Best Qualities in James:
James is a very caring child and adult. He is always looking out for his mother and worrying about her safety as a white lady in a black community. An example of this is on page 36:" I wanted to warn Mommy. Suppose the Black Panther wanted to kill her?" James knows Ruth is different, that she is a target for black people. He also pretty selfless. Because he's one of the younger kids he gets teased and pushed around a lot by the older ones. I personally would have fought back or told my mom but James just lets them do whatever they want to him because he realizes the feeling of having power makes them feel good. Additionally he agreed to be one of the only blacks in a white school just to please his mom.
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| James McBride and his mother Ruth |
Worst Qualities in James:
While James has a lot of good qualities he also has a few bad ones. James is insecure and follows what his friends do because he wants to fit in. Being black and having a white mom doesn't really help that, so he lets the "popular" people influence what he does. He does drugs because his friends do, "We played Kool and the Gang songs for hours, smoking weed, drinking Old English 800 malt liquor" (pg 138). These actions cause James to lose some of his good qualities like caring for his mom and being really focused on school. It really enhances how messed up his life really was.
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