Opening this book and diving in is a challenge in itself. Since Clareece "Precious" Jones is illiterate (at the beginning of the book, she reads well below a 2nd grade level, despite being 16 and in 8th grade), her language reflects her abilities -- a written style that is largely phonetic, misspelled, and difficult to get used to.
Keep going. Once the language starts to make sense, the story unfolds quickly and clearly. In some ways, the language resembles that of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange, a style that is challenging but after about 30 pages fully understandable (and by the end, you too are using that language). That kind of power with language is impressive.
Precious is a young teenage mother: she has one child, a mentally challenged girl, and is pregnant with her son at the beginning of the novel. Expelled from school but driven, Precious enrolls herself in an alternative school in order to earn her GED. This public life is complicated enough, yet Precious's personal life is in utter turmoil. She lives with her mother, a cruel woman who claims that Previous "stole" her man -- Precious's father, who is also disgustingly the father of both of Precious's children.
This relationship makes up one huge part of what makes this novel so controversial. Precious is the product of an extramarital affair on the part of her father, who began abusing her when she was a very young child. When she was 12, her own father impregnated her for the first time -- a mix of genes that created a child that Precious names Little Mongo after her Mongoloid appearance, a description of the facial features of those with Down Syndrome that Precious hears in the hospital. Her second pregnancy is also via her father, a fact that somehow infuriates her mother because her father wants to have sex with Precious instead of with her. The level of confusion and disgust rose continually for me as I put this all together; I can't imagine parents behaving in that kind of way or a child who seems to believe that this life is normal. And Precious never seems to fight back, as though she has accepted this treatment. That idea is absolutely repulsive, and really it is the only thing that seems to contradict both the overall theme of the novel and the personal motivation of Precious herself: Push.
The title of the novel emphasizes the overall message: Push. Keep going. Don't give up.
Precious hears this message over and over, and never in a place one might expect. The best example is when she gives birth to her daughter on the kitchen floor: The paramedic who responds tells her to push, a command meant to help her focus to have her baby. But the message resonates throughout the book. Precious thinks back to that moment often, thinking about how she has to push to keep going, to be educated, to raise her son, to move beyond her life's limitations and do something great.
And pushing is all Precious can do. Her principal expels her early in the novel, ostensibly for falling behind and causing trouble but really for the example she sets by being 16, in 8th grade, and pregnant for the second time. But she pushes, an ability I find admirable. I can't imagine the type of person that principal must be to expel a child who so clearly needs help, and as an educator the potential outcome is horrifying. There is so much education can do for someone, and so little that a lack of education does. But Precious realizes that power -- she articulates her desire for an education and acts on it when she enrolls herself in a new school. She pushes on, making progress toward changing her life, and that growths comes through clearly as her writing abilities improve and the language becomes more readable.
Sometimes I wish I could find an effective way to teach my students this message about education. It takes more than just someone saying it for teenagers to believe it though; I know, I say it all the time. Statistics don't help either; there are piles of them out there about how education affects happiness, health, earning power, and more. But students want something real to tie education and success together, something that overpowers the one-in-a-million chance that, without college, someone can still become Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, a chance many cling to as a reason to avoid school and hope for the best. No doubt, some of them can do it, but not all. I want them to see that, I want them to take the chance education offers for success and a better future. Sadly, I don't think we could read this book in class, but I am hopeful for something similar someday. This book would just be so perfect! The message is so clear, but not overpowering, not fake -- not something that kids would disregard as BS.
Even though the absurdity of the violence, rapes, etc., is anathema to administrators and parents, I think it would help students feel involved and feel the message. There is so much going on for Precious, so much that connects to students lives. There are obviously some extremes in this book, but based on the popularity of so many depressing novels (see: Oprah's old Book Club list. Almost every book on that list is super depressing, yet they were are hugely popular at one time or another.) in America today, depressing content pulls on people.. I realize that some students, like mine who are largely privileged, may find this book too much, may find the content too far removed from their realm of understanding. But the pull that others' misfortune holds in our society, coupled with the deep sense of hope that infuses the novel, could pull students in and open up conversations that I can only imagine. Something about hope, in almost any form, gets readers involved, something my students are not immune to and something I would happily utilize to have these kinds of discussions in my classroom.
Hope does so much for Precious's life, and yet author Sapphire wrote this poor girl no future. There is a twist to this novel, a twist I won't give away, but suffice it to say that Precious had suffered enough before this last blow. But her ability to overcome continues to amaze. I'm not sure why the author gave Precious yet another obstacle, but I suspect she did it in order to highlight the mental and emotional strength of her main character.
Ultimately, the novel is incredibly depressing.. But even so, it is incredibly hard to put down -- I steamrolled through it in about 3-4 hours in one afternoon. I really do not want to see the movie; I'm not sure I can watch that kind of suffering. Playing it out in my head was bad enough. Despite this, I think it likely that someday I will see the movie. The actress who plays Precious, Gabourey Sidibe, was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress, an accomplishment all on its own. That ability tells me the movie is strong, as the novel was carried so much by Precious that the movie must be too.
This novel has a future, and I don't mean its sequel. The overlay of hope is powerful. This novel resonates with me, helps me understand the plight of the impoverished and illiterate in our country, and makes me want to do something better. I'm already a teacher, so I guess that's a start. A small one, but a start nonetheless.
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