color of water conflicts

In this book I believe that there are many conflicts pushed on Ruth her family and James. Ruth has to deal with her past. She has made peace with it but it has shaped her whole life and how she raises her family. How she treats others. And how she deals with loss. James has a different set of conflicts. His moms hidden past and the fact that she is white and he is black plays a huge role on how he functions and reacts in situations. Black power has run through his house hold taking almost all of his siblings with it in the fight. James was pulled in too. He was embarrassed by his white mother and didn't want to be seen with her. To counter act this feeling he turned to drugs such as reefer and drank too much booze. He started to fail school. With his addictions and his white mother he did not know who he was and if he was a proud black man with a white mother who he loved or if she was a stranger and his real black mother was still out there. Ruth had to push him to make the right decisions. She sent him to Kentucky. He got some sense knocked into him when his friend The Chicken Man offered some helpful advise. As the book continues some of the conflicts resolve and others grow. The many conflicts shape the way the family interacts with each other and is a very big part of this book.

color of water

I am reading chapter 12 of the Color of Water. I am really enjoying this book. It is not my normal go to read but I am enjoying it. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read.  I can't really relate to James and his family that much but I can relate to how he and his siblings interact. Having a brother myself I can relate to the "brotherly love" that they share. My brother is constantly driving me crazy with his antics. Ruth I can not relate to at all. I have not been in any of the situations that she has been in. Her life before she was a christian was terrible. I feel bad for Ruth but also admire her strength and ability to move on from such a horrible life.