How can James hate whites when his mother is one? The predominant theme in The Color of Water is Race and Racism. The novels protagonist and author James Mcbride write both his biography also a tribute to the life of his white mother, Ruth McBride, a Polish-Jewish immigrant. Ruth is drawn to African Americans in New York because she loves the prominent families, and sees more love in them than in her cold Jewish family. As a kid, James never understood why he was black, and his mother was white. Ruth would never answer his questions, either. One afternoon on the way home from church, James asked Ruth whether God was black or white, and Ruth replies God is the color of the water. Water doesnt have a color. (James McBride; Chapter 6). James spends his childhood feeling caught between two races. His siblings all have various
ways of dealing with racial confusion; for example, his brother Richie sees himself not as black or white but as green like the Incredible Hulk, who in some ways could be seen as leading an aspirational life for a driven, intelligent, mixed-race child. Richie also looks to religion for some kind of mixed-race idol, wondering why Jesus, if he is not canonically white, is always painted that way.
James similarly wonders about his race and how his race relates to God, in whose image he is supposedly created. What James is asking here, then, is if he is black or white and if God would love him more if he were one or the other. Ruth herself finds solace in Christianity because it feels more expansive and accepting to her than Judaism. It follows that she sees God as neither black nor white, and therefore accepting of her mixed-race family.