In life, we face and overcome many challenges and struggles that help define and build who we are. According to Orrison Swett Mardon, “Most of our obstacles would vanish if, instead of cowering before them, we made the decision to bravely walk through them.” Ruth, Jade and Marie do exactly that. Ruth McBride-Jordan in The Color of Water is a Jewish immigrant to America desperately struggling to find her identity in a time of great prejudice. Breaking free from her abusive father and religious intolerance, Ruth faces trials and changes that create the extraordinary life she leads. Marie-Lazarre-Kashpaw's experience for Love Medicine is a difficult life full of responsibility, but despite the destruction around her, she manages to keep her head high. In China's Fifth Daughter, Jade Snow Wong is a young woman caught between her traditional Chinese teachings and American beliefs. Jade's desire for independence and knowledge drives her to defy the odds stacked against her. These spectacular women from different backgrounds, despite their many differences, share similar struggles. Ruth McBride-Jordan, Jade Snow Wong, and Marie Lazarre-Kashpaw each find themselves at a crossroads of difficult decisions as they deal with family issues and losing a loved one, so they can become the strong, independent women they are. Each of the characters encounter a dark point in their lives, forcing them to make a difficult decision. After leaving her home in the South, Ruth tries to make it on her own by working in Harlem and meets Rocky, who, unbeknownst to her, is a pimp. When he finally realizes this, he loses himself in the nightlife in an attempt to forget his past, and almost ruins his future. Ruth even says, "...a prostitute, which I almost became." (McBride, pg.172) She overcomes this problem when she confesses to Dennis McBride and realizes her mistake when she sees how disappointed he is. Ruth then returns home to Bubeh, her grandmother who lives in New York, and finds a decent job at a diner. Jade Snow runs into a similar, but different, problem when she fails to get a scholarship to a university. She begins to consider not going to college at all if she can't go to college until her friend Joe tells her, "...it makes you so sure that junior college won't teach you anything".