Hunter Jordan In The Color Of Water

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Hunter Jordan was the stepfather of James, and the husband of Ruth in “The Color of Water”. Hunter was “...trim strong, easygoing, seemingly infallible, and though…” and he also was “...a quiet, soft-spoken man…” (The Bicycle 2), as James described him. It demonstrates that James admired him, and saw him as a respectable man. “....staying away from the thronging masses to come home on weekends, bearing food and tricycles and the resolve to fix whatever physical thing we had broken during the week” (The Bicycle 2). James saw his stepfather as the person who would make everything right in his environment, in other words, James knew Hunter would be there for him and his family on the weekends, ready to fix what was broken and to arrived with goods. Also, we can assume this by the way …show more content…

Ruth started to spend her time doing hobbies, two in specific, riding her bicycle and playing the piano. “Now she seemed intent on playing the piano, dodging bill collectors, forcing us into college through sheer willpower, and riding her bicycle all over Queens” (The Bicycle 2). After Hunter died, Ruth began to ride her bicycle regardless of her surroundings. James states that she seemed to be different before Hunter’s death, “I’d seen her go up to some pretty tough dudes and shake her fist in their faces when she was angry—but that was before Daddy died” (The Bicycle 2). As mentioned, James felt secure when his Daddy was around, and it is likely that she felt that way too, and that is the reason why she appeared to be brave enough to confront men if they bothered her. Now she is not like that, “She rode so slowly that if you looked at her from a distance it seemed as if she weren’t moving, the image frozen, painted against the spring sky…” (The BIcycle 2). We can assume that she feels depressed, in a way, because she ignored what is around her while riding her bicycle, and moves very slowly as if she was sad and

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