Changing in Time: The Symbolism of Transportation in Mcbride’s the Color of Water, Essay Example

Upon a first reading, James McBride’s novel The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother is primarily a novel about how cultural, ethnic and religious differences interact, at times representing points of conflict and, at other times, signifying a deeper and underlying humanity. It is this latter element, however, which is arguably the true core of the novel’s narrative: difference is only introduced, primarily along racial lines, to develop a universal humanity that is exempt from cultural or anthropological particularity. One of the ways in which McBride makes this point is his extensive use of symbolism in the novel, a symbolism that is at times entirely subtle and understated. A particular case of this symbolism is the references to the mundane and quotidian theme of transportation; the references to bus stops, bicycles and automobiles themselves are representative of a greater universal dimension that surpasses difference. Transportation, in other words, functions to reveal character’s specific feelings and emotions at particular times in their lives; at the same time, these changes in themselves are universal, representative of the changes each individual experiences in their respective lives.

One of the clearest examples of such symbolism is the reaction the narrator has towards his mother’s bicycle. James expresses in the narrative his embarrassment regarding the particular bicycle, notable for its quirky and eccentric look. As the author without any ambiguity, the bicycle, described as a “huge old clunker, blue with white trim” (McBride, 3) had the effect of “(driving) him crazy.” (McBride, 3) In McBride’s words, it is clear that the awkardness of the bicycle is what immediately affronted him: this is a typical motif of an adolescent being embarrassed at the behavior of a parent, according to the adolescent’s own adherence to a set of teenage social normativities which are out of joint with the social normativities of the adult world. Yet nevertheless, as McBride grows, he realizes that this bicycle, in all its quirkiness, was rather an expression and reflection of his mother’s own unique character. The understanding here is therefore one consistent with a tale of growth: one proceeds from the stages of adolescent conformity to an adulthood in which one begins to understand that conformity is everywhere, and that the individual merely chooses how he or she wishes to live one’s life. In essence, the symbolism of the bicycle conveys the universality of human development within a social context, not only in terms of McBride’s own reactions to the patent, but also in regards to the symbolism of the bicycle as a form of transportation: transportation itself is a symbol of movement and of going forward. McBride’s gradual understanding of his mother’s quirky bicycle is an example of him understanding others and developing as an individual entity.

This continual difference that McBride feels in his relation to his mother, which ultimately demonstrate his individual growth, a growth common to all individuals and thus universal, is also reflected through the symbols involved in the bus stop. Namely, McBride recalls that he always noted, particularly at the bus stop, that his mother was different in appearance than the mother’s of other children. Despite directly interrogating his mother about this difference, asking “Mommy why she didn’t look like the other mothers” (9), suggesting that this difference was incomprehensible to him on some fundamental level, his mother nevertheless refuses to answer. Here, once again we see the universalism of individual development communicated through the bus stop: this waiting station in life symbolizes James at a period in his life in which he must reflect on this same life, trying to make sense of it, before going forward. Once again, this underscores the universalism of a humanism that is more significant to the narrative than the upfront themes racial difference: James is questioning his existence, as most young people are inclined to do, as they attempt to make sense of their social roles and the social roles of those around them.

Symbolism in terms of transport is also used for self-realization and the unveiling of the world around oneself on a universal level in the case of the narrator’s relationship to his father. His father’s Nissan Bluebird, in which the narrator rode, becomes a symbol of class difference, once again marking distinctions that McBride notices between his family and the world around him. This difference represented in the automobile seems to reflect the general distance McBride experienced toward his father, noting, for example, that “Mommy rarely talked about my father.” (198) Here, symbolism imparts difference: but the very point of the narrative is to understand how this difference is ultimately reconciled in the mind of the narrator. Once again, the attentive reader may note the purely symbolic connection between transportation and movement in one’s own individual life: the narrative of Color of Water is itself a journey of self-realization, a journey directed to overcoming particular differences in order to achieve a universal picture of humanity.

Accordingly, the symbolism of transportation in Color of Water operates on many different levels simultaneously. The various appearances of forms of transport occur in conjunction with crucial questions the author asks himself. From a purely symbolic reading, the reason why this is the case is not ambiguous, in so far as the link between transportation as a symbol of an existential journey is direct and straightforward. At the same time, the reader is compelled to ask what exactly is being overcome during this journey of self-realization. What is overcome are the particularities that constitute an individual’s life, differences in race and class, for example, but differences that in themselves pale in comparison to a universal humanity. This is the very importance of McBride’s work and thus the understanding of his use of symbolism: the reader is forced to move from the particularities of an individual life to the universality of human life itself. In so far as transportation is a crucial symbol in the narrative, McBride wishes to suggest that this is a journey of change throughout time. It is not something merely given, but a movement from one stage of life to another.

Works Cited

McBride, James. The Color of Water. London: Riverhead, 1996.