Mcbride's Childhood In The Color Of Water

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In the memoir, The Color of Water, McBride uses events from his childhood to explain why his adulthood turned out the way it did. McBride went through many things in his childhood. McBride had eleven other siblings, and he was the eighth one. From him losing his father, to his mother never really recovering from his death. That is when everything started going downhill for him. James relationship with Hunter was good. James referred to Hunter as strong and good-natured. When James was just adolescence Hunter suffered from a stroke. When Hunter finally left the hospital, he had a one-on-one talk with James. They had a rare moment of intimacy and expression and expression. Hunter was urging him to take care of Ruth and his siblings. When Hunter …show more content…

James loved it in Louisville because of all the freedom. James liked hanging with “Big Richard”, which was Jack’s husband. During his time in Louisville, James spent most of his time with Big Richard, and Chicken Man at “the corner”. Out of everyone on “the corner” Chicken Man was the brightest. Chicken Man saw something in James that nobody else did. “Everybody on the corner is smart, you ain’t no smarter than anybody here. If you so smart, why you got to come to this corner every summer? Cause you flunkin’ school. You think if you drop out of school somebody’s gonna beg you to go back? Hell no! They won’t beg your black ass to go back. What makes you so special that they’ll beg you? Who are you? You ain’t nobody! If you want to drop out of school and shoot people and hang on the corner all your life, go ahead. It’s your life” pg. 150, said Chicken Man to James. Chicken Man just wanted the best for James. After visiting the corner that summer, James knew he had to get his life together. “I was ready to move… I needed to see some new faces, a fresh start”, said James. James was ready to start over and get himself together. When James moved to Delaware, he got into Oberlin College in Ohio. He had a strong background in music and writing, but had poor grades and SAT scores. James had become involved with Jazz and got sponsored by the Dawsons. He had went on a trip to Europe and worked for Mrs. Dawson in