Color Of Water Conflict

Words: 1478
Pages: 6

The Color of Water The Color of Water is a novel that depicts the life of author James McBride, but also the life of his white mother Ruth McBride Jordan. The life of this family is filled with struggles and obstacles, which the family overcame. A reoccurring conflict was the difficulty of losing a loved one. Although, the same issue, each time it transpired was different in a number of ways.
Conflict #1: In chapter twenty-three, Ruth McBride is telling the story of when she and Dennis moved in together and from there she continues on, describing every part of their life. Some parts of the story included their marriage ceremony, the birth of their oldest children, moving into the Red Hook Housing Projects, and one of their biggest accomplishments,
…show more content…
Ruth McBride found another man who loved her and her children and was willing to support them and give them everything. Ruth McBride married Hunter Jordan and as the novel states he indeed changed Ruth’s life. “I’ll help you for the rest of my life if you’ll marry me.” “God bless him, he was as good as his word” (McBride 247). From this experience, the character learns about her personal strength, both physically and mentally. Ruth McBride Jordan learns that she can overcome the most difficult and painful challenges that life can throw her way. Losing her husband was a traumatic experience for her but because of God and her faith she was able to push through and keep going. The character of Ruth also discovered that there is a second chance for love and happiness. This also leads her to discover that she can not dwell on the past and that life goes on. This experience allows Ruth to realize that her faith is her foundation and one of her biggest motives to excel, because of this she becomes deeper involved in her faith. Through this chapter, the author of the novel is expressing his admiration for his mother. He admires the strength that she has but also her willpower. I believe that the author is trying to portray his mother as an example of perseverance to the reader, but also to have the reader be aware of one of the many painful experiences that his mother endured. This chapter, this conflict is a tribute to Ruth …show more content…
He tells the reader how his mother became extremely depressed, she was also gloomy and held back. Examples of this are when she gave away all his items, cried at night away from the children, and she was always lost in her thoughts (McBride 137-138). The chapter continues by explaining how Hunter’s death and Ruth’s emotional state began to have a negative effect on James. He started to misbehave and purposely fail school, his grades deteriorated and he eventually quit. James became involved in many illegal and wrongful things/scenarios. Such things including smoking reefer, cigarettes, and weed, drinking alcohol, and shoplifting (McBride 138). At this point in time, James was losing connection with his family, most especially his mother, but also his faith, which was something that his family valued. In the novel it states, that James was doing all these horrible things because he wanted to escape from the reality of his life. He did not want to see his mother continually suffering and having no sense of mind, he did not want to see her give up on life (McBride 141-142). The chapter then reaches it’s turning point when Ruth became aware of James’ actions and decided it was time to intervene. The solution to this conflict was to send James to Louisville, Kentucky with his sister Jack (McBride 143). This was no solution, once James was there, he continued to transgress, doing all