Name ____________________________________________________________________
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
Period _________
Mr. Demmers
by James McBride
Study Guide Directions – Complete each chapter as they are assigned. Use a separate sheet of loose leaf.
Chapter 1: Dead
1. Where and when was the narrator of this chapter born? What is her attitude toward her family?
2. What name did the narrator use when she came to America? When did she get rid of that name? Why?
3. What did the narrator’s family do when she got married?
4. What was the narrator’s father’s name? What did they call him? What was his occupation?
5. Describe Tateh’s appearance and personality.
6. What simile is used to describe Tateh at the end of Chapter 1?
7. Describe the mother. What was her name? Where was she from?
Chapter 2: The Bicycle
1. What are the names of James’ biological father and step-father?
2. Explain what McBride meant by his mothers’ bicycle riding, “typified her whole existence to me.”
3. What was mom an expert in? What issues did she avoid? What is Yiddish?
4. What was the first time James was alone with his mother?
5. The statement, “that memory blinked like a distant fog light in a stormy sea and it drowned my panic,”
is an example of?
Chapter 3: Kosher
1. What is a rov? Whose marriage was arranged?
2. Describe Ruth’s mother’s experience in Poland.
3. Describe the meals at Zaydeh and Bubeh’s?
4. When did the Sabbath begin and end? What were they allowed to do? Why was this hard for Ruth?
5. What does it mean when Ruth’s family “sat shiva” for her deceased grandfather?
6. Why is Ruth claustrophobic?
Chapter 4: Black Power
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What really bothered James about his mother?
What information was given to James about his maternal grandparents and his paternal grandparents?
What was happening in 1966? Who was murdered?
Why is James so conflicted about Black Power?
What did James’ father value? What did James’ parents believe would raise them out of poverty?
What was James’ mother’s view of Malcolm X?
Why is Ruth in constant danger?
What scared James at the end of Chapter 4 as his Fresh Air Fund bus was leaving? What did he do?
Chapter 5: The Old Testament
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
What did James’ grandfather do for a living?
Why did his mom’s family move so much?
What did Tateh decide to do in Suffolk?
What was the relationship like between Ruth’s parents?
What horrible thing did Tateh do to Ruth as a child? How did she feel about him?
How did James’ father change Ruth’s life?
Chapter 6: The New Testament
1. Who was the Reverend at their church? What did the Reverend struggle with?
2. James said the big mamas in church who were gentile would “burst out of their seats like Pittsburgh
Steelers linebackers.” What literary element is this? What is the purpose of using this language?
3. What did Mrs. McBride do in church that she never did anywhere else? Why?
4. According to Mrs. Jordan, what color was God?
5. How did Richie deal with his race confusion?
Chapter 7: Sam
1. When Ruth was young in Suffolk, who rode into town?
2. Why will Ruth never let her children play with guns?
3. What did the black people buy from Tateh’s store for ailments? What did it contain?
4. What observation did Ruth make about Tateh’s view of black people and money?
5. What did Sam do and what happened to him?
6. How did Ruth’s aunt treat her?
Chapter 8: Brothers and Sisters
1. Describe James’ house, for example, the food and the cleanliness?
2. What literary element is illustrated by, “Bored doctors slammed needles into our butts like we were on a
GMC assembly line.”
3. Who is Dennis? What was he like and what was he going to be?
4. Who was Helen? Describe her views of whites and the civil rights movement? What did she decide to do?
5. Describe Rosetta.
6. What literary element is illustrated by, “guilt settled on us like rain clouds.”
Chapter 9: Shul
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is a “Shul?” Did Ruth go to one?
Why was Ruth not allowed to play with Frances?
Where would Frances and Ruth talk?
What was Ruth starving for?
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
Chapter 10: School
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
What was Mrs. Jordan’s goal for education?
What happened to James at school? What did he do about it?
How did James escape from his painful reality?
What term did James ask his mother about? What was her reaction?
What did Ruth create that started to come crashing down?
What happened to Richie? What is ironic about the situation?
Why was Ruth removed from her family?
How did James feel about his mom being white?
What did James do in front of his class? How did it make him feel?
Chapter 11: Boys
1.
2.
3.
4.
Who did Ruth fall in love with? How would her father have felt?
What would crab nets bring in?
What did Ruth discover?
Who was the only white person who knew Ruth was pregnant?
Chapter 12: Daddy
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
How did Mr. Hunter Jordan treat the “baseball team”? What did he buy?
Describe Hunter Jordan?
What was the incident with James’ uncle?
What was Jordan Hunters’ motto?
How old was James at the time?
Which medial issue did James’ step-father have?
What happened to James’ step-father in the end?
Chapter 13: New York
1.
2.
3.
4.
Where did Mameh send Ruth and why?
What did Ruth think of NYC?
Who was the only one of Ruth’s family that loved her?
What did Aunt Betts do about Ruth’s pregnancy?
Chapter14: Chicken Man
1. How did James change at the age of 14?
2. What illegal things did James and his friends do?
3. What did James and his friends do for money?
4. What did James do to cover his pain?
5. Who was James going to stay with?
6. Why did James like being on the corner?
7. What happened to Chicken Man?
by James McBride
Chapter 15: Graduation
1. What did Ruth discover about Peter when she returned to Suffolk?
2. What did Ruth lose when she left home?
3. What did Ruth want from Tateh?
4. Why didn’t Ruth enter the church?
5. What did Ruth do after graduation?
Chapter 16: Driving
1. What did Ma want James to help her do?
2. What did James resolve to do? Was he successful?
3. What was James addicted to?
4. What death further pushed Ruth into a depressed state?
5. Who was Ruth’s salvation?
6. What was ironic about Ruth’s driving?
Chapter 17: Lost in Harlem
1.
2.
3.
4.
Who did Ruth work for? What did she ignore?
Who was hired at the leather factory?
Why did movie theaters turn Ruth down for employment?
What kind of work did Ruth almost do? Who was Rocky?
Chapter 18: Lost in Delaware
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Where did the McBride family move?
What did they discover about race relations in Wilmington?
What did James give up weed and drinking for?
Where did James start working on weekends and summers?
Instead of anger toward rich white people, what did James feel?
Explain the statement, “Sometimes it seemed like the truth was a bandy-legged soul who dashed from
one side of the world to the other and I could never find him.”
7. Where did James get accepted to college? How did Ruth react?
Chapter 19: The Promise
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5.
6.
What year did Dennis introduce Ruth to his family? How did they react to the interracial relationship?
Who was Dennis’ favorite aunt? What did she do after his death?
Why did Ruth return to Suffolk?
In the south, how was a man allowed to treat his wife?
Why did Tateh want a divorce from Ruth’s mother?
What promise did Ruth make to Dee-Dee? Did she keep her promise?
The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother
by James McBride
Chapter 20: Old Man Shilsky
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
What year is it at the beginning of this chapter?
What is James doing for work?
Why is James going to Suffolk?
What did James discover his mothers’ name used to be?
What did James learn about his grandfather?
Chapter 21: A Bird Who Flies
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
In what year did Bubeh die? How did Ruth and her family find out?
What happened between Ruth and Tateh as she was leaving?
What did Mameh pack in Ruth’s lunch?
What did Aunt May tell Ruth about Mameh?
What happened to Mameh?
What did Ruth do to deal with Mameh’s death?
Chapter 22: A Jew Discovered
1. Why is James in Suffolk?
2. Why did James not bother finding Dee-Dee?
3. Why did James want to see the synagogue?
4. Consider the statement, “The news of Mommy’s marriage crashed through the Jewish community like an
earthquake.” What literary element is this?
5. Who did James talk to in Suffolk?
6. What prevented James from getting the picture of the “old store”?
7. Which literary element is illustrated in, ”His words sliced through my memory like raindrops.”?
Chapter 23: Dennis
1.
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3.
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6.
7.
8.
What year is Ruth referring to?
Explain the incident Ruth describes involving a neighbor.
What happened on 105th Street?
What were Ruth’s glory years?
What things did Dennis value?
When was the only time Ruth traveled south with Dennis? Why?
Describe the apartment that James lived in.
What is ironic about Ruth’s statement, “We lived in that one room for nine years, and those nine years
were the happiest years of my life.”?
9. Who is Lily? What did Ruth have in common with her?
10. Consider this statement, “They just dropped like eggs and we loved having them.” What is she referring
to and what literary element is this?
11. What happened to Reverend McBride during this time? When did Reverend McBride die?
12. How old was Ruth when her husband died? How long had they been together?
13. As Ruth looked for help from her Jewish family, how did Aunt Betts react? How did Gladys react?
14. In Ruth’s opinion, what did God send her after Reverend McBride’s’ death?
Chapter 24: New Brown
1. What were they celebrating that day?
2. Although Reverend McBride didn’t leave money to his family, what “groundwork” did he leave?
3. How did the new Reverend of New Brown treat Mrs. McBride?
4. Explain the literary element that is illustrated by, “Her memory was like a minefield.”
5. How old was Ruth at this gala?
6. Who is Bob? Who was he similar to and in what way?
7. In Ruth’s opinion, what is a waste of God’s time?
Chapter 25: Finding Ruthie
1. Where does Ruth McBride live? What are they now discussing?
2. What did the “fancy doctor” remove from Ruth’s face? How did she feel about this? Why was this ironic?
3. As a young man, why did James think he was in the clear after high school? Why was Oberlin college
“cake”?
4. By this point in his life, what had James discovered about race and religion, for example, blacks, whites,
and Jewish people?
5. What higher education degrees does James have? What media outlets did James work for?
6. Who was James’ college sweetheart and what happened to them?
7. What would James do when he quit a job and wasn’t working in journalism? What award did he win?
8. When did James first seriously broach the subject of his mother’s past with her?
9. What did the Mother’s Day piece turn into?
10. What had Ruth done with her past? How did James feel about it?
11. What did Ruth accomplish at the age of 65?
12. How did Ruth face the ghosts of her past?
13. How had Frances crossed the line in 1940?
14. What were some of the accomplishments of Ruth’s children?
15. What did Ruth create in running from her past?