James McBride is the son of Ruth McBride,and he tells the story of how he struggled to find out his racial identity through his Mom who wouldn’t tell him. James is a 15 year old boy and I’d say that his health is going pretty bad since he smokes and drinks.
James was born in Brooklyn, New York to Dennis and Ruth McBride, his father deceased before he was born. His mother later married a man names Hunter Jordan and they added 4 for kids to the 8 she already had. They both believed that education and religion was the way to life. Hunter was a furnace fireman and had a very calm , civilized attitude but he was someone you didn’t want to mess with at all. Ruth didn’t tolerate disobedience from the kids at all; if you came in late from curfew, missed school work, or did anything she disapproved of it resulted into a beaten. When James was younger he witnessed his mother’s purse get snatched by someone, and she didn’t scream nor call for help. Hunter Jordan died later on in the years, Ruth started to become depressed by this and James hated to see it. As a result, James turned to
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James loved to read and play the flute, he even received a scholarship. Ruth was a mother of twelve so it was hard for her to dedicate her time to just one child, James craved for her attention and love. He loves to visit his older sister Jackie’s house, he even got kicked out of summer school three times in a row just to go over there. Also, he was a cautious person he knew what he was doing was wrong but he still did it anyways. Ruth was a Jew deep down inside but converted over to christianity right along with her kids. The kids were always participating in church events, but James got up to some age and could say he didn’t want to go so he dropped out of church. He had a daily routine of getting up prepared for school but going to run the streets