Precious Synopsis

The film Precious depicts the heartbreaking story of a tormented young girl by the name of Claireece “Precious” Jones and her struggles to find her place in the world. Precious is a poor, illiterate, and obese African-American teenager living in the city of Harlem.

From the film’s opening, we learn that Precious experiences difficulty in school. While she has talent in her math class, her illiteracy hurts her overall academic performance. Precious is also a lonely girl—the other children make fun of her, and as a result, she has no friends in her high school. To make matters worse, it is discovered that Precious has become pregnant for the second time, which gets her suspended from school.

Both of her parents are ultimately portrayed in this movie as the villains, but it was her father who committed the first offense against her. The father has repeatedly raped Precious, his own daughter, throughout her life. It was by her father that Precious had her first child, who was born with down syndrome, and it was by him that she is now pregnant again.

Precious’s mother, Mary, is as abusive of a mother as they come. On a daily basis, Mary physically assaults Precious and obliterates her self-esteem. Mary survives on welfare, and takes advantage of the system to avoid finding work. She lashes out against Precious whenever she feels Precious is threatening her welfare status.

After her suspension from school, Precious is recommended to an “alternative” school called “Each One, Teach One.” It is here where she hopes to gain literacy. With an education, Precious can become a supportive and loving mother to her children. But when her mother finds out about this school, she informs Precious that an education will not get her anywhere. Mary insists that Precious should go down to the welfare offices to receive government checks instead. Precious sticks to her guns and goes ahead with the new school. While still attending Each One, Teach One, Precious has her...