The Color of Water Study Guide Questions

1. Ruth McBride was a member of what religion growing up?

What changed about this?

2. How many siblings does James McBride have and what

number of child is he?

3. What was different about Ruth McBride compared to other

mothers of the familys neighborhood? Give 2 examples.

4. Name 3 rules or life lessons that Ruth taught her children to

live by. (Example: Dont tell nobody your business.)

5. Describe Ruths view of her parents in a few sentences.

6. How does Ruth respond when James asks her what color God
is? Why is this important?

7. Compare how Ruth views the African American people versus

her own Jewish family growing up.

8. James talks about Dennis and Helen, two of his older siblings
who have a big impact on the family. How are Dennis and
Helen different from each other?

9. Explain Ruths view of being poor when she was growing

up. Was this good or bad?

10.
Ruth sends her children to predominantly Jewish
schools and takes them to many free events in the city. In the
end, how does James feel about these things? What does this
say about Ruth as a mother?

11.
Ruths mother does something very important for Ruth.
Describe what that is in a couple of sentences.

12.

According to James, who has been a father to him?

13.
How did Ruths relationship with her Aunt Betsy differ
from her relationship with her own mother? What did Aunt
Betsy do for Ruth?

14.
Explain how Chicken Man was like a father figure to
James during the summers spent in Louisville.

15.
What does Ruth learn about love and religion in Suffolk,
Virginia? Why does this lead to her taking a bus to New York
City?

16.
How does Ruth cope with the grief she feels over losing
her husband, Hunter? How might her experience with the car
correlate her experience with love?

17.
Why would Ruth move back in with her grandmother
after what happened with Rocky?

18.
How does music help shape James identity? How is this
reinforced in chapter 18?

19.
How does Dennis family treat Ruth when they meet
her? And what did Ruths father do when her mother became
sick? List at least 3 things.

20.
Why does James feel that it is important to visit where
his mother grew up?

21.
What do the deaths of Ruths grandmother and mother
mean for Ruths life?

22.
James experiences a life-changing revelation while in
Virginia. Explain what that is.

23.
Why does Ruth describe the nine years she lived in one
room with Dennis as the happiest years of her life?

24.
What is the significance of Ruth choosing to talk about
her husbands legacy and not about the speech she had
prepared?

25.
James experiences professional and identity crises at
the same time. What does he learn about these two events?
And what does James realize about his mothers identity?

Epilogue. What does James realize about his mothers past

experiences being an Orthodox Jew when she enters a synagogue
for the first time in many decades?