Water in The Color Of Water Essay

God is Water

God is the color of water. Water doesnt have a color. In James McBrides memoir The Color of Water James McBride, as a young black child, questions what color God really is. His white mother, Ruth McBride Jordan, finds this question irritating and does not want her children concerned with a persons race but rather with their education and being close to God.

James is not only concerned about Gods race but Gods feelings towards blacks and whites, maybe God liked black people better. He first wonders where his mother came from, on the count of their different skin colors, but when he asks, her response is a straightforward God made me, and goes on to change the subject effortlessly. He then notices his mother getting very emotional at church; his first thought is that she desires to be black like everyone else in church because God likes the black race more. He first asks his mom does he [God] like black or white people better? she answers, He loves all people. Hes a spirit, he then asks What color is Gods spirit? in response she gives him the untimely answer God is the color of water. McBride later acknowledges, The question of race was like the power of the moon in my house. Its what made the river flow, the ocean swell, and the tide rise, but it was a silent power, intractable, indomitable, indisputable, and thus completely ignorable. It is actually quaint because the answer his mother gives him relates to the previously stated quote. Water can be anywhere from mesmerizing teal to crystal clear. It has millions of colors. Her answer that God is the color of water proves the point that not every person will be the same color. There are as many shades of whites and blacks as there are colors of water, and God accepts and loves every single color equally

While James is concerned with race, Ruth is concerned with meticulously creating a world unlike the outside. Whatever questions the children have about the outside world her motto of if it doesnt involve your going to school or church, I could care less about it and my answer is no whatever it is comes into play. Her biggest struggle is keeping her children away from the outside world, where racism plays a huge role. She knows, from first hand, how others perceive them from remarks like look at that white bitch and nigger lover. Her answer God is the color of water is imperative for her because ever since the love of God was introduced to her she has had someone to help her. McBride recalls, How her Christian principles and trust in God kept her going through all her lifes battles. Ruth knows the struggles of growing up always being the victim of racism, I know what it feels like when people laugh at you walking down the streetor just look at you with hate in their eyes. She strives to keep this world from her children but she knows, eventually, they will enter this world so her only hope is that the love of God is present in them as much as it is in her.

As like any mother, Ruth wants her children to succeed and without the struggles she endured. The only way she knows this will happen is if they have God as a friend and a mentor. This is the world she perfectly created for them, which still overpowers this frenzied and overwhelming outside world we all live in.