Throughout the history of the world there has always been minorities in culture and tradition and change. These two key elements to making the world what it is today have the power to be both good and bad. "James McBride grew up one of twelve siblings in the all black housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn, the sun of a black minister and a women who could not admit she was white (Thompson 2)." The book "The Color of Water" by McBride is his powerful tribute to his white mother. "It's a biography that explores the slippery notions of race and identity in the modern era (Thompson 1)." "Chaim Potok, rabbi and critical scholar of Judaic texts, has demonstrated in his literary career that the American novel is indeed a viable genre for writing about Jewish theology, liturgy, history, and scholarship (Kremer 3)." "My Name Is Asher Lev" by Potok is a story of a young Jewish boy with extraordinary talent growing up in an environment where his talent is not accepted. "The novel is about a young painter's turn between religion and art (Benson 2)." Minorities in culture and tradition and change are full blown through the stories. The opinionated world comes to life expressing these themes through the eyes of the author. The two main characters in the stories are Asher and James and both of them are minorities in culture and experience tradition and change through their families. Some of the male figures in these stories are against change and other’s can except it. The mothers are minorities in culture because most of the time they both encourage their kids to change and do not stick with family tradition. The boys in the stories play a role that makes them want to change from the tradition the community has set for them. This paper shows how tradition and change and minorities in culture both play major roles in the stories.

In the story "My Name Is Asher Lev", Asher Lev is a boy who is an artist but has parents that expect him to become a helper of the Rebbe like his well-known father. He went to a Jewish school and everything around him was religion. "The book is structured around cultural confrontation, counter pointing ardent Hasidic religionists and their son, whose devotion is to art (Kremer 2)." "Chaim Potok was born in New York on February 17th, 1929, his formative years were spent in a traditional Jewish home, and he was educated in Jewish parochial schools much like characters in his books (Kremer 1)." Asher was not always so interested in helping the Rebbe but rather he was interesting in changing the tradition of the family and becoming an artist. While other boys obeyed their parents and did exactly as they said, Asher went through periods of intense drawing and then doing nothing at all, not even schoolwork. The author's words describe the feelings that Asher is having towards his drawings. "I have no recollection of when I began to use that gift. But I can remember, at the age of four, holding my pencil in the firm fist grip of a child and transferring the world around me to pieces of paper, margins of books, bare expanses of wall." (page 11) From this brief talk about the art of Asher Lev it is obvious that he is a prodigy of art. He is very mature for his age and he is doing things that no other four year old could do. He is holding a pencil tight in his hands and drawing complex pictures like people and streets. Right from the beginning his parents did not like his drawing. "Asher, are you drawing birds and flowers and pretty things?' 'I can draw you birds and flowers, Mama.' 'You should draw pretty things, Asher." (page 22). Asher's mother was upset about the death of her brother and this was the point where Asher began to draw pictures that were not so nice, they were of twisted shapes and his parents began to worry about this change. It was bad enough that Asher was even drawing, but the point was that Asher was drawing not pretty things like a normal little boy would do. Asher being an artist began to be more and more of a problem as time went on. "I did not know what to say. I could not remember having drawn it. 'What would your father say if he saw this?' the teacher asked softly. He did not seem angry. He looked hurt. His voice was patient and gentle." (page 119). Asher had just drawn a picture of the Rebbe in his Chumash and the teacher had caught him. Asher did not even know that he was drawing. It was a serious thing to be drawing in the Chumash, it was considered a desecration of the Name of God. Now Asher's drawings had gotten out of hand and his parents were very upset with him. The whole town knew about his drawing because of his well know father. He was already changing the family tradition and disrupting his father's reputation. His drawing's where changing the whole family. His attitude was all about drawing and he did not care about school, religion or family. "All of Potok's characters are conversant with Jewish theology, liturgy and rabbinic commentaries, and it is, though these intellectual recourses and their life experiences that they strive to comprehend the human condition. Asher is a foul artist, sympathies should lay with Mama and Papa (Barson 1)." His parents speak few words to him after they see these drawings. Asher has mixed feelings about the paintings because it as obvious that he did not want his parents to see them but yet he did nothing to stop them from doing so. The whole town knew about the drawings and the book ends with this enormous change in the Lev's family. "My mother was crying. My father stood next to her, tall, heavy- shouldered, his eyes dark- and moist, I thought. He said nothing but he shook my hand." (page 349). "Although Asher does not consciously reject his heritage he finds it impossible to repress his artistic instinct (Simon 2)." His mother cried and his father could not bear to say anything. Asher had changed everything that the family had and betrayed many Jews along the way. Asher was leaving to go to Paris and would maybe never come back. No pity or understanding was shown to Asher because everyone was upset with what he had done. In the book "The Color of Water" James is a boy that does not understand where he is in the world. He is confused and his whole family is a change from the normal tradition. "James McBride, the eighth of twelve children growing up in the projects of New York City, always thought that his mother, Ruth was a little unusual: her skin was far lighter than that of the other parents around (Scatton 1)." Unlike Asher he is put into the situation of being different or a change. "James McBride, 38, remembers when he was about 6 years old and began to suspect his mother was white. (Manning 2)." He is born black to a white mother and had no father for most of the years of his life. James could not help being who he was. His mother put him in an all white school because she thought that he would get a better education. James was made fun of in school and always disrespected, sometimes by other blacks. "It led McBride at an early age to start thinking about what makes people different, blacks and whites, Jews and Christmas, and what qualities all people share (Manning 2)." He was an outcast in the white society and made fun of in the black community for having an odd white mother. There was no medium for the McBride family. No matter where they went bad things would happen. "They went wild, but even as I sat down with their applause ringing in my ears, with laughter on my face, happy to feel accepted, to be part of them, knowing I had pleased them, I saw the derision on their faces, the clever smiles; sighing at the oddity of it, and I felt the same ache I felt when I gazed at the boy in the mirror." (page 105). James was laughed at in the classroom and he would always get so very anger. He would hold it all inside because it was for his own good. His mother was big on religion and the family went to an all black church where people even gawked at the family. James was always feeling uncomfortable and his family was not a traditional one in New York City at the time. He was looked at as a change and many people do not like change. All because of his white mother, he was not accepted in the black community that would have normally taken him in with welcome arms. James McBride was a change from the normal white or black family and he could not really be classified as either. His family was not traditional and he was a change from the typical white or black family.

In both the books, the male dominant characters either encourage change or tradition, or sometimes linger between both. Asher's father and the Rebbe play a leading male role in Potok's story. Asher's father is against change and wants the tradition of the family to continue. He wants Asher to travel for the Rebbe like he does and like his father once did. "Asher, however, is a gifted artist, and his father neither understands nor respects his artistry (Simon 1)." The Lev's are a very well known family in the community and with Asher doing all of his drawing and no studying of religion the family is getting a bad reputation. “Chaim Potok developed a story where two male dominate forces would bring Asher up, it confused always confused Asher (Simon 2).” Asher does not want to study schoolwork and he does not want to follow in the tradition of his father. Asher wants to do what he wants to do just like a normal young boy but that is not allowed by his father or the orthodox Jewish religion. Aryeh, Asher's father, tries to understand the way that Asher paints but it is often hard for him to accept this. "You paint your feelings?' 'Yes. Sometimes feelings are dangerous, Asher. Sometimes they are from the sitra achre.' I looked at him. 'Sometimes feelings should be concealed and not let out in the open.' 'Some people can't conceal their feelings, Papa.' 'Who?' 'Some people.' 'Such people can be dangerous Asher.' 'Yes. I'm trying to understand you, Asher. But it's very difficult." (page 282) Although Aryeh does try to understand the way that Asher feels he is against many of the ideas that change the family traditions. "Paint more naked women,' he said. I felt the blood in my face. My father tugged slowly at his beard. "Asher, do you know what it's like to have people I have worked with for years to come over and ask me why my son paints naked women?' He spoke quietly and with pain in his voice. 'They aren’t naked women, Papa. They're nudes.' His dark eyes brooded. He rubbed the side of his face. 'This isn't Shabbos talk,' he said. 'We shouldn't be talking about these things at a Shabbos table." (page 288) Aryeh is a man that was set in his ways with religion and tradition. "The tenuous relationship between Asher and his father is strained further when Asher as a part of his studies, learns to draw crucifixions and nudes (Simon 3)." When Asher began to change the family tradition his father could not just sit back and watch, he had to say something. Many arguments took place between Asher and his father. The once peaceful home environment was gone because Aryeh could not accept the way that Asher drew. Another male figure in Asher's live that influenced his art was the Rebbe himself. Aryeh travelled for the Rebbe and everyone in the town knew that. Since Asher had such a well-known father all that he did with his artwork was known throughout the town. Asher was told one day that the Rebbe wanted to see him and Asher became a little uptight and nervous. "I have you in my mind and heart, Asher Lev. I pray to the Master of the Universe that the world will one day also hear of you as a Jew. Do you understand my words? Jacob Kahn will make you an artist. But only you will make yourself Jewish.” (page 203) Asher obeyed what the Rebbe said and went to work on being an artist. Sometimes having the Rebbe’s opinion in life only made things tougher for him. "Asher did not stand in open rebellion against the Rebbe and his father, but he was a troubled seeker of his place within a tradition (Simon 2)." For Asher's sake it did not help that they had different opinions. In the book "The Color of Water" James McBride and his mother were both brought up in environments with male figures that did not help them. James did not have a father that was there for him because his real father died and then his stepdad died too. James never had anyone to talk to when he was growing up. The most dominant male figure in his life was his older brothers. He liked his brothers but they were not the same as having a real father. They would often play tricks on him. "What does it matter to you?' my older brother Richie scoffed when I asked him if we had any grandparents. 'You're adopted anyway." (page 22) Through the book, James never really thought about not having a real father but there were several cases where he could have used one. He could have used a father to ask questions about his mother or to get advice about life like a normal father does. James's mother had a childhood that was much worse than his was. "Ruth Shilsky was the daughter of an abusive, angry father and a silent, long- suffering mother (Manning 3)." Her dad sexually abused her and was against many of the things that she did. As a child her parents would not talk to each other so Ruth was the one that had to translate back and forth between them. Both James and Ruth grew up in a different type of environment but they had to overcome the same problem. They did not have a constant loving male figure in their lives. “The similarities in both Ruth and James’s childhood’s are amazing, they were brought up very much alike (Thompson 2)” There was no tradition in James's family but he was a change from other kids around the community because of having no father. In Asher's life he had two male figures telling him what to do, but the problem was that one was telling him to stay with tradition and the other was telling him to change. The male figures in Asher, Ruth, and James lives where all for or against change of tradition. The choice between change and tradition was something that the male figures choose in the book. None of these children had very good childhoods and it could be related to the fact that a male dominant figure was not always present in their life. Asher’s father was gone much of the time due to travelling and James had no father in his life because they had both died when he was younger.

The mothers in the stories are minorities in culture for many reasons. In “My Name Is Asher Lev” Rivkeh is a woman that does not do typical things. She ends up going to school in order to finish the job that her brother had started. It is not normal for a female to go to school in order to work for the Rebbe, but she was considered a special case because her brother had died while he was working for the Rebbe. “Asher’s whole life changed when his mother began school, he did not speak to her or see her nearly as much (Jones 2).” She did not act as the normal housewife anymore because she always had school to worry about. By having her life change, everything in the house was different. A lady named Mrs. Rackover was now the one that made dinner at night and did most of the taking care of Asher. People would often look at Rivkeh as if she was a bad mother. She was just different from the typical mother in town. Also she was one of the few people in the beginning of the book that would encourage Asher to do his drawings. She did not like the fact that he drew pictures that were not always pretty. She would tell him that his pictures were good when she thought so. When Asher went through a period of time where he did not draw anything nice, she encouraged him to draw beautiful things. His father on the other hand did not like the drawing at all no matter what. This slight encouragement by Mrs. Lev made Asher continue his drawings and was the only thing that attached her to Asher. “When Asher would draw his mother, there was such a feeling of love between the two of them, that feeling was not present at many other points in the story (Benson 2).” Rivkeh and her husband did not seem to get along with each other for much of the story. They did not appear to be happy until the two of them went to Europe alone. This leads the reader to believe that the only thing that was keeping the two from having a good relationship was Asher. Mrs. Lev was one of the only real loving people in Asher’s life. She always took care of Asher and if it were not for her, he would have not turned out to be the drawer that he was. The way that she took care of Asher and the way that she encouraged some things but not others are what made her a minority in culture as a mother. In the story “The Color of Water” James’s mom Ruth is a much different character than Mrs. Lev. She is more talkative with her kids and has a more hands on approach than does Rivkeh. “My mother and I always talk to each other, I love her with all of my heart and she has always been there as both my best friend and parent.” (page 233) James loved his mother because she was stern and always loved him back. James was sometimes embarrassed by his mother. When he was fourteen, his mother took up two new hobbies, riding her bike and playing the piano. James hated it when she rode her bike. “She would ride in slow motion across our street, Murdock Avenue in the St. Albans section of Queens, the only white person in sight, as cars swerved around her and black motorists gawked at the strange, middle-aged white lady riding her ancient bicycle.” (page 7). “As McBride looks back at his life he realizes how much his mother made him be the person he was inside. Ruth made him not have a fake personality (Thompson 1).” Ruth was a woman that did not care about what other people thought about her. She was a hard worker and always came up with enough money to support her twelve children. She was the only white women in a black town and had twelve black children, that is more than just a minority. “Ruth was an amazing women the way that she handled herself in a completely black town, after the fact everyone respected her (Manning 2).” Ruth was a special woman that had one major gift, she did not care about what other people thought about her. She forced her kids into an all white school because she felt that it would give them a better education. “Ruth had the ability to force people into doing whatever she wanted, no one else would have been able to get twelve black children into a white school (Thompson 2).” Being a minority in culture was a task that both Ruth and Rivkeh accepted willingly and the two of them were able to handle their lives and whatever was thrown at them very well. They both made being a minority look extremely easy.

Tradition and change are opposites but they are what keep the world turning. They tear some families apart like Asher’s and bring other families together like James’s. “Asher Lev’s family was all about tradition but yet Asher did not hear the same advise twice about wheather to change or be tradition (Barson 1).” “James McBride grew up well because he was free and had a mother that cared about only the important things, not wheather he was tradition or not (Manning 2).” Life is full of both tradition and change and just the right balance can lead to a good life. Minorities in culture are often those that get overlooked, in these two stories, both of the families proved that being minorities could be quite rewarding. “James grew up appericating the fact the he was not like everyone else, it made him a better person (Scatton 1).” Asher was on the unfortunate end of a family break up where he as an only child lost his parents respect forever. James on the other hand is a person that gained so much respect for his mother and in return she game respect to him. Although both of the main characters in Asher and James turned out to be good people they went through many tough times in there lives. They overcame all of the bad times by working hard at what they wanted to get even though it was not what everyone else wanted. These stories are amazing in the respect that both people went through so much in their lives. Being a minority only helped them and the battle over tradition or change only made them drive harder.