Malleable Minds

A child’s mind is incredibly malleable, able to be shaped and molded to the confines whatever you want the limits to be set at. Having this power can be a beautiful thing, used to create a person with a grounded personality or it can be misused to create a mind of great prejudice. While reading The Color of Water by James McBride, there are multiple accounts where I am reminded of Zora’s Hurston essay How it Feels to be Colored Me.

            In Hurston’s essay she addresses the fact that she did not become colored until she moved from her town of only colored people. She did not know what it was like to be around those different from herself. This is similar to the way Ruth McBride, James McBride’s mother, raises her children not to focus their attention to the color of a person’s skin. James McBride tells the reader that it was not until he became a little older that he even realized that his mother was different from the other mothers—being that she was white in a predominantly black community. For McBride, he should be ever thankful for having been raised to put so little focus on skin color, especially during a time of great tension between races. Same for Hurston, having experience firsthand, the oppression of her race, she became a stronger person, learning to see past the superficial traits of human beings.

            Judgment is something innate; it would be impossible to eliminate it from our world. However, being able to establish sound morals about what is right or wrong is key to being successful in life. Growing up, my mother always placed strong emphasis on it being what’s inside that counts. I can relate to McBride and Hurston because it was not until I was a few years into school that I realized not everyone was raised the same way as I. At times it even appalled me that people could behave in such erratic ways. But it all goes back to how your mind was molded, and to where your limits were set.