The Water Is Wide: A Memoir

Pat acknowledges that he was not only raised with racist attitudes but participated in racism as a young boy. After he renounces these beliefs, he experiences white guilt for the harms of racism, and this drives some of his later decisions. Indeed, his desire to repent for his own actions and the crimes of white people in general is so strong that he remarks that “a black man could have handed me a bucket of cow piss, commanded me to drink it in order that I might rid my soul of the stench of racism, and I would have only asked for a straw” (116). His first white-guilt–motivated action comes after the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr., which prompts him to lobby for a course in black history at the mainland high school where he is teaching. Later, he reflects that white guilt was also his motivation for teaching on the island, noting that it “dawn[s] on me that I came to Yamacraw for a fallacious reason: I needed to be cleansed, born again, resurrected by good works and suffering, purified of the dark cankers that grew like toadstools in my past” (116).

White guilt is a problematic form of motivation because it often prioritizes soothing the white person’s sense of shame over the actual useful impact an action has on people of color, while simultaneously masking the white person’s lack of understanding of the issues. A good example of this is the fact that Pat gets the black history course started but only then realizes that he does not know anything about the subject.

White guilt also becomes problematic in Pat’s interactions with Mrs. Brown. Pat claims that his guilt prevents him from challenging Mrs. Brown even though he objects to the ways she speaks to and disciplines the students. At the same time, he undermines her authority with the children by encouraging them to not tell on each other and by repeatedly contravening her orders. Thus, although Pat has good intentions, he acts in ways that soothe his conscious rather than in ways that would actually resolve the issue.

As with racism, ignorance shows up in various ways throughout the book. The most obvious example of ignorance is that of the children on Yamacraw Island, who lack basic reading, writing, and arithmetic skills, as well as any knowledge of life beyond the island.

The book also depicts the ignorance of racism, particularly that of the white mainlanders who believe that the children from the island are “savages.” The author suggests that ignorance is also at the root of the systemic racism among the school administrators. He believes that if he can educate the school board about the true conditions at the school, he can not only save his job but also end the ongoing neglect.

Furthermore, Pat confronts his own ignorance of others’ experiences, including black people and the poor. The most telling example is when he is confronted by the grieving students at the first school where he teaches and finds that he does not know what to say to them. He also admits to his lack of “practical” skills, in comparing himself to Ted Stone. Yes, even as he seeks to combat ignorance in others and himself, Pat romanticizes the ignorance of youth, wishing that he could experience the world as his students do.