The Color of Water
The book ‘The Color of Water’ tells the story of a black boy’s life living with his white mother. His mother considered herself light skinned, not black but certainly not white. James, the boy, he had 12 siblings, which was hard for Mameh (what they called their mom) to keep up with all of them. Mameh barely had friends because of her appearance. Mameh was an orthodox Jew who married 2 black men and had eight children by one man and had four more by another to make an equal twelve.
There is two point of views in this book. The odd chapters are the chapter about Ruth (Mameh), who is also the narrator, explaining her life and the even chapters are about James explaining his life experience with his mom. Basically in this book they constantly face discrimination from their race in certain neighborhoods and of their religious beliefs. Whenever Mameh or James faced racism or discrimination in their life they can always look to religion to help them through those tough times. In this book, Mameh basically shows that religion knows no race. In chapter 6, James tells about his church memories. He talks about his moms embrace of Christianity, her lovely singing voice, and the fact that she was the only white person there. Mamehs favorite church songs were “We’ve Come This Far by Faith” and “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.
The Essay on A Clockwork Orange Chapter Alex Book
A Clockwork Orange To leave out the final chapter of A Clockwork Orange is to change the entire meaning of the novel; as Burgess says in the introduction, his story is transformed into a fable. Without the last chapter the reader is left with a dark and pessimistic theme, that absolute good and evil exist in this world and it is possible for a man to be pure evil. Alex is conditioned and ...
One day, James questioned whether Jesus was black or white. His mom then replied that he is not black or white which led to Jesus being the color of water. Jesus being the color of water was the main metaphor in this book. James also reflected on his life up to a teenager, who knew that bad things would occur in the future if he didn’t change his ways and behavior. James began to give serious consideration to the warnings of his sister Jack and Chicken Man. So he decided, “Like my own mother did in times of stress, I turned to God.” His quote on that helped him with all his problems in life. Including his problem with drug obsession, especially marijuana, which he referred to it as his friend.
His mom suffered of tragedy from her second husband’s death. She couldn’t drive so she rode a bike throughout the black neighborhood. . The bicycle is a symbol, representing Mameh’s outlet of being able to cope with her second husband’s death by having it become an escape from reality, and yet negotiating what her reality has become as well.
Later on in the book, when the family of Mameh and her children move to Delaware, James becomes increasingly involved with jazz. He joined a jazz band. James was selected to travel to Europe with the American Youth Jazz Band. But it wasn’t free, so he paid for him to go. He was able to take a trip to Europe, advertised by a white couple named the Dawsons. In exchange, he had to work on their estate on weekends and during the summer. He got fired, but was still able to go to Europe.
A couple of years later from when Mrs. Dawson fired James, when he had gotten accepted to Oberlin College, he received a letter that had Ms. Dawson say her husband had died suddenly of cancer. Later that day, James was standing on the street with a group of black students, and one of them basically said that white people are all rich, and also have no problems. He agreed with that student, but felt terrible lying about that. This gives the entire event a sense of irony, because any comments that the black student made about white people being rich, therefore not having any problems whatsoever were be directly contradicted from the folded letter which held “the heartbroken words of an old white lady who had always gone out of her way to help me.” This event demonstrates how anyone, no matter their class or race will face obstacles or difficulties in their lives, and they must be dealt with somehow.
The Essay on Life On The Color Line 2
Life on the Color Line Life on the Color Line is a memoir by Gregory Howard Williams talking about his life and what it was like to grow up in Muncie, Indiana as a white colored boy. It starts off in Virginia where the Williams family owns and lives in an Open House Cafe for all the war soldiers and veterans black and white alike. Since they were “on the color line” of Virginia bordering between ...
James has taught readers through The Color of Water that everyone faces obstacles in their lives, but they can all be overcome. Mameh and James represent the representation of this life lesson portrayed in these thesis whether it’s through their beliefs on religion, on how God can comfort them to the right path, or advice and support of family members and friends, or simply a will or motivation to move on through this hindrance faced. The color of Water was an interesting book on how to look past racism and discrimination.
