can i get a couple reasons why ruth was a bad influence on james?

I really don't get the "bad influence" part of this. Ruth McBride is probably one of the strongest female figures I have encountered in fiction. She was the mother of twelve children. Banished from her Jewish family Ruth carves out a life in the often violent South where race and hatred is a destructive force. Ruth is able to bring up James into the man who writes this book despite overwhelming obstacles.