Reaction to Review of Precious

Reaction to Review
I agree with the review by Patrick McCormick, she stated, "Black is beautiful. Black, obese, poor, functionally illiterate, abused, pregnant, despised, and drowning in an ocean of pain, 16-year-old Clarisse "Precious" Jones" (McCormick).  This is exactly what the movie portrays but at the the same time it portrays a lost teenage girl. This is basically Precious's definition of black, it is not the director's definition. The movie is showing another side of what can be hiding from people. It also show that sometimes, someone can be living in a world without knowing what is happening in that world, since everyone has their own interpretation. It also teaches people that everyone is not the same, at the end of the movie Precious realizes that her definition of black people is not totally correct after she met Ms. rain.
Another thing that catched my attention about the review is the fact that she said, "
In the process of truly seeing Precious, Ms. Rain, Mrs. Weiss, and Nurse John recognize and draw out a beauty and humanity forced into hiding by the world's mockery, her father's incest, and her mother's brutal reign of terror. It is a miracle evoked only by those brave and loving enough to look" (McCormick). It was a great thin that was done by the director on showing that these people gave Precious a new meaning of life. A new meaning of not judging people based on her parents' cruelty.

Citation

McCormick, Patrick. "Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire." U.S. Catholic May 2010: 42.     General Reference Center Gold. Web. 25 Feb. 2011.

<http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.bpl.org/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T007&prodId=GRGM&docId=A225247300&source=gale&srcprod=GRGM&userGroupName=mlin_b_bpublic&version=1.0>.

Reaction to the movie (Precious)

Reaction to  Movie
I think the book is much more geraphic than the movie. One thing that the director did that i like was the fact that he never showed Precious's father's face. I did not get fact that there was not a lot of dolly shot. There was alot a lot of close ups, which gave the audiences a sensation of Precious's life. I think the movie was better because it gives people a sense of how Precious's life will be afterward. One thing i did not like about the movie was the end, the movie ended badly. It did not give people a clear view on how Precious's life is after she talked to her mother. It also did a poor job telling about the other characters which help understand Precious situation better. i think the director focused too much on Precious on the film. But overall i like the movie, at least it projected the theme of the movie which was furtive abuses in family. 

Push(126-177)

Summary
Precious learns that she is also HIV positive and also wishes that someone helped her when she was twelve. Rita takes Precious to a group counselling and her boyfriend also has HIV.  For the first Precious goes to downtown and experiences a whole world outside of their homes.  While she getgs with the group she realizes that she is not the only one that has problems. And no one can really avoid trouble, no matter how beautiful they are. Ms. Rain advises Precious to keep reading and writing. precious starts to write her own poem. each one of Precious's friend has a story that makes them to question their roles in the world. Precious also learns that her father started to sexually abuse her since she was a baby and her mother started abusing her as well because her father stopped giving her attention. Precious rejected her mother by refusing to go back to her. Rita's mother was shot by her father. Rhonda's mother kicked her out because she told her that her brother took advantages of her sexually. Jermaine's parents kicked her out when they dicovered that she was attracted to other females.
Quote
"But it is Mary-Mae's father who catches me one night to show me what a MAN is" (Sapphire 169).
Reaction
I think this is a bad way to castigate a girl for her sexuality. No one deserves to get abuse for any reasons. At the same time, people do not decides their sexuality. And also abusing a girl doesn't make a person a man. i felt bad for her and feels that society needs to accept people for who they are, not for who they want them to be.

Push (61-125)

Summary
Precious's teacher help her with her writting and she tells her to write everything that passes through her mind. She also tells her that she would write back to her.  Regardless of what her dad did to her she still has the conscious of loving the baby, who is also her son.  After years of belying her mother's true characteristics, she decides to tell her social worker the truth about her life.  The effect of telling the truth is that she is kicked out of her mother's house and at the same time, welfare cut off her check. Her teacher finds her a place to live with her son while her daughter is send to special care. Now with her mother out of the picture, her life seems to be different in a good way. Her mother comes back i n the hope of getting her back to her house and tells her that her father dies of AIDS. After Precious learned of the news, her world come crashing down without acceleration. Precious steals her own file to what her social work writes about her. One thing she sees is that she underestimated her. She recommends that swhe does household jobs which is not part of Precious calendar.
Quote
" Carl had the AIDS virus" (SApphire 85)
Reaction
I think her mother is a symbol of disaster because she always brings saddnes to precious. Eversince she was little she has been mistreating her. This quote also forshadows that precious will HIV positibe because her father had sexually abused her. I feel really bad for her because she did not look for the disease. And at the same just as she is starting to havfe a better view of life, things get worst.

Push (1-60)

Summary Precious Jones is a sixteen year old, who has abusive parents. Both of her parents has been assaulting her sexually since she was born. She weights two hundred pounds and had had her first child at the age of twelve. She was impregnated by her father. Her mother shows a lot of hatred toward her and accuses her of stealing her husband even though she knows that he rapes her. he mother forces her to eat and cook for her. At school she never writes or neither read. Her mother lives off welfare. Her mother tells hber that school will never do anything for her. Her mother loves her father too much to object him of abusing her daughter. Precious begans to see changes in her life after she has been kicked out of school for being pregnant.  The principale of her school send her to an alternative school where she meets a teacher name Ms. Rain, who gives her a new view about herself. she is umbued by Ms. Rain because she has never been included at school and she makes them think that by fighting hard they can overcome their obstacle, which is no one in her class is literate because teachers had never paid any attention to them.

Quote
"These tesses paint a picture of me wif no brain" (Sapphire30).

Reaction
This quote portrait Precious as a low self-esteem individual. She has no hope of becoming something just because her mother says so. One thing i love about the book is the writting style, through the writting anyone can notice that Precious has difficulty with writting because it really flagrant. Another thing that is showned throughout the book is the power of words for example Precious's mother oppresses her with her words. She even controls her words. She even stops her from telling her baby daddy. This book shows how cruel a mother can be even to her own child. I think if that really happened in the real world that the child's parents would deserve the death penality as a punishment.
  

Staircase of a Thousand Steps (211-274)

Summary
After Manara comes to get Faridah' Harif goes looking for her but after he arrives there he sees her dead. He cries and regrets that he never had the chance to be with her. Adil accuses Harif of Faridah's death even though he is the one who looked for Faridah. He tries to convince the villagers by saying that he saw Harif and Faridah when they were arguing. The village tries to trial Harif and punishes him. Ahmed revoked Tthe accusations by showing evidence that Harif could not have done. Faridah was killed with a poison, before she died her murderer knock her with a rock and after he sliced her throat. The leader of the village check Harif's hand to see if they could find the trace of the poison and it turns out he is innocent. After harif's innocence was proved, Jammana tells him the Adil, the leader's nephew is the ne who killed Faridah. Jammana also saw Faridah's death but did not understand it because she sees the past. Jammana burns Ein Fadr and the village becomes isolated. Her dad and her lives to the country while her mother stays to help other families. After two years her mother dies and she founds her own organization that fights for abused women.
Quote
"It's time. Time to speak up" (Hamilton 237)
Reaction
This is forshadowing, it shows Jammana as leader to woman. It predicted her future and shows that she a brave protagonist. I think this book is full of forshadowin because on the first fifty pages it mentioned that Jammana was afraid to leave her. And at the end when she leaves, she dies.  After this quote that is when the women in Ein Fadr realizes that their society is an utopia. They takes the word of a little girl and put in practice because they see that a girl knows better than them. I think the theme of the book is that women can make changes which they did. If it was not for the women Harif would die but their dauntnessless saved him. 

Staircase of A Thousand Steps(161-210)

Summary
When Ahmed comes and tries to make Jammana choose, he assumes that no one can turn her against him. He tries to force Jammana to tell where her mother was but Faridah sstands up to him. Jammana tells her father that her and her mother has a surprise him. Harif wed his wife because it was beneficial he never loved her. Faridah remembers the first night of their wedding. Harif came to her and left his wife at home. After that Harif refused to go back to her. When the villagers came in the morning to see the bloody sheet, she tricked them by cutting herself to make it seems like Harif spent the night with her. Hannan told Harif she would not leave. After that Faridah was able to bear a child since the offspring was Harif's baby, Hannan made Harif her something that killed the child. These factors provoked tension between Hannan and Faridah, the women never talked until Hannan became pregnant. Faridah had intension of poisonning Hannan while she was pregnant but didnt until she died of natural causes. These memories make Faridah wonders of what would happen if Harif had married her. In the morning Harif and Ahmed argued of why their generation had not been able to bear any boy. Rafa comes back and tells Ahmed why she is mad at him and wants him to give their saving to the family he had hurt.
Quote
"But actually, Faridah is a bit taller" (Hamilton 72).
Reaction
This quote is authorial explicit because the author is describing a character. I think the author uses it to emphases that Faridah has a lot of power and knowledge. It showing that she on top of all the people in the village. It is basically why she does not fit in with them. She does not belive in their tradition and has an advance knowledge of the world than them. All the people in the village are conservatives the want things to stay the way they were generations ago while the world is advancing foward. For example when a woman is in labor they have to drink water that their husbands wash their feet from. My perspective is that, that water has a lot of germs which will lead to diseases. But from their view, it protects the woman. I think most people from the village are inane and ignorant.