• What experiences do you share with the characters?

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

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

  
  

  1. Some experiences that I share with the characters are like James asking questions to his mom that came from a completely different background, It reminds me of myself asking my mom how her life was when she was younger.

  2. My family is a little similar to Jame's family because of how they run their house the oldest was always telling the younger ones what to do and sharing things with each other.

  3. I learned about how poverty life was very different from the south and north, where in the north you were forced to buy all your things and in the south you could get your own resources.

• Social Class

• Race/Ethnicity

• Religion

• Education

• Culture

• Health

• Political Landscape

Religion is the biggest social issue in the chunk that we read. It is the biggest and most impactful because there were multiple chapters tilted about religion and Ruth talking about her religious background. There are multiple references to the Bible like the chapter Old Testament talking about life before Jesus Christ and what the Jewish people need to follow, this chapter is tilted that because it talked about Ruth's Jewish past and what she went through before converting to Christianity. The chapter after this one is called the New Testament referring to the life of Jesus Christ as the Messiah of the Israelite's and giving them a new way of life and gospels, this is significant because the chapter talked about the new life of Ruth after she left her family and was much happier she was at church and how she met a black preacher.

• 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?

  1. "What Color is God's spirit?" -- "It doesn't have a color" "God is the color of water" This quote is significant because it is the main idea of the book because James realizes that black people are unfairly treated by white people and asks what color of God was, then his mom said God is the color of water trying to tell him that the color of his skin doesn't matter.

  2. This quote stood out to me because his mom is trying to tell him that the color of his skin doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is how his spirit is.

1. Some recurring patterns in the book is how James mom talks about her Jewish past and how strict it was and how her abusive father treated her and that she never enjoyed being praying or reading the Torah. The effect was she met a preacher and converted to Christianity where she was much happier.

2. My values change after reading the texts because I realized that you don't know what a lot of people go through and how they got there like Ruth's journey to Christianity.

3. If this book was written in a different time period it would be a different experience for the readers. For example if people learned about a white woman that left her white Jewish family to marry a black preacher she would probably have gotten punished for it

Economic conditions determine the characters' lives by affecting the way that they live everyday and the choices they have to make. For example someone like Ruth that had no money when she went to New York was hesitant to make a choice about becoming a prostitute in Harlem to make more money. Another example is Ms Dawson that had a lot of money and was a "rich white woman" who was willing to help out James and others to go to Europe in exchange for house work.

• 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?

1. "I walked home sobbing in my cap and gown and caught a Greyhound bus for New York the very next day." During this Ruth was about to graduate from High School with her best friend Frances but couldn't go to the ceremony because it was in a Church and her parents did not want her in with the "gentiles"

2. This quote stood out to me because Ruth was going to go to the ceremony with her best friend despite being told not to so it would be one of the times where she would not listen to her father. When she was about to walk to the Church door she remembered what her father said and didn't walk through because in the inside she was still a Jew.

• Social Class

• Race/Ethnicity

• Religion

• Education

• Culture

• Health

• Political Landscape

In this chunk a big social issue was social class. Ruth talks about how she was raised with a father that had a lot of money but never wanted to spend it on his family making their life a lot harder making Ruth, her mother, and her siblings work more. This eventually led to Ruth wanting to sell her own body just to make a little more money when she moved to New York. James also shared how he worked for a old white woman to be able to travel to Europe. When he would work he worked for free because the white woman would pay for his trip, when working he saw how the rich people lived while being their waiters or cleaning up after them.

• What experiences do you share with the characters?

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

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

  
  

  1. I have nothing to relate to with James or Ruth in this chunk of the book but I can see how some people would be wanting to disobey their parents but then remembering what they said and feeling guilt last second would make them back out.

  2. My parents are very different from Ruth's father, they would rather me be happy being with who I want unlike Ruth and Peter.

  3. I learned that there are some people with strict religious parents who are like Ruth father that did not want her entering a Church. One experience I had with this is seeing someones relationship end with someone else after being told by their parents because she was Christian and not Jewish

• 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?

  1. "The boy in the mirror, he didn't seem to have an ache on his face. He was free" This was when James was looking in the mirror questioning who he is and saying how his reflection was free because he didn't have the problems he did.

  2. This quote stood out to me because James used his reflection to show that he wanted to be free because of the problems he had, today a lot of people experience what James had experienced.

• Social Class

• Race/Ethnicity

• Religion

• Education

• Culture

• Health

• Political Landscape

• What experiences do you share with the characters?

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

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

  
  

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1. The forces that are motivating the characters in this chunk are love and God. In the chapter Ruth talks about what her and her husband had to go through to just be together like the racist people that always criticized them, they didn't care though and they kept pushing despite being a interracial couple when it was seen as not normal. In the chunk Ruth also talks about her journey to Christianity and was very happy, she also talks about how she opened up a new Church with her husband and named it after Reverend Brown. When Dennis died Ruth was very depressed and sad, she would pray before Dennis died, when Dennis was sick then after he had passed, even one of their children said "Don't cry, Ma. Daddy's up in heaven." Love kept them pushing when they were together and God helped both Dennis and Ruth when they were down, especially Ruth.

• 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?

1. "Dennis almost starved himself to death fooling around with that music" (McBride 194) This quote is significant because Dennis loved music so much that he worked so hard to the point where it was like he was killing himself to became very good at it, unfortunately people looked down upon him despite being very good because he was black.

2. This quote stands out to me because it shows that sometimes even when you work really hard for something that you love and are passionate about you might not always expect the outcome you'd expect from something unexpected, like Dennis and racism getting in his way of becoming a successful musician.

• What experiences do you share with the characters?

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

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

  
  

  1. Some things that I relate to the characters are being determined like James father Dennis, Dennis was very passionate about music and wanted to do big things with it but never had the chance because of the color of his skin. Like Dennis I hope that one day my hard work pays off in or out of school.

  2. Like James family mine are willing to work hard for each other and love each other no matter what. Although sometimes there are arguments we will always be there for each other and care for each other.

  3. I learned how important people like Doctors didn't want to tell people what was happening to their loved ones because they were a bi racial couple.

The memoir "The Color of Water" by James McBride was a powerful book that talked about identify, race, God, and family. The book used a unique perspective by telling it in the perspective of James when he was growing up and his mother Ruth talking about her past life. My thoughts on the book was that it was very powerful and very emotional by the way James wrote it, he made it seem like the reader was there experiencing what was happening. The book talks how hard life was for both James and Ruth growing up and how determined Ruth was facing discrimination from everyone and James's challenges were with his identity. Out of all the books I have read so far I really enjoyed this book because I feel like I can kind of relate to it with the parents and sacrifice that they made, this book really made a impact on me changing my views, after reading this book I realized all of the sacrifices that my parents made and now I am planning on attending college and graduating because my parents never went to school and I would be the first one to graduate from college because my older brother couldn't.

“The man died without a penny, yet his children grew up to graduate from college, to become doctors, professors, teachers, and professionals.” (James McBride)

Proverbs 16:3 “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”