The, Better Know By Her Pen Name Sapphire

The story that I am telling you today is about Lita Morgan. A little girl who was adopted at the age of two by a cruel woman, who turns into a torturous nightmare in her childhood and adolescence. Christine Morgan forced her daughter from 4 years old to countless of cruel situations which broke her little soul and body. The abuse included: make her drink bleach from a cloth used to clean toilets, holding her head under the bath water until she felt breathless, and the constant threat to kill her.

The 2009 film “Precious”, based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, tells the tragic story of sixteen-year-old Claireece Precious Jones. She is overweight, illiterate and is now pregnant with her second child. Her life at home is a complete nightmare; her mother, Mary, verbally, emotionally and physically abuses her daily. Her father, Carl, molested her on multiple occasions and impregnated her twice then disappeared. Precious was kicked out of public school and took an offer to attend an alternative school where she meets her inspirational teacher Miss Blu Rain. Precious begins to believe in herself and prepare herself for her future. She becomes engaged in class and learns how to read and write; she was called stupid and dummy all her life and

would like to portray. Ms. Rain becomes more than a teacher to Precious. She represents the mother figure she so desperately wants to have, the sophisticated women she strives to become, and someone she can count on for once in her life. Ms. Rain responded to Precious’ low self-esteem by empowering her through learning. She taught her how to socialize with others by creating a classroom environment that required it. Ms. Rain becomes a trustworthy confidant through the journal writings which allow Precious to start to come to terms with the things that have to her. Ms. Rain becomes a protector for precious, she helps her when she has nowhere to go and protects her from having to go back to her abusive mother.

          There are many different types of child abuse. There is maltreatment and sexual abuse. Maltreatment is an area that encompasses many different things, such as physical abuse, child neglect, and emotional abuse. Physical abuse may begin with “shaken – baby syndrome” and

Child Abuse is the act of someone who looks after a child, like a parent or relative, who decides to inflict injury, emotional trauma, or even death upon that person. In the memoir, The Glass Castle, written by Jeannette Walls, there is most definitely multiple acts of child abuse that was brought upon the Walls children. There are four types of child abuse. There is physical, neglect, emotional, and sexual. The parents used more neglect than the others on their children. The acts of abuse that were brought upon the children should have resulted in them being taken away by Child Protective Services.

In the movie Precious, a 16-year old girl named Claireece Jones also known as Precious is physically, sexually, and verbally abused by her parents. Precious has one child and is now pregnant with her second child which causes her to be kicked out of school. She transfers to an alternative school. Precious is illiterate; however, she learns to read, write, and to gain self-respect from her teacher at the alternative school. In the end, she becomes a woman, learning to stand up for herself and she raises two healthy children. There are three different types of abuse Precious faced from her parents. An example of how Precious mother physically abused would be when her mother would get out the chair and beat her daughter by throwing things at her, because she did something minor or nothing at all. Precious mother verbally abused her daughter by calling her “stupid, fat, and she will amount to nothing”. An example of how Precious father sexually abused her would be he raped ever since she was three years old, impregnated her with two children, and he also gave her HIV. The movie faced several biological and environmental issues in the family. One example of a biological issue faced in the movie would be when Precious was hungry, needed water, and sleep. She needed to have this because she was pregnant with her second child. In the movie, it shows Precious goes into a restaurant, to order some food, and runs out without paying. She stole the food because she was starving and her mom did not give her any money. An environmental issue would be Precious was from Harlem, New York. During that time, Harlem was a city in poverty, so she grew up with hardly any money. The income her mother got from her welfare check, she did not give Precious anything.

Precious, a movie based on the book Push written by Sapphire, is an interesting movie directed by Lee Daniels. Precious can be easily analyzed using basic motivation and emotion theories in psychology. The movie is about Claireece "Precious" Jones and how she becomes a strong, independent woman after breaking through her curse of physical and sexual abuse which she has endured since she was three months old. At the beginning, Precious is physically and verbally abused by her mother. In addition, Precious was raped by her father multiple times and impregnated twice. After being kicked out of her school because she was pregnant, Precious willingly joins the Each One Teach One alternative school so she can improve her reading and writing

Precious eventually finds it best for her and her children to move away from her abusive mother and into a halfway house. While her life is starting to look positive, her mother notifies her one day that her father has died from AIDS, and Precious believes she is infected with the disease as well. Precious’ assumption turns out to be correct, but she continues on with her new life. Shortly after, the film concludes with Precious revealing her future plans to the audience, “I’m reading around 7th or 8th grade level now. High school level next. College after that” (Daniels, 2009). The film

Throughout the movie Precious, there are several times when the audience witnesses trauma and its effect on Precious’ life. These traumatizing events include sexual abuse, verbal abuse, physical abuse, and emotional abuse. When people go through these events, their mind will find ways to cope with their situation. These coping mechanisms are depersonalization, derealization, detachment, and dissociation.

Finally, she had people who understood her and were willing to listen to her. She had people who believed in her, stood by her when she had her baby. The girls were not perfect, she had some not so good moments with them but even in their imperfections, they were people she could relate with. Being able to read her story to them, and hear their story, gave her a sense of belonging. When Ms Rain asked her how she feels participating in class she said “I feel here”. This is an indication of a sense of belonging.

The relationship between Precious and her mother are not stable and cannot be characterized as positive. Precious, particularly exhibits an avoidant attachment style. Certainly, such a situation leaves a negative imprint on the Precious’ stress response system. Mary’s actions towards her daughter Precious, from the hitting, name callings to mind controlling, it is easy to conclude what type of a parent she also is. Low in warm and high in control, Mary is an authoritarian parent. Not only is she an authoritarian parent she also puts Precious under constant chronic stress. There are many evident of the kind of chronic stress she puts Precious under. To name a few, Mary allows her daughter to be raped by her husband, when she hits her with a frying pan and when she tried to kill her with a Television. (Precious, 2009.) Indeed, Precious expects her mother to be more helpful and sensitive to her, however, in reality she does not find the reaction and behavior she was looking for from her mother. This in turn creates a distorted cognitive schema about herself (her personality), others (being able to relate to others) and the world (Perry, 2011.) As a consequence of this, Precious is constantly anxious. Precious also seems to avoid forming relationship with others, by being skeptical of everyone who tries to help. She does not seek help

Genre and characteristics of the genre Push is a fictional novel about the incest and abuse of Precious Jones, an illiterate sixteen-year-old girl in Harlem, New York. This type of novel includes horrific, disturbing, and brutal

Throughout the story Rain and Mr.Farrell’s relationship grows closer and Rain feels very trustworthy of him and confides in him with each new part she discovers connected to the murder. She can be comfortable with him and show her true emotions and she knows he will not judge her. “ ”Whatever you need.” I look into his eyes and it’s true.

The teacher than helps Precious find a home in a halfway house where she raises her son and continues to go to the alternative school. Near the end of the movie Precious’ mother, Mary comes back into her life to inform Precious that her father has died of AIDS. Precious then learns that she is HIV positive, but her sons are not. Feeling depressed Precious breaks into her counselor’s office and steals her case files and then shares them with her classmates. This makes Precious feel much better about life. The movie ends with Precious and her mother seeing each other for the last time in Miss Weiss' office. Miss Weiss then questions Mary about her abuse of Precious, and exposes specific physical and sexual suffering Precious encountered, starting when she was young. Mary, Precious’ mother begs Miss Weiss to help get Precious back, but she refuses. The film ends with Precious still determined to improve her life for herself and her children. She does not want her mother in her life and plans to complete a General Educational Development (GED) test to receive a high school diploma equivalent.

Although a light read, her experience is heart-breaking as she is abused at home, institutionalized, and instead of being treated for her depression, doctor’s attempt to “feminize” her with eye shadow and lipstick. She is the type of advocate that makes noise in a silence because she tells a tale that would otherwise be unknown.