Discrimination In James Mcbride's The Color Of Water

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James McBride’s memoir The Color of Water shows the McBride family and their struggles dealing with discrimination. You soon realize that James does not live an ordinary life. With a step-father, eleven siblings, and a strong mother, you walk through James’s childhood and get a better understanding of both Ruth and James.
James’s biological father, Andrew McBride died while Ruth was still pregnant with James. Ruth remarried and James and her other children regarded their new strong and good-natured step-father as their father, calling him daddy. James and Hunter were very close, going on family road trips down South with Hunter’s brothers, Walter and Henry. But everything changes when Henry ends up having a stroke during James’s adolescence, putting him in the hospital. After coming home, Hunter decides to speak one-on-one with James which shows a rare moment between the two, a moment of love and expression. Hunter urges him to take good care of Ruth and his siblings. Two days later, he had a relapse and passes away. This has a major effect on James, leading to him dropping out of school and getting into illegal activity involving drug use. …show more content…
With dropping out of school, becoming addicted to drugs, and moving away, James does not know how to start over and take control of his life again. He acts with theft and violence, thinking he cannot be stopped. His mother then tells James it would be best for him to move home again. This took a toll on James and changed him for the better. He realized how low his lowest could be and he figured out what he wanted with his life. His mother and siblings really come to James’s rescue at his time of need, giving him a place to stay, feeding him, and getting him onto his own two feet again. He then rekindles his interest in music, taking a trip to Europe with a jazz band sponsored by a white couple named the Dawson’s who James had formally worked
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