The Color of Water: Chapter 19–Epilogue

by James McBride
The author pairs his stories of growing up in New York and Delaware as the eighth of twelve children who identified primarily as Black Christians with the memories of his white Jewish mother.

Here are links to our lists for the memoir: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–10, Chapters 11–18, Chapter 19–Epilogue
15 words 814 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. solicit
    request urgently or persistently
    It had taken years to solicit this information about where she grew up.
  2. nostalgia
    a longing for something past
    When I called the rabbi of my mother’s old synagogue he spoke to me with neither nostalgia nor surprise, only grudging recognition.
  3. dignitary
    an important or influential person
    There were parades and dignitaries marching all up and down Seventh Avenue back in those days.
  4. hock
    joint of the hind leg of hoofed mammals
    I tasted pork chops and loved them. Grits, eggs, biscuits, and butter, bacon, collard greens, ham hocks, all the food I couldn’t eat before, I ate.
  5. allusion
    passing reference or indirect mention
    His writing was filled with allusions to Chronicles, Isaiah, the Book of John, and Philippians.
  6. anoint
    choose by or as if by divine intervention
    Three of the scheduled anointed speakers did not show, among them church founders Rev. Thomas McNair, my godfather, and Sister Virginia Ingram, both having pleaded illness or scheduling conflicts.
  7. feisty
    showing spirit and courage
    The lean, pretty woman I knew as a boy has become a small, slightly stooped, cute, feisty old lady.
  8. amorphous
    having no definite form or distinct shape
    “They’re not going to get me,” she mused, the amorphous “they” being hospitals, the system, and anything else that “sticks tubes in you and takes your money at the same time.”
  9. macabre
    shockingly repellent; inspiring horror
    Back in June 1993, during the course of putting together Mommy’s will—something I had to force her to do—the macabre subject of her burial came up.
  10. inclination
    an attitude of mind that favors one alternative over others
    As a young man I had no time or money or inclination to look beyond my own poverty to discover what identity was.
  11. vacillate
    be undecided about something
    After I graduated from Oberlin College in 1979 and received my master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1980, I began a process of vacillating between music and writing that would take eight years to complete before I realized I could work successfully as a writer and musician.
  12. modicum
    a small or moderate or token amount
    I must’ve had some modicum of talent, because I kept getting hired, but I wore my shirt and tie like an imposter.
  13. tome
    a large and scholarly book
    We’d be done six months later, and the world would be graced with our mighty tome.
  14. tableau
    any dramatic scene
    I felt like a Tinkertoy kid building my own self out of one of those toy building sets; for as she laid her life before me, I reassembled the tableau of her words like a picture puzzle, and as I did, so my own life was rebuilt.
  15. cajole
    influence or urge by gentle urging, caressing, or flattering
    Every year we argue over where to have Christmas. Every year we spend hundreds of dollars on phone calls and letters, writing, faxing, cajoling, and bribing, trying to get out of the pilgrimage to Mommy’s tiny house in Ewing.
Created on Mon Jun 09 18:11:45 EDT 2014 (updated Thu Aug 07 11:40:55 EDT 2025)

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