Color of Water Essay
No way. I spent all my life running from the South. Dont put me in the South.(260) Ruth has had a difficult life. Her life experiences result in her completely turning her life around. First, her own family abandons and leaves her. This causes her to find a new family: a family of Shvartses. Finally, she is driven into a whole other religion, a religion completely different and hated by her original family and self. In the novel The Color of Water, Ruths life was a contrast between her roots and the rest of her life.
Ruth first begins to change when she leaves for New York. See, they were done with me. When Jews say Kaddish, theyre not responsible for you anymore,(246). Ruth was abandoned. Her family wanted nothing to do with her because they had no use for her. She could no longer rely on her family for any form of support. When Ruth realizes this, she knows its time to change. She enters the world by herself. Ruths abandonment is what started the process of her changing her entire life.
After her family abandons her, Ruth goes looking for a new family: someone to love and support her, unlike her past family. She finds this in Dennis and his family. Thats why I never veered from the black side. I would have never even thought of marrying a white man,(247). Ruth finds a family completely different from her original one. First theyre black, Baptist Christians. Her family was Polish Jews, so for Ruth this is a considerable change. This family also shows her new things, like new foods, new ways of acting, and love. They dont eat Kosher, which is something Ruth has eaten her entire life. Also, this family shows Ruth love, something in short supply in the Shilsky family. All these things change Ruth. She learns to eat, act, and think differently. The McBride family changes Ruth.
After living a while in her new life and with her new family, Ruth decides to make the final, biggest, most blasphemous change: She converts from Judaism to become a goye. In 1942, a few months after my mother died, I told Dennis, I want to accept Jesus Christ into my life and join the Church,(235). Ruth here makes the final move of leaving her past. First, she has decided to abandon the final connection to her original family. She is escaping all the beliefs, opinions, and traditions of her roots. But not only is she leaving her family, she is leaving her people. She is cutting off almost 3000 years of tradition. Ruth has finally escaped her family at the cost of casting-off her people and traditions as a whole.
Ruth hated her roots. She hated her father and aunts. She hated them so much she left her kind mother and sister. Her family first leaves and abandons her when she goes to learn about the world. This causes her to find a new family, new views, and a new culture. After a while, she finalizes her escape by ending her connection to Judaism and joining Christianity. In the novel The Color of Water, Ruths life was a contrast between her roots and the rest of her life.
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