Purpose of the Color of Water

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Throughout The Color of Water, James McBride reveals the purpose behind the story. He wishes to give tribute to his unique and determined mother, while also describing how his mixed background affected his life. McBride worked his message into The Color of Water in many ways, with one of the most prevalent being the organization of the story. At the beginning of each chapter, his mother’s story is told from her point of view. The second portion of the chapter is McBride’s story, which includes both insight into his mother and also his mixed racial and cultural ways. He wrote The Color of Water in chronological order to enhance the reader’s awareness of McBride’s, his mother’s, and his family’s growth and development. The dedication of The Color of Water reads, “I wrote this book for my mother, and her mother, and mothers everywhere,”. Throughout, McBride shares how his unique mother faced many struggles throughout her life. Although she was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family, she married a black man, and then went on the raise all her children as Christians. Although facing adversity for these reasons, James McBride and his siblings still became successful, mostly because of the strength his mother provided for his family. All of the McBride children were put through college by his mother, even though they often struggled with finances. McBride tells how certain events in his everyday life and his background shaped and molded him into who he is today. I believe that in writing this book, McBride is establishing the fact that he is very proud of his success and how his mother was key in helping him accomplish it, but most of all, proud of his mother for being who she was. In order to convey his theme and purpose for The Color of Water, McBride had to utilize a distinctive organization. In each chapter, there are two parts. The first is about his mother’s life

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