from The Color of Water. One of the most prevalent is the idea that people can overcome their circumstances or other people's prejudices against...
The Color of Water
What is the argument in Chapter 2 of The Color of Water?
The argument in chapter two occurs between James and his mother. He inquired why she neither resembled him nor the other children’s mothers. Even though Ruth firmly responded assuring James that...
The Color of Water
What ways was Ruth victimized by her father?
Tateh Shilsky had both aggressive and passive aggressive ways to victimize Ruth. First, he was racist and judgmental. He hated black people and anyone who was not within a range of acceptance...
The Color of Water
What types of things did James Mcbride inherit from his mother, Ruth Mcbride?
James inherits his intellect, his committment to education as a form of self-empowerment, and his revolutionary philosophy of race through a spiritualized lense. When McBride honors his mother's...
The Color of Water
How is James McBride's use of imagery important to his novel The Color of Water?
The Color of Water, by James McBride, is the story of McBride's journey to learn who he is by discovering the places from which he came. That does not seem like a particularly difficult task except...
The Color of Water
Please explain a quote in The Color of Water by James McBride which shows his theme.
James McBride wrote The Color of Water as an autobiographical reflection of his journey to discover his past, for he was always aware that what happened before him was a major factor in who he...
The Color of Water
In The Color of Water by James McBride, what does James value (find important) in his life? Include quotations from...
Three things that James McBride values are his mother, his siblings, and learning the truth about his biracial identity. The entire book, as the subtitle indicates, is a tribute to his mother. One...
The Color of Water
Why was Rachel embarrassed by her mother?
James McBride begins his book by sharing the history of his parents with us. His mother was named Ruchel Dwajra Zylska when she was born in Poland on April 1, 1921. When her parents came to...
The Color of Water
Where can I find quotes about finding one's identity in James McBride's The Color of Water?
The idea of learning how to find one's identity is quite personal, as every person travels a different journey. James McBride in his book The Color of Water searches for his identity both in...
The Color of Water
Why did Ruth Mc Bride refuse to reveal her past and why? no
The key to Ruth's concealment of her past is in the first chapter, where she says, "Rachel Shilsky is dead as far as I'm concerned. She had to die in order for me, the rest of me,to live" (McBride,...
The Color of Water
In the book, The Color of Water, Ruth says that all her father wanted was money and to be American. Did he achieve...
The answer is no. It is easily shown that Ruth's father did not make the money he wanted. All one must look at is the fact that he constantly moved his family around, because he could not make...
The Color of Water
Name Rachel’s aunts that are on her mother’s side. What are they like?
The Color of Water is author James McBride’s tribute to and remembrance of his mother. The subtitle of the book is, A Black Man’s Tribute to his White Mother. As a small child, whenever the author...
The Color of Water
In "The Color of Water", how do you think that keeping secrets influenced Ruth as a whole? Ruth has had to...
Ruth's secrets about her youth obviously made her lack self-esteem. Her father's abuse probably had some effect on her pregnancy as a teenager. She was on her way to becoming a prostitute when whe...
The Color of Water
"The Color of Water": Family and Family Values? What do you feel James Mc Bride is arguing for in "The Color...
This book is an account of one man's journey to find himself. It turns out that, in his case, he has to discover who his mother is before he can really find his own peace. While on that quest, he...
The Color of Water
In "The Color of Water", why does he say that his brother, Richie, did not accept this? When Ruth told James about...
Ruth, as a white woman with black children needs to conceal their differences and tries to bring the brothers together as best as she can. She often changes the topic each time the issue comes up-...
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