TEAL/MEAL unscrambled

When using the literary device of characterization in The Color of Water, McBride shows how he explores Erikson’s fifth stage, identity versus role confusion, to come to terms with his actions. McBride loses his direction when his stepfather dies and soon enough becomes violent and drowns himself in drugs and alcohol. Because of this deplorable behavior, McBride’s mother, Ruth, decides to send him to his Aunt Jack where he meets the Chicken Man. The Chicken Man is a local in Louisville who shows James the mistake he is making with his life by wasting it on crimes and urges him to go back home and educate himself. McBride finally realizes that he determines his own future through his actions after seeing a brutal stabbing happen to the Chicken Man himself for starting up trouble with a woman. By the age of eighteen, we can say James has experienced both rebellion, the negative outcome of stage five, and fidelity, the positive outcome. McBride experienced rebellion when mourning the loss of his stepfather and turned to petty theft and drugs as an escape, but later on finds his role in society which gives him a sense of fidelity and the ability to see himself as unique and an integrated person. Overall, James does have a positive outcome of the conflict identity versus role confusion when we see him go back to school and start a career. McBride used the characterization of the Chicken Man to show how he conquered his own rebellion and inner conflict to become a better person with a purpose in life.