Throughout chapter four of Precious, there is to be an important change going on in Precious’
life dealing with her views on race and ethnicity. Her way of thinking and
acting are changing with her new lifestyle. In the beginning of this chapter
her old views on skin are present and clear in her thoughts. While in school,
Ms. Rain asks the students to write about the fantasy of themselves. Precious
shows her belief that light skinned people are better off. “I tell you one
thing right now, I would be light skinned, thereby treated right and loved by
boyz” (pg 113). Because Precious has
been treated poorly and her family’s life was so bad, she assumed it was
because of her dark skin color. All the people living the same, hard life as her
were black people she saw living in Harlem. Media influences then gave Precious
the idea that all the beautiful, rich people in the world were light skinned.
She believes this up until the point when she attends her first Survivors of
Incest meeting. A pretty, light skinned woman, who is the idealistic picture of
beauty in Precious’ mind, stands up and talks about being the victim of incest.
This clearly shocks Precious. “My mouth fall open. Someone like that” (pg 129).
This quote is a turning point in the way Precious sees the world. Up to this
point, she had always assumed that light skinned people had a perfect life.
When she realizes this is not true, her thoughts on skin color begin to change.
She can now see that the outside isn’t so important and this can help her start
to accept herself for who she is. “I see flying. Feel flying. Am flying. Far
up, but my body down in circle. Precious is bird” (pg 129). This shows great
realization Precious has come to I’ve just explained. My only question is can
Precious keep positive like this and really turn her life around?
-Jordan
Jordan, I agree with exactly what you have said. Precious' whole view on the world completely changes in this chapter because of her new lifestyle and enlightenment towards the world. I believe that Precious will positively turn her life around, she has come so far in this book, she has a whole different outlook on the world and she is a lot more educated, I believe that Precious will completely turn her life around by the end of the book. -Nick Riselli
ReplyDeleteJordan, I also agree with what you have said. You did a great job capturing Precious' enlightenment in her view towards skin color. She is increasing her education, both in and out of school, which is helping her become more self-aware. Now that Precious realizes that hardships are not limited to certain races, she should feel less trapped by her skin color. She is just as capable of resilience as anyone else, and I hope that her new views on skin color help her realize this for herself.
ReplyDelete-Amanda
I can completely agree with your views in this piece Jordan. When you talk about the media influencing Precious to feel like a lesser person because she is not like them is something that happens to kids who havent even grown up facing these hardships. I like the quote you chose where her mouth drops open because she is in such disbelief that a girl who was that pretty could have been sexually abused, she thought that it only happened to "ugly" girls. She is working hard at getting herself out of the hole that she has grown up in and everyone wants to see her succeed based solely on the fact that she is the underdog
ReplyDelete-Shane
I completely agree with what you wrote Jordan. I also was wondering that after precious went to the meeting will her opinion of white people change and i was wondering if she had associated skin tone with education. I also was thinking of how precious will be when she has grown up more and if she will passed on what she learned to her children. one question that still sticks with me is will she ever turn in her father for what he did to her.
ReplyDelete