Post your reader responses here: Choose a line from the text and explain why it stands out to you. Does this line shock you, confuse you, or seem important in some way? Does it make you ask a question? Can you make a connection to your life or another text? What is this line saying about people, or the world, in general?Then, respond to someone else's post. Agree or disagree, but make sure that you add something new-- a new idea, a reference to another part of the book. Include textual evidence as you push the conversation forward. Ask more questions to keep the dialogue going...
page 27
ReplyDelete"I thought to myself, 'These people will kill Mommy'. Mommy, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned. Her motto was, 'If it doesn't involve your going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no whatever it is'".
This line stood out to me a lot because it introduces the tension between the two main characters about the subject race. James clearly shows innocence here, not knowing that his mom isn't going to be killed because of her color. He thinks she belongs in a whole different crowd, yet she raised twelve African-American children, basically belonging in this group. I wondered why the mom really ignores the topic, pushing away the question, and is so closed up. What's there to hide from her own children? Is she afraid of something? Something bigger than her only family?
I agree with you. I think she avoids the topic of race because she is either ashamed, or doesn't want to be looked at differently by her kids. I feel like she should sit her kids down and answer all of their questions because they are clearly very curious. Because of her resistance to this topic, I have the same question as you - is there something she's afraid of, other then her kids' judgements?
DeleteI agree, why doe she ignore the topic. I think because it has always been a negative part of here life and she does not want to involve her children, something that makes her happy. But it can also be very simple, it can just be something that she does not care and and isn't important to her. Hope as we read on we will get some more answers.
DeleteI have the same questions. Many times James' mother avoids the topic and closed up on her life. I think she is trying to show her kids but bigger the world that just because your race is different doesn't mean you can't live a happy and peaceful life together. Her friends after all are African-Americans. But then, that doesn't explain why she doesn't interact with her neighbors. Although, I admire how strong she is for being a single mother and raise twelve kids to become successful people in life.
DeleteThe quote "even my teachers seemed to know she was white and I wasn't" (page 23) caught my attention. It shows the innocence of James. It is obvious that his mother is white but he doesn't admit to knowing it. James probably doesn't want to admit that he knows his mother is white. He could be ashamed of her skin color due to the fact that the majority of people around James are black. He could also be ashamed because he thinks she doesn't look anything like him and his siblings. If James is ashamed, it is surprising. He is really young to be ashamed of his family and their background. It makes me think that people question him all the time about his mother's race.
ReplyDeleteI agree that James is ashamed of his mother, he even says in chapter 2, he wishes she would go out riding that old bike because he didn't want his friends to see. In a way though, I think he admires her for being so brave and fearless, and also for not caring about being judged.
DeleteKatya
I don't think he is ashamed but more so, he is worried about his mother because as you go on to the end of chapter 4 he seems to want to protect his mother at all tims because he knows she is different. He doesnt want to loose her and thats why he hits the son of the Black Panther in the bus because he is scared someone will harm her
Delete" If it doesn't involve your going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no whatever it is."
ReplyDeleteI picked this quote because it made me unsure about the real reason why the mom is so private. At first I thought that she had this possibly terrible thing happen to her regarding the situation. But the fact that she does not show any emotion when asked a question about it, she just ignores it or says none of your business makes me question is she just semi heartless and does not want to talking about it? What do you guys think?
I disagree, honestly. I think that McBride's mother is this way because she's endured a rough childhood, and even more-so an adulthood, and thus she doesn't want her children enduring such a phase. I think that she's grown to be very strict and hard on her children because she wants to make sure that they don't experience the comments and remarks that she had to. By saying that she could care less about anything that doesn't regard her children's school and church, McBride is hinting at the fact that his mother completely blocks out the public's opinion. In this way, I personally have great respect for her.
DeleteDo you think that her strategy will work? What I mean is, do you think that by not talking about race, her kids will agree that race is not important? Will they cease pondering their identity? Is avoiding a topic ever the right course of action?
DeleteKatya Bakal-Schlomann
ReplyDeleteThese chapters bring out what will probably be a main theme in the book: fear. In chapter 3, Mommy's father scares her by threatening her "I can send you back to Europe anytime I want," (p.16) where she would probably have been killed. Later, after James and his mother were mugged, he realized "Mommy was always in danger." (p.34) James' fear for his mother grew, but Mommy seemed fine, as if she'd already lived life in enough fear back with her white family, and had overcome fear. As James left to camp for the first time he was fine until "[he] panicked. A Black Panther? Next to Mommy? It was a worst nightmare come true."He punched the son of the Black Panther in a panic. These quotes show you have fear for yourself when you know the outcome for yourself will be negative, and you have fear for others when you know something bad could easily happen to someone you truly love and care about, and only can think about them; not yourself.
I definitely agree with you- i think that fear is going to be one of the most important themes in the book, especially because it can be connected to so many quotes and sub-themes.
Delete"You don't need money. What's money if your mind is empty! Educate your mind! Is this world crazy or am I the crazy one? It's probably me."
ReplyDeleteI found this really interesting because, this lady, Jame's mother is a very interesting person. Having 12 kids, I'd have thought that they would need as much money as possible to be able to live and yet here she is saying that education is more important. Yes, you need a decent education to get money but with 12 kids, I would think this is more of a "living in the moment" situation instead of a plan ahead and earn type of thing. And I don't think the mother is crazy, just her views are very different than others.
I agree with you. James' mom is really unique, and string for encouraging her children to pursue education and not just money. She is in somewhat similar circumstances to Frank McCourt's mom in Angela's Ashes, but I think she rises to the occasion better. I don't think she would crumble at the death of her children the way Angela did because Ruth has already had so much prejudice and hardship to deal with. She would keep fighting for her other kids and not put up with a husband who was controlling like her father.
DeleteIn a way I agree with you but I do think that because she has so many kids and the situation they are in she knows that with money it only going to buy something and not help you later in life. she is a wise women she wants her kids to understand money isnt everything but with an education you will earn money the right way and no one will disrespect you for being black.
Delete"So you're my real mother?" Pg 24
ReplyDeleteThis line stood out to me because even though James's mom has assured him that she is in fact his biological mother he still has doubts. I think he has doubts because she is white and he is black and back in that time period whites and blacks didn't mix. I think he believes his brother when he says he is adopted because he sees that him and his mom look nothing alike. It kind of annoys me how people were back then and how everything was segregated, everyone should be allowed to be with who they want to be with and race, religion etc. should not matter.
I definitely agree with you, this also goes back to his identity and how he feels and how he envisions himself.
Delete"Like you had your dairy meals and your meat meals. So you eat all dairy one meal and all meat the next. No mixing it up." pg. 17
ReplyDeleteThis line stood out to me because it seems as if it reflects most people's views on race and interracial marriage at the time. In James' mom's Orthodox Jewish childhood, no mixing was permitted-of milk and meat or black and white. I think the symbolism is really clear, dairy products tend to be lighter and meat to be dark. If this concept of keeping kosher was imbedded in James' mom's mind since childhood, she must have been extremely bold to rebel against her tradition and family. By marrying a black man she was "mixing it up," a sin in her parents' eyes.
Wow, Francesca! What a smart observation. I've read this book many times and never thought about her family's kosher traditions in that way. Nice work!
Delete"I knew of no other white woman who would board the subway in Manhattan at one o’clock every morning and fall asleep till she got to her stop in Queens forty-five minutes later. Often I could not sleep until I heard her key hit the door."
ReplyDeleteI choose this quote because it really shows the relationship between the boy and the mother and illustrates how strong it is even thought there are twelve other children the mother has to look out for. Because the mom had a lack of fear for her surroundings and seemed to be unaware how much danger she is in, it made James McBride want to worry for her. This quote also shows how separated James' mom was to the rest of the community, thought she didm't care anyways. James felt scared for her and thought she was too much of an outcast because she was white. I wonder why the mom doesn't worry at all about her safety, and since she isn't safe where she is, why doesn't she leave?
I agree. I think that another example is when he is afraid that she will be hurt by the black panther member. He is afraid for her, because she clearly doesn't fit in with the society she lives in, causing him to worry constantly about her.
DeleteGreat question and response, guys. Why do you think that Ruth cares so little for her own safety? What do you think is her perspective on crime or racial profiling?
Delete“’Because your own parents didn’t love you, did they’. ‘My own parents loved me’. ‘Then where are they?’… ‘No more questions to tonight’” (24).
ReplyDeleteSo far in the Color of Water, the reader can see that the mom is very closed off from her past and hates to discuss it. This is because of her detachment from her family. This quote shows she still seems to have not moved on from her family. Another reason the mom doesn’t discuss her past is because she wants to protect her children from her own childhood. She doesn’t want her children to base what their childhood should be like off of hers. That is why she stopped James from asking questions about her parents.
Ngan Trac
ReplyDelete"Why do you ask so many questions?" page 24
I remember once I heard someone said that when a kid asks many questions, it means that she or he is curious of how things work and the more questions you ask the more you learn. When I was a kid, I asked many questions and everyone was so annoyed by it. The truth is sometimes, people don't have the answer to your questions and so they avoid the question and change the subject by questioning you instead. They don't want to admit the fact that they don't have the answer to your question. This could be both a good and bad thing. In front of children, adults are supposed to be the role models to ensure the children but at the same time, you're telling the kids that everything has an answer behind it when sometimes things are just the way they are with no other explanation. I think being olders, we're in a way telling lies to little innocent childrens whether intentionally or not.
I agree too, and I also see a connection. Like Color of Water, Angelas Ashes has a similar topic. Both books have adults not telling kids the truth and telling them to do what they are told without questions. Maybe they do this because the kids aren't ready or old enough for the truth but either way the children in each of the books are being rejected knowledge.
Delete“I always remembered that, and that's why I think that's why I'm claustrophobic today, because I didn't know what death was. You know my family didn't talk of death.” page 18
ReplyDeleteI chose this quote because it's a point where Jame's mother relates something in her life back to how her family raised her. Throughout the past few chapters we realize that his mother wanted her old self dead. I've been wondering why she ran away from her family and what her life was like and if it affected her. In this quote, she states a fear/problem she faces today, (well present time back then), which is serious, goes back to how her parents raised her and what and who her religion and community were like
Hi Grace! I agree with you. Obviously, James' mother didn't have a great childhood. So, maybe that's the answer to the questions of why she wanted old self dead so she could be who she is and also why she doesn't like to be asked many questions about her background and etc.
Delete"When I asked her if she was white, she'd say, 'No, I'm light-skinned,' and change the subject again."
ReplyDeletePage 29
This quote from The Color Of Water stands out to me because it shows that James' mother wants to protect him, so he won't feel like he is inferior than her because he has a darker skin. So, she tells him that she is not white, and that she is "light skinned" just so he will think that they are all the same. She changes the subject very often, so he won't ask questions. I think the fact that she hates questions is because she doesn't like mentioning her business to no one, and she is a very mysterious lady. So, I guess she is trying to protect her kids from knowing her past for their benefits. Maybe she is hiding something important that would change their lives or maybe she just has trust issues.
Ana Fonseca
"She insisted on absolute privacy, excellent school grades, and trusted no outsiders of either race." -Page 27.
ReplyDeleteThrough this quote, I think McBride describes his mother in a manner that gives the reader an insight on who she really is. Because her life was the the last thing from private, I think that's something she wishes she had. Thus, she wants to make sure that now, being that she is the 'chief' in the house, everything will remain private in regards to the family matters. As well as this, she wants her children to be well educated so that no one's words will affect them, and hence they shouldn't trust outsiders. I also chose this quote because I feel as though McBride's mother is a duplicate of mine. Not in the sense of their life story's, but the basic principles McBride's mother makes clear to her children, my mother embeds into my mind every waking moment.
"when i was a boy, i used to wonder where my mother came from, how she got on this earth. when i asked her where she was from, she would say, god made me, and change the subject."-page 21
ReplyDeleteI think that this is showing how his mother tried to conceal curiosity amongst her children for their individual benefit. It's as if the mother was trying to hide her identity from her children and the rest of the family to make life seem better than it really is. Having to raise 12 children is a very difficult job and it requires a lot of focus and i think that the mother is merely trying to get these kids off here case for their own benefit. To hide your personality and life from the world is basically saying that you do not want to be apart of it. Clearly, the mother is not a very open person which would be likely if she experienced a lot of pain throughout the course of her life.
I agree with you, that James' mother is trying to keep her life from her children to benefit them. She is hiding her personality and life from everyone, clearly showing she doesn't want to be a part of it. This leaves me wondering what led to her being so closed off to the world. Did it have to do with her childhood or her family?
DeleteI agree with you, it seems that his mother is trying to protect each of them individually and although it's recognizable that they aren't the same race. She doesn't want her children to think they're different. It seems that she was also fearful due to the fact that her children are growing up and continue to question her.
Delete"You don't know anything about kosher. You think it's a halvah candy bar. You need to read up on it because I ain't no expert. They got folks who write whole books about it, go find them and ask them! Or read the Bible! Shoot! Who am I? I ain't nobody! I can't be telling the world this! I don't know!" (page 17)
ReplyDeleteThis quote stood out to me because it shows how James' mother wants to detach herself from her past. She claims she doesn't know anything about keeping kosher, although she also says she kept a kosher home when she was younger. Also, she seems to get offensive quickly in this quote. She uses exclamation points to emphasize that she doesn't know anything about being kosher and other people know better than she does. I think she is doing this because she wants to leave her past behind. In the first chapters, she wrote that the name she was originally born with died, and I think this quote has to do with that. She doesn't want to talk about her past, and she doesn't seem to like it either, so in this quote, saying that she doesn't know about a way her family kept the house in her childhood, shows she doesn't want to have that same life anymore.
"That's why I tell y'all to make sure I'm dead when I die......scare me to death"
ReplyDeleteThis quote shows me a different persoective about the mother. As the author described her at the beginning he made her seem like a very strong and not scared of much type of women, but this was able to show us that she is also scared and a human being. She seems to be scared of death because as a child she was never able to question anything about the world and her experience with her grandfather seemed to have impacted her. When people go through a harsh death experience they seemed to be scarred by it and its hard to think about death and where you go after you die, I could iunderstand because as a kid my great grandmother died and it was hard to process that and what happens to you after you die. It shows different point of view of the mother that I hope to explore more throughout the novel.
"I thought to myself, 'These people will kill Mommy'. Mommy, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned. Her motto was, 'If it doesn't involve you’re going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no whatever it is'". (Page 27)
ReplyDeleteHis mother seems to be very strong and because of this she does not fear black women because she has lived with them and she has had two black husbands. On the other hand James is scared because he see them looking at her in a way that seems to put her in harm. That is why he hits the boy in the face. He loves his mom dearly and wants to protect her from the black people. She has to keep him high up so that he can believe that he is not low class and he must have his head held up.
"Who am I? I ain't nobody! I can't be telling the world like this! I don't know!" pg17
ReplyDeleteThis quote stood out to me because it showed me how the mother feels about her religion and being a part of social standards. What I picked up from this quote was that the mom is pretty antisocial which is could be why she doesn't like revealing a lot about her personal life, such as background information and heritage. This quote also stood out to me because the mother seems very aggressive about not wanting to explain Kosher.
Matt Baldwin
DeleteIt seems like everyone has the same ideas about how the mom is concealing her past from the kids. I agree with your post.
"I wanted to ask someone, "Suppose Zaydeh isn't dead? Suppose he's joking and wakes up to find out he's buried?" But a child in my family didn't ask questions. You did what you were told" (Page 18)
ReplyDeleteThis quote stood out to me because it reminded me of Frank McCourt from the novel Angela's Ashes and how he didn't have freedom of speech in his household, it was clearly an adult dominated society in both terms. What also caught my attention was that both James' mother and McCourt had strong religious views within their families. In my opinion the rules and obligations required to their religion has a lot to due on why they aren't able to speak out their mind, fear of something being said wrong.
I agree with you and I like your connection with Angela's Ashes. It's a great similarity that they were both not allowed to ask questions and their religion was important in their families.
Delete"You don't know anything about kosher. You think it's a halvah candy bar. You need to read up on it because I ain't no expert."
ReplyDeleteThis line stood out to me because it shows how James' mother wants to get away from her past and childhood. By saying that she "aint no expert", it shows that she hasn't really paid attention to it (at least not in a very positive way). She wants to get away from it, but she also wants other people to learn more about it at the same time so they won't make fun of it or say something judgmental that isn't true. This connects to one of the questions from class today- his mother seems to like to hide things from everybody, because she thinks that might help her (and them) move on and forget things from the past.
I agree, I think that his mother is trying to find a balance between forgetting the past and learning from it. She doesn't like to talk about herself, but she also doesn't want her children to be ignorant of her culture. I think that one of the big themes in the book will be her struggle to bury her past and keep it from repeating at the same time.
Delete"Yet conflict was a part of our lives, written into our very faces, hands, and arms, and to see how contradiction lived and survived in its essence, we had to look no farther than our own mother." (Page 29)
ReplyDeleteThis shows the way their life was and how their mother's beliefs were always contradicting. She was a white woman who had black kids and was often insulted but she didn't care. She thought white folks were evil to blacks but she forces her kids to go to white schools. She didn't like people with money but was always needing it. She never signed up for welfare but championed those who took advantage of it. It depicts how her beliefs go against each other. I think these contradictions are part of their problems because it's hard to live in a neighborhood with black people and be the only white person there. There was differentiation between the colors and this would have caused it to be harder on their mother.
"'My mother died many, many, years ago," she said. "My father, he was a fox. No more questions tonight."'(24-25)
ReplyDeleteThe mom is trying to hide her identity as much as possible from her children. I think this is smart but she's making it blatantly obvious that she is hiding something from the children. She obviously has a past too harsh to tell a young kindergardener. She told James "no more questions" right after a statement that probably sparked many questions in the young child's mind.
I agree with you when you say "(McBride's mother) obviously has a past too harsh to tell a young kindergardener." If her past was too harsh, than why would she describe her father as a fox? Foxes are usually clever, why would her father be clever? Why would she be hiding information about her father, the fox? These are questions that must be answered later in the book.
Delete"Her motto was, 'If it doesn't involve your going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no whatever it is'".
ReplyDeleteThis popped out at me because it illustrated how much the children where the center of the mother's life. To her, James and his siblings are the only things that matter. Her entire life is centered around making the lives of those kids as good as possible. I think that this is a clue that something horrible happened to that made her stop caring about herself. I think this is why she does't want to talk about herself at all, she genuinely feels that her life is unimportant.
I agree however the quote also says she believes religion is important. If her childhood was so awful that she rarely reveals anything about it and she changed her religion, the reader can tell that her childhood was far from perfect.
Delete"When I asked her if she was white, she'd say , 'No I'm light skinned,' and change the subject" (p.21)
ReplyDeleteThis quote stood out to me because it raises the question, why is his mother avoiding answering the question about her skin color? I think this is because she is protecting her children by shielding them from racism that existed in the world. Also, she doesn't want her kids to think she is different because she wants them to fit in. She doesn't want to be different either. This connects to people in the world, and the lengths people will got to in order to be socially accepted and protect their children. Also, like Frank McCourt's memoir, when children ask questions, often times adults don't want to explain the answers because they may be too complicated. This is an example of that because McBride's mother doesn't want to explain the difficulties involving race in that time period.
"I wanted to ask someone, "Suppose Zaydeh isn't dead? Suppose he's joking and wakes up to find out he's buried?" But a child in my family didn't ask questions. You did what you were told" (Page 18)
ReplyDeleteThis line reminded me of a story I'd read when I was in elementery school. It was about these grave robbers in a cemetary at night. They dig up a relatively new corpse with a wedding band on her finger, when they are in the process of removing the ring from the corpse's finger, she suddenly wakes up, the robbers flee and scream in terror. The corpse shrugs and walks home.
A afterword states that the character was in a coma and accidently buried alive. The time the story takes place hadn't developed extensive coma research, so although I could not find an incident in which a comatose victim had actually "risen from the dead", many people who were mistakenly pronounced dead might've come back if they were in today's hospitals.
This was a common fear at this time.
Matthew Baldwin
ReplyDelete"We traded information on Mommy the way people trade baseball cards at a trade show..." Pg. 21
In the book, The Color of Water, the author really wants us to be curious about the moms past life, even tho he gives us more chunks of it every other chapter. The mom is really secretive about her own life and doesn't want to share it with the kids for there own safety. the narrator only learned his mom's whole story when he was 14. in chapter 4, James doesn't even know enough about his own mom to believe his brothers that say he is adopted. James as a kid gets a lot of alone time with his mom, on the walks to school and when she gets home at night. this lets us see more of what she does, but so far she is not will to tell James as a kid her full, and real childhood story.
“When Malcolm X talked about the White Devil, Mommy simply felt those references didn’t apply to her. She viewed the civil rights achievements of black Americas with pride, as if they were her own.”
ReplyDeleteThis quote really stuck out to me because it seems like James’ “mommy” is having a sort of identity crisis of her own. Through the first few chapters from James’ perspective that we have read, he has not really been talking about himself struggling to find who he is, but worrying about his mother finding who she is. In the different books, short stories, and projects we have worked on, it has been mainly focused on a person, either us or the protagonist of a story we read, trying the find out their identity. But in this book, we see the struggle of a white woman feeling more identified with an African American community. In this quote, James McBride talks about the civil rights movement and the Black Panthers. The civil rights movement, as we all know, was about people of color trying to be accepted into the community, and to stop racism. Because she is white, she does not need to worry about racism, but because she still identifies with a colored community, she still feels accomplishment when the civil rights movement progresses.
Sorry i posted late, i didn't see the homework assignment on the portal until today.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete"My father taught me," he said proudly. "He's a black panther."
ReplyDeletethis quote shows me (even though we don't know that much about them) that the black panthers were black revolutionary group at that time completely involved and engaged with the civil rights movement. Though James is scared about the black panther standing next to his mother. This is probably because of how he was raised. He was raised so that he couldn't share his business with anybody. He also could not trust anybody and that was for either race. Though i think it's really because of the setting that he grew up in. He lived in a very bad neighborhood that was mainly a black neighborhood, and a while back there was that man that stole his mother's purse. Also throughout the story he expresses that she was like an ideal target for muggers being a white woman in a black neighborhood.
"We traded information on mommy the way people trade baseball cards at a trade show"
ReplyDelete- This is a very clever line. It means to pull the reader deeper into the story and does. It shows how interested these characters are in learning more about Ruth and her past. How fascinated they are by her because she's such a big part of their lives yet she's hidden from them. It creates such a fascination to a point where, whatever information they already have of her, they cherish. They cherish it by using it to the fullest, trading it like "baseball cards" which in turn makes the reader just as fascinated, making US wanting to find out more about Ruth, creating a connection between us and the characters with our questions, our emotions, which makes us want to read more and more. The line is not what it appears to be on the surface, and can have a very big affect on you if you take it seriously. I did.