The main purpose of this novel is James McBride's search of his identity, instantaneously is race, as it involves a person's skin color. McBride's race came to his attention at an early age. He noticed that both black people and white people stared at his white mother with her black family, letting him know that his family was different from what was considered normal and acceptable by society. He became confused about his own color and uncomfortable with the fact that his mother was white. He wanted to be accepted by others, and he thought that life would be easier if his family was just one color, black or white. .
2) The main point of view.
James McBride wants answers and closures to his ethnicity and heritage. Growing up without such information became an issue that eventually became an obsession for him to figure out his family history, especially his mother's mysterious life that was never discussed.
3) The most important information.
Page#2.
Ruchel Dwajra Zylska was an immigrant. Her father was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi. Her parents got rid of that name when they moved to America. They changed her name to Rachel Deborah Shilsky opposite. There are many symbols McBride uses in "The Color of Water" to indicate his mother, his life, and the life around him in Brooklyn and Queens. One of the first symbols in the book is the "ancient bicycle" his mother rides after his stepfather dies. His mother never learned to drive, and the bicycle, and her constant riding of it up and down the streets symbolizes her distance from her neighbors and their culture. His mother is a white woman in a black world, who will not admit she is white. McBride always thought his mother was odd, and this symbol of the bicycle helps prove it.
4) The main conclusion.
The Color of Water concludes with McBride closing the last chapter in his search for his identity and his mother's uninformable past/life.