Ethical Issues In The Color Of Water

The Color of Water is a heart-warming true story about a black man discovering the past of his white mother. The novel goes back-and-forth between James McBride and his mother, talking about their past and how they grew up. The book brings up ethical issues of race, religion, civil rights, and the power of family. Ruth McBride Jordan was a Jewish immigrant from Poland. Her father was a rabbi and began a synagogue in Suffolk, Virginia. Her mother was crippled, spoke no English, and was not loved by her husband. Ruth was sexually abused by her father and began to look for a better life filled with friends, a home, and love. The day after high school graduation she fled Virginia to New York to live with her grandmother and aunts. She got a

Ruth started out as the daughter of a Jewish rabbi. To outsiders, her family seemed perfectly put together, but on the inside, it was a horror story. She made the choice to leave and begin practicing her new faith of Christianity. The United States is blessed to have the freedom of religion, allowing everyone to decide what faith they want to practice. No one should be judged or discriminated based on their faith. Sadly, during the time of the Holocaust, Jews were not popular in the U.S. and Ruth was rejected by most of her classmates and community when she lived in Virginia. When she came to New York, she did not tell anyone about her past religious affiliations. Ruth taught her children Christianity, but as they got older, a few of them went astray. Her heart became broken for them, but she did understand that they had the right to make their own decision just like she had when she was younger. James grew up in a Christian home, but during high school abandoned its teachings for drugs. After encountering Chicken Man in Kentucky, James struggles with stopping his addiction. However, he learns that the cure for his drug problem is through Jesus Christ and begins attending church again with his mother. He becomes a Christian again and keeps his faith throughout the rest of his

He has showed how ethical issues are a part of everyday life and that everyone has a choice. Ruth had the choice to have an abortion, to leave her Jewish family, to become a Christian, to marry a colored man even though she would be mocked. James had the choice of joining the Civil Rights Movement with his siblings, become addicted and stop using drugs, to become a Christian like his mother. Life is filled with multiple choices that we make on a daily basis. Ethics can be defined as the science of choices and how these choices affect our everyday life. Some of the biggest ethical issues today were highlighted in this book. James McBride not only covered how his choices affected him but how his mother’s choices affected her and her