He watched as his "strong, easygoing, seemingly infallible" stepfather was extremely sick and unhealthy (McBride 5). He felt frightened and clueless in regard to helping his family, and himself deal with Hunter Jordan's death. When Hunter Jordan died, James was so numb and grief-stricken that he did not know what to do with himself. He became indubitably depressed and emotionally capricious. James began to fall into temptation with drugs, theft, and thing of the like. He would spend his days "cutting school, smoking reefer, waving razors and riding the subway" while hanging out with the thugs from The Corner (McBride 6). James got so caught up in the criminal lifestyle that he "virtually dropped out of high school...failing every class" (McBride 6). James was concealing his feelings of anger and depression by acting out and engaging in self-deleterious behavior after the loss of his stepfather. In The Color of Water, we read about the tragic loss of a husband and stepfather, and the events that followed. Although the loss of Hunter Jordan affected James and Ruth differently, they both reacted to the situation in similar ways. Both James and Ruth started doing things they had never done before as a way to keep them distracted. The details of how they dealt with their losses vary; however it is easy to draw parallels in each of their coping
He watched as his "strong, easygoing, seemingly infallible" stepfather was extremely sick and unhealthy (McBride 5). He felt frightened and clueless in regard to helping his family, and himself deal with Hunter Jordan's death. When Hunter Jordan died, James was so numb and grief-stricken that he did not know what to do with himself. He became indubitably depressed and emotionally capricious. James began to fall into temptation with drugs, theft, and thing of the like. He would spend his days "cutting school, smoking reefer, waving razors and riding the subway" while hanging out with the thugs from The Corner (McBride 6). James got so caught up in the criminal lifestyle that he "virtually dropped out of high school...failing every class" (McBride 6). James was concealing his feelings of anger and depression by acting out and engaging in self-deleterious behavior after the loss of his stepfather. In The Color of Water, we read about the tragic loss of a husband and stepfather, and the events that followed. Although the loss of Hunter Jordan affected James and Ruth differently, they both reacted to the situation in similar ways. Both James and Ruth started doing things they had never done before as a way to keep them distracted. The details of how they dealt with their losses vary; however it is easy to draw parallels in each of their coping