James And Ruth Character Analysis

During James upbringing, his experiences were more of the opposite of his mother. As seen earlier in the book, James had a loving family and caring mother and father. While Ruth’s family was completely the opposite. When it comes to school, Ruth experiences also differed from James. While James had questions and was curious, it did not affect him the way it affected Ruth. For example, Ruth was in constant pressure from the fear of racial clans around her town (McBride 51). This contribute to Ruth’s agonizing childhood while James did not suffer from this as much. James coping mechanics were also different than that of Ruth’s. For instance, James picked up Jazz as a way to escape his painful reality (McBride 55). Even though both lived in constant pressure of their perspective society, they had different experiences from school and different ways as to how they coped with these fear.

Since Ruth is Jewish and James is black, they both faced difficulty with racial discrimination and prejudice. For example, Ruth stated that “death was always around Suffolk” (McBride 59). Both Ruth and James had to live in constant fear of attack because they are both in the minority. This transfer to school because both had trouble with prejudice in school also. James schooling also is similar to Ruth because both of them were distant from new people. For Instance, Ruth was a loner in school and didn’t have many friends. Her only friend was a girl by the names of Frances (McBride 40). While James had his siblings and family, he too did not have many friends because he was black. For example, James’s classmates judged him and believed James could dance because he was black (McBride 53). Both Ruth and James had to deal with racial discrimination during their schooling