The Color Of Water Identity Analysis

Self-Identity The Color of Water is the story of James McBride as he grows up and finds himself through his mother, Ruth McBride. He was born to a white mother, Ruth, and a black father, Andrew Dennis McBride, with seven older siblings, all black. His father died early on and his mother remarried another black man, Hunter Jordan, and had four more black children before his stepfather died as well, leaving him with a white mother and eleven black siblings, making Ruth McBride the only white in the house. This often raises questions in the McBride/Jordan household, but these are usually met with vague answers. “When I asked her where she was from, she would say ‘God made me,’ and change the subject. When I asked her if she was white, she’d
Sam, the brother, we used to call him Sparky.....’ ” (McBride 207-208). The quest to find himself through his mother occupied James most of his early life, but once he had answers, he was able to start to form himself. He had always been adept at writing and was a talented saxophonist. He went on to write books, including The Color of Water, but before that he had several jobs in journalism, each short lived. He played saxophone and married Stephanie Payne. To find one’s self, one must discover one’s past. James had to uncover the details of his past for himself, through his mother. That was not easy, sohe had to form himself in some other way. He chose to form himself through music and writing, and used his mother’s past to enhance his understanding of himself. He learned that a person is not their past, but what they make oneself. Self-identity is not what one has been, but what one makes oneself. It is the parts of one's past that one chooses to take and make a part of oneself, plus the parts of oneself that one takes and develops into an identity. It is taking parts of one's mother, father, guardian, and everyone who has helped to raise that person, and putting them together to form an entirely different identity, an entirely