The Color of Water

[sliver]

I have to discuss these two quotes from the novel The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother by James McBride for book club. I already have some ideas written down, but what do you think these quotes mean? How do they relate to the plot?
a) "Human emotions, when mixed with racial issues, are prone to shatter like glass"

b) "The question of race was like the power of the moon in my house. Its what made the river flow, the ocean swell, and the tide rise, but it was a silent power, intractable, indomitable, indisputable, and thus completely ignorable"

For B, obviously this means it has a lot of power in their house, but it's a power they don't want to recognize. Its there, and its controlling how things work, how things are done, but they don't want to talk of it. In the book we are constantly reminded how powerful the idea of race is, how it can lead to death and destruction, or happiness and love. This relates hear because its such a controlling topic, and especially in the author's house hold. But if you have other ideas, I would love to hear them and discuss

 

[ScottHughes]

I haven't read that book, but those are very interesting quotes. I think it is true that race is a major issue that often gets treated as unspeakable.

I wish that race would just go away, and we could all be united.

Biologically, there is only one human race. We have simply divided ourselves into random groups arbitrarily.

 

[silverseason]

Look at his mother

"The question of race was like the power of the moon in my house. Its what made the river flow, the ocean swell, and the tide rise, but it was a silent power, intractable, indomitable, indisputable, and thus completely ignorable"

I read the book a couple of years ago so I don't remember details, but I do remember how struck I was by the author's description of his mother. A white woman married to a black man, she resolutely refused to acknowledge anything unusual about this, or even that she was aware of it. This in turn relates to the title of the book. When asked what color God is, she said "the color of water".

We look at the people in our life the way we look at fish in a pond. We see the fish through the color of water, of which we are not conscious.