Summary: The Skin Color Of Water By James Mcbride

otal Number of Pages: 301

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“She would ride in slow motion across our street, Murdock Avenue in the St. Albans section of Queens, the only white person in sight, as cars swerved around her and black motorists gawked at the strange. middle-aged white lady riding her ancient bicycle.

p. 7

Queens is a substandard area. Around this time, racial discrimination existed. James McBride’s mother, Ruth, is a white and Jewish woman who has several dark skinned children. As she rides her bike, she disregards comments about her skin color. Her bike symbolizes her difference. Ruth rides it with pride while black fellows gaze and judge. The bike represented her constant need of movement to manage

Ruth does not want them to discover how difficult her life used to be. She could also be hiding it because she does not want to reminiscence about her family, mostly her mother. Her “distrust of authority” might have been caused by her father, Tateh. He was extremely controlling, demanding, and selfish. His authority on his family significantly impacted Ruth as a child. As a result, she has a distrust of authority. I think the author should have used the word, unique instead of “odder” to describe his family. McBride’s family is special because it is not like anyone else's and he should be proud of that. By using the word, “odd,” it implies he dislikes or is ashamed of

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From the quote, I am assuming Ruth considers Christians to be better than Jews. This is because in the text she states, “Being Jewish and having a handicapped mother. I was ashamed of my mother, but see, love didn’t come natural to me until I became a Christian.” When she converted to Christianity, Ruth discovered love. Although she had no appreciation for her mother, once she became one she understood how it felt to be one. Religion is mentioned often in this novel and has either a positive or negative connotation. By becoming a Christian, her life was affected positively.

“I was afraid of Tateh and had no love for him at all. I dreaded him and was relieved anytime he left the house. But it affected me in a lot of ways, what he did to me. I had very low self-esteem as a child; which I kept with me for many, many years; and even now I don’t want to be around anyone who is domineering or pushing me around because it makes me nervous.”

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