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1. What did you learn about yourself or the world through this memoir?

The book Color of water taught me about the appreciation of your parents past and backgrounds. The book talks about Ruth´s backstory, James comes to appreciate what his mothers been through and what she has done for him. I asked my parents about their past and I learned My mother lost her baby at birth. My Mother immigrated here with my Father shortly after finding out she was pregnant. A few short months after she gave birth to a boy and named him Omar. They struggled financially and began to make better income and had 2 more beautiful children. I´ ve come to appreciate the sacrifice my parents made by leaving their home and families in Mexico and I ´ m greatful to god for blessing my family.

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1. What forces are motivating the characters?

In this section of the book the color of water we witness James and Ruth moving forward. When James is at college he keeps working hard and studying based on the hope that he has towards the future. Ruth is motivated by her love for Dennis in her side of the story and wanting to start a life of her own in New York.

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James McBride dealt with racism in this portion of the book as a result of A local result of biased people in the US during the 1900s. Last year my mother and I were at a store while on vacation in Texas when suddenly a man started using certain vocabulary on a black man outside of the store. While I didn't directly get targeted in the situation I noticed the anger in the man's face while listening to the man scream slurs at him. The worst part is nobody did anything about it including myself.

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Ruth wasn't financially capable to provide for her children while she was raising them though no matter the situations she always cared about them, "Please come home, Helen. This is no place for you to be. Just come home."(McBride, 78). Although her daughter Helen had run away and Ruth did anything she possibly could to make sure her children were safe. This quote expresses a mothers love for her children and this made me feel thankful for my mother.

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How do economic conditions determine the characters' lives?

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How do economic conditions determine the characters' lives?

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James McBride grows up in poverty most of his life since his mother needs to provide for a bunch of kids. Their financial situation is usually bad and they constantly. James and his siblings need to look for scholarships in order to get into college. Ruth is constantly needing to move around whenever they are in the situation they cant afford. They struggle growing up in a larger family especially since they are also low income.

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Racism

In this section of the book we discover that James was treated unjustly by a local store owner in the Bronx when he was young. James was tasked by his mother with purchasing milk from the store and the owner sold him spoiled milk. We also learn about society's ongoing issue with the Civil rights movement and how James family were all activists of equality. The mother wanted her children to have the same opportunities as white people at the time.

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What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?

At the beginning of the book the mood is set in a pretty sad tone.The mothers background is talking about how she left her family. The Sons side is bright and happy talking about what his life was like. The last pages we read are very dark talking about how his mother was assaulted by her father.

How effective is the author’s use of dialogue? How does dialogue enhance the storytelling?

Author James McBride uses dialogue effectively throughout the book in order to set the tone of the moment or the mood. The Mother's side of her story is depressing and darker with the actions of her father and James talks and expresses the moment to go from regular life to darkness very fast. The story of James is brighter and happy with him talking about how happy his family was although they were struggling financially.

How does the writer’s diction (word choice) reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?

James uses certain language and cursing in order to reflect the hate African Americans endured during the Civil rights movement. In certain moments James recalls language that certain people used on him being different from others. James is effective in sending a message of the hate he endured and this was very powerful and was something biased readers needed to learn about how it felt to be discriminated against.

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What was the work’s original intended audience? To what extent are you similar or different from that audience?

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What was the work’s original intended audience? To what extent are you similar or different from that audience?

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The book's intended audience is white people that overlook people of color. The book is intended for people who mistreat those that are less fortunate and intend harm to others. I feel the book offers a form of hope for people from low income that have less opportunity that might reach a point were they could do what they believe it.

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Which of your personal experiences or memories is affecting your perceptions of the story?

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Which of your personal experiences or memories is affecting your perceptions of the story?

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The book talks about the struggle of low income people and when i was younger I remember going to get food stamps with my mother. I lived in a small 1 room apartment with my mother father and my at the time baby sister. My parents were immigrants and we were charged more then others in the complex at the time. Since then my parents never gave up hope and we have been blessed with the income to afford a house.

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How might readers in different time periods or of different ages interpret the text?

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How might readers in different time periods or of different ages interpret the text?

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African American readers during the civil rights movement would see the book as a strong example of a person of color's struggle in society at the time. White people would have ignored it and thought of it as an African American going on a rant about his life and only looked at the bad parts. Now readers see it as a powerful tale about a African American's issues in society and especially with everything that's occuring now for example the black lives matter movement.

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Find a quote in this chunk that stood out to you. Please also include a picture or GIF to further describe this quote.

Give context for your quote. What was happening in the story that made this quote significant? Who was speaking? Throughout the first part of the story a quote that stood out to me was " I'm crying 'cause i'm happy. anything wrong with that?"(McBride, 50).

Why did this quote stand out to you?

After learning about the mothers previous experiences growing up. This quote made me think about how the mother suffered growing up from the abuse endured from Tahta. I feel she uses her faith in god as a power that allowed her to move past that and thank god for blessing her with children and her time in church is a way for her to reflect on her life, both the good and bad parts.

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Choose at least one of the following social issues that were present in this reading chunk. Discuss how this social force was present in a characters life. (Your response should be at least 5-6 sentences).

Social Class - lower class

Throughout my childhood my family struggled being in the lower class. My mother and father immigrated from mexico and my parents both worked hard to provide for us. I was born I lived in a small one room apartment with my Mom, Dad and sister. My parents worked hard to learn the language and my dad began to work for a landscaping company. Currently my parents bought their first house and brought my younger brother into the world and are both US citizens. James McBride also lived in a struggling family and they also suffered from the harsher living conditions of being lower class and the limited housing that they had at the time in the US.

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In what ways was this chunk a window or a mirror? Use the following questions to guide your response, but really we want to hear your personal thoughts and reactions to this chunk!

I often have to help my family around the house by cleaning as a chore and doing my laundry. Sometimes I help out my mom by running errands like a few characters do. We grew up on a lower income but my parents worked hard to manage to get us out of that and now are middle class id say. I share the fact that my family is very religious like the characters in the story. The characters often talk about their religious practices. The mother was separated on appearance from the rest of her family and she would often be looked at and others would separate from her.

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Choose 3 Formalist lens questions to respond to your responses should throughly respond to the prompt in at least three sentences.

What tone and mood are created at various parts of the work?

At the beginning of the book the mood is set in a pretty sad tone.The mothers background is talking about how she left her family. The Sons side is bright and happy talking about what his life was like. The last pages we read are very dark talking about how his mother was assulted by her father.

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Find a quote in this chunk that stood out to you. Please also include a picture or GIF to further describe this quote.

Give context for your quote. What was happening in the story that made this quote significant? Who was speaking?

Why did this quote stand out to you?

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Choose at least one of the following social issues that were present in this reading chunk. Discuss how this social force was present in a characters life. (Your response should be at least 5-6 sentences).

Social Class - lower class

Race/Ethnicity

Religion

Education

Culture

Health

Political Landscape

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In what ways was this chunk a window or a mirror? Use the following questions to guide your response, but really we want to hear your personal thoughts and reactions to this chunk!

What experiences do you share with the characters?

I often have to help my family around the house by cleaning as a chore and doing my laundry.

In what ways is your family similar or different from those in the book?

I share the fact that my family is very religious like the characters in the story. The characters often talk about their religious practices.

What did you learn about a character or group of people that you have not personally experienced?

The mother was separated on apperence from the rest of her family and she would often be looked at and others would separate from her.

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We learn about Ruth's financial struggle throughout raising her children, "We're moving to Delaware. Pack up the house."(McBride, 177). Ruth struggles to afford living in New York especially while having to raise 12 children. By the time James is going to college she still has 4 kids left to raise. She struggled and by the time they were older she had to adjust to living in Delaware.

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Social issues impacted various characters in this section of the book. In this section James managed to get into his school's music program with the help of the Dawson's family. They helped many people financially and managed to give him an opportunity to go on a music trip in Europe. They have low income and they helped them get into good opportunities.

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This section of the book talks a lot about their financial struggle. James required a scholarship in order to fund going to college and his mother struggled to put together a few dollars in order to get him some money for being alone. My parents have struggled to put together the funds to buy a house and i'm going to have to start looking for resources in order to go to college. I'm thankful for my parents just like James is thankful for his mothers hard work.

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During the time Ruth went back to visit her family her mother was sick and her dad decided he wanted a divorce She talked to her sister Rachel, "Okay, I promise... I'll Stay."(McBride, 201). Ruth made a promise to her sister while she was breaking down promising her that she would stay, she proceeded to leave breaking the promise and leaving to New York where she had her own life and had the hope to be happy.

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Reflecting on the Memoir The Color Of Water, This book talked about the struggles James and his family went through during the civil rights movement and personal experiences they had. I felt this book made me self aware of some still ongoing issues in the US such as discrimination and racism. I enjoyed learning about the book and it was an important story which helped me think more about my ethnicity and appreciate my family's background.