THEME: EXAMINING THE TITLE
Why does Ruth tell James, “God is the color of water?” (51)
What is the effect of his accepting this?
Why does he say that his brother, Richie, did not accept this? (51)
Why is the phrase, the color of water, the title of this book?
THEME: RACE
Why does Ruth say, “She’s light-skinned”? (xvii)
Why is this in the paragraph before the book begins?
When does the color of her skin matter to Ruth?
How important to James is it that his mother, Ruth, is white?
Does James know why he hit the Black Panther’s kid on the bus? (36)
Why was the “question of race…like the power of the moon?” (94)
Why did James think it odd that “race was something he [his stepfather] never talked about”? (125)
Why did racism smash James “across the face like a bottle…”? (205)
THEME: RELIGION
Why does Ruth believe that marriage “is not about black and white. It’s about God”? (233)
Why does Ruth tell James that being Jewish is a “real workout, which is maybe why I’m not a Jew now”? (2)
Why did Ruth’s family declare her dead? Could this happen to you?
Why is Judaism dead for Ruth? (“truly gone from their world…” (284 – 285)
What strengths of Ruth that James loves and values do you think might have come from her Jewish background?
Why is Christianity so important to her?
Why does she believe it is the same God? Why is religion important to Ruth?
Why must James accept Jackie’s advice to “Put yourself in God’s hands?” (161)
Why does this book end with the quote from “Proverbs”? (291)
THEME: IDENTITY
Why does James have to find “Ruthie” before he can find himself?
Why does James’s mother’s first name change from Ruchel to Rachel to Ruth?
Why has he structured the book with alternate, parallel chapters (see table of contents)?
Is James the “Jew Discovered?” (219)
Why is James frustrated by “a world that considers the color of your face an immediate political statement”? (262)
Why does James believe that his mother’s practices represented the best and the worst of the immigrant mentality?
When did he learn to put together music and writing? Why did he see these interests as conflicting?
Why wasn’t James’s experience as an outsider at school similar to Ruth’s?
What strategies did Ruth and James have in coping with life’s misfortunes?
After reading the book, what image would typify James’s existence to you?
THEME: FAMILY/PARENTING RELATIONSHIPS
Why is the list of Ruth’s children, their education and their present work included? (275)
Why is it important to tell us that James is the eighth of twelve children? (65)
Why does James state that “the image of her riding that bicycle typified her whole existence to me”? What are “mommy’s contradictions”? (29)
Why does James call “mommy…a flying compilation of competing interests and conflicts”? (260)
Was Ruth’s Mameh a good mother?
What did Ruth learn from her parents that made her a good mother?
How was the influence of Ruth’s father apparent in the way she raised her own children?
What did Ruth try to do differently from the way she was brought up?
How were her values different? Were any of her values similar?
How did James’s perceptions of his mother and stepfather change as he matured?
How did help from extended family members affect the lives of Ruth and James?
THEME: GENERAL
What effect did James’s successful quest to learn his mother’s history have on both himself and his mother?
What role did New York City play in Ruth’s and James’s lives?