In The Color of Water, by James McBride, James is always trying to learn more and more about his mother. Unsuccessful most of the time in his childhood. He wants to understand the present and future by understanding the past.
             Both James and Ruth are subject to varying degrees of prejudice in their lives. Ruth endured exclusion and ridicule as a Jew living in the South, and later as a white woman living in black neighborhoods during the black power movement. Growing up, James witnessed the unjust stereotyping and harsh treatment of black people in his family and his neighborhood. Through her teaching Ruth was able to teach racial understand rather than ignorance and teach her children. " I thought it would be easier if we were just one color, black or white. I didn't want to be white. My siblings had already instilled the notion of black pride in me. I would have preferred that Mommy were black. Now, as a grown man, I feel privileged to have come from two worlds."
             The way Ruth understands and accepts both Christianity and Judaism is very important. It allows James to understand his heritage of both sides. He sees that Ruth is able to accept both in the end when she reenters a temple for the first time in decades. He gets a much better understanding of his family and who they were. In returning to Suffolk he discovers his roots. He learns of his ancestors and the suffering his grandmother endured and feels the pain his mother endures without her. He understands at the end the importance of all family. Ruth was always sad for the loss of her family members. (maybe not Tateh) James understand the loss' his mother endured and is able to grow away from it with her. "The greatest sin a person can do to another is to take away that life. Next to that, all the rule and religions in the world are secondary; mere words and beliefs that people choose to believe and kill and hate by. My life won't be lived that
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