James McBride writes "The Color of Water" as a dedication to his mother and his own life. McBride speaks of the many hardships he and his family went through in order to make it where they are today. James McBride talks about the power of race in his house and how it affects him and his siblings in their everyday lives. With the idea of race being so prominent in his upbringing, we would tend to think that the notion of race is one that must be looked at from all angles in order to make sense of his life. However, McBride describes race as such a powerful force that it becomes ignorable. Although this appears contradictory, it is McBride's viewpoint that because race is so powerful, it almost becomes taken for granted, and thus easily ignored and not thought about. .
"The question of race was like the power of the moon in my house. It's what made the river flow, the ocean swell, and the tide rise, but it was a silent power, intractable, indisputable and thus completely ignorable" (McBride 94). James McBride writes this in his memoir speaking of how race plays a role within his family. This quote shows that there is an underlying sense of race in their home and within their family which controls their lives. However, the idea of race is so great and has such power over the family, just as the moon has power over the tides and ocean, that it becomes a given. It becomes something that no one thinks about. It becomes ignorable. McBride compares race to the power of the moon, stating that the power of the moon is a silent power. This indicates that McBride knew that race was an underlying force controlling his family; however, it was not talked about. It was silent. This silence was continued because Ruth kept her past from the children, believing that she was shielding them from her difficult childhood. Ruth underwent many hardships in her life and then finally broke free of what kept her controlled, which was both race and religion.