Alessia Caruso

Thesis: The Color of Water by James McBride portrays William Zinsser’s lay out perfectly, with great detail and focus.

In Zinsser’s lay out, it states,” They [Ruth and James] elevate the pain of the past with forgiveness, arriving at a larger truth about families in various stages of brokenness.” This statement corresponds with Ruth and James life as adolescents  significantly. As a teenager, Ruth went through sexual abuse (leaving her with a low self esteem), depression, and sat Shiva (meaning that her parents acted as if she had died and never talked to her). However, when time got hard, she never felt sorry for herself. Instead, she felt sympathy and empathy for Mameh, her mother, and her sister, Dee- Dee. Thus, she was leaving them behind, having to deal with Tateh, her father, by themselves. Additionally, Ruth promised Dee - Dee she would come back, but never did, resulting in Ruth feeling deeply sorry and Dee-Dee upset. However, Ruth had to do what was best for herself and move up north, thus she can get away from all the tussle and drama, and settle down.
James also went through countless tussles involving his race, his mother's race, drugs, and alcohol. As James was growing up, he didn't seem to notice the fact that he was black and that his mother was white. And if he had, he did not think it mattered, which it shouldn't. However, as he was growing up, he began to notice how his mother was being treated differently, in comparison to his friend's black parents. Although, when he would ask his mother why, his mother would answer the question indirectly and change the topic. As James was reaching his teenage years, he was understanding why his mother was being treated differently. In James's early teenage years, the Civil Right's movement was brewing, thus blacks tended to hate the whites and the whites the same. James's friend even began to hate on whites, and James would occasionally join in on the rant, feeling pressured to join in, even though his mother was white. Additionally, James began to use drugs and alcohol in his teens after his step-father, Hunter, had passed away of a stroke. Hunter was a real role model for James, having his biological father passed away. He did what every other dad did, played, nurtured, and loved their son. However, when he passed away, James didn't know how to get his frustrations and anger out, therefore he turned to drugs and alcohol as a way to ease and forget about pain and reality. However, James was able to get his self back to normal and healthy, with the help of Chicken man, a man that worked at Jack's, that made millions of mistakes as an adolescent and as an adult. He warned James of the dangers that it would cause and told him how education is key to being successful. There on, James began to focus on school, returning to getting good grades, and learned his new love for jazz. James tussle's indicated all the bad, miserable memories Zinsser's lay out included and explained.
Zinsser's also explains that,"With the feat of manipulation they arrive at a truth that is theirs alone, not quite like that of anybody else who was present at the same events." Ruth had grown up in the Polish Orthodox Judaism, thus she came from a very strict background. Therefore, her parents, mainly her father, tended to be more forceful with countless things. Consequently, Ruth switched to Christianity and found it a better and more peaceful religion. She found it a way to seek God's help and love and made her feel as if she was another person. However, Ruth never wanted to look back at her old religion, because it would only bring up the hard times and events she faced as an adolescent. Nonetheless, she is forced to come face to face with it, when she attends James's friends wedding, and chooses to accept the fact that she had a hard background and now can move forward in life.
In conclusion, The Color of Water does portray Zinsser's lay out, though the fact that Ruth and James had gone through miserable events, arrived at a truth that is theirs alone, forgave their past, and never felt sympathy for themselves.