Summary Of The Color Of Water By James Mcbride

James McBride wrote a memoir, The Color of Water, to tell his life story and how he arose through a difficult childhood into a successful member of society. During The Color of Water James tells how he finds himself, a mixed boy, in a very segregated world. In this memoir some of James’ most important turning points would be when his stepfather died, His time in Louisiana, and when he was accepted into Oberlin College. The death of Hunter Jordan, James’ stepfather, devastated James in his early teen years. This event started James on a path of drugs and terrible grades making him fail classes and eventually drop out of school. Hunter was referred to as “Daddy” by James because he was the closest dad James had ever had since his father died when he was very young. Also after Hunter died James was caught shoplifting and his mother, Ruth, finally found out that James was skipping school. After Hunter Jordan died James said “I wanted to tell him that I loved him, that I hoped with all my heart that he would get better, but I could not form the words in my mouth.”(Pg. 128). This led his mother to send James to Louisiana so that James

James idolized Big Richard, Jack’s husband, and would follow him around when he would go to Louisiana. The Chicken man was a very positive influence for James and believed that James still had time to fix his life. The Chicken man told James that “Everybody on this corner is smart. You ain’t no smarter than anybody here.” (Pg 150) saying that anybody could be successful but they repeatedly make wrong choices and that if James would focus academically and work hard that he could be successful. Later that day the Chicken man is stabbed later day reinforcing his statement that living on the streets is a bad decision. During James time in Louisiana he learns that doing drugs and committing acts of violence will hurt him in the