"She pushed me away from her just as she'd pushed my elder sibling away when we lived in New York, lterally shoving them out the front door when they left for college. She would not hear of it when they applied to schools that were near home...'Go away and learn to live on your own.'" (McBride 190).
James McBride's "The Color of Water" is such an extraordinary tale, because of the absolute struggle that his mother goes through. We can not tell what is going through her mind, but by her extraordinary power and skill as a mother, she overcomes so many obstacles in her life, simply for being a "light-skinned" jew. Her children are absolutely aware of the domination that his mother possesses, and it is absolutely amazing to see a story to which the woman in a story is an extremely dominant character. Yes, this is a memoir, but this is also a tribute to an incredible central character who is a woman. I particularly loved the last scene which had everyone say that they wanted to see a movie, and when James's mother wanted to eat, everyone else (almost magically) changed their mind to eat. "Now that's what you call power" (McBride 278). She pushes her children out of the house, but I also feel that when they needed her, she was available. She is one of the strongest characters I have ever seen.
Posted by The Gentle Giant at May 3, 2006 05:23 PMI agree, that scene does a great job of showing rather than telling readers about his mother's power and the role she played in her family.
Posted by: ChrisU at May 3, 2006 10:17 PM