Data Analysis of Precious Character

precious. Your baby loves you. I love you too. Ms. Weiss : you know what? Let’s talk about your father? Tell me about your relationship with him? Precious: I don’t know much more than you do Ms. Weiss. I ain’t say shit like it. Move on. Bitch. Can we change the subject?

B. Data Analysis of Precious Character

Precious is a film directed by Lee Daniels. In the beginning of the film, the narration shows the setting in 1987 in the Harlem City. It is about a girl with strong character. This film tells about Precious who seeks her freedom from society oppression. She gets oppression from her step father because she becomes a victim of sexuality from him. Besides that, she gets oppression from other boys in her society. In short, she gets many oppression in her life. The film shows her independence and struggles to improve her life and her children. She wants to change her life and wants to make her life better than before. In this chapter, the writer discusses Precious as the main character. She has very important role in the development of the story because her character is presented with conflict and actions that build the film. As a main character, Precious is described as a pity girl who is different from other girls generally, who always get attention from society, especially from the family. Firstly, The writer wants to analyze about her physical appearance to know how Precious is described in the film and to show why she receives oppression from her family and society. In the beginning of the film, Precious is described through her personality, hobbies, dreams and wishes. She has many wishes in her life, such as: she wants to have a boyfriend with light skin and real nice hair like other girls because she never has a boyfriend until she is 16 years old. Then, she also wants to be on the cover of a magazine, and to become an actress on BET videos. But it is just a dream for her because she never gets all her wishes. As it is mentioned earlier, she is different from other girls that sometimes she feels unconfident with her physical condition. The physical description of Precious in this film is so different like other girls typically who have beautiful faces, smart, tall with the light skin, and long hair, but Precious has a black skin, stupid, overweight, and unattractive. In addition, her style makes her unattractive to other girls because she always wears t-shirt and jeans that makes her body looks really fat. Her short hair never looks good on her. Precious: I wish I had a light-skinned boyfriend with real nice hair, and I want to be on the cover of a magazine. But first, I want to be in one of them BET videos. Momma said i can’t dance, plus she said who wants too see my big ass dancing, anyhow? Precious: last week. Ms. Rain asked us to write down what we wanna be like. I wrote that I am real skinny, with light skin, and long hair. Precious : there’s always something wrong with these tests, these tests paint a picture of me with no brain. These tests paint a picture of me and my mother, my whole family, as less than dumb, just ugly, black grease to be wiped away, find another job for sometimes I wish I was dead. From the text above, the writer analyzes that she feels unconfident with her physical appearance, she looks down when she look to herself is really different from typical ideal girls commonly. When she gets a chance from her teacher to write what she wants to be like, she writes that she wants to have real skinny with light skin and long hair. She becomes unpretentious person so it influences her social lifes, for example in her relation and interaction to her society, she has no friends in her house and school. From the description above, the writer analyzes that she has an oppression from her body appearance, because she feels not precious and amazing person like other girl, and she wants to be normal girl. The more important thing is that she wants to get attention from society and family. If she became a famous actreess, she can get attention from the society, and everybody will love her, because she never has it before. Secondly, the writer analyzes from Precious’s educational background. She is a student in the Junior High School, but she is suspended from her school because she is pregnant for her second child by her step father. For the first time, she feels unfair with her headmaster, and can not accept it but finally she can. After that, Precious continues her study in the Alternative School. She gets a recommendation to the Alternative School from her headmaster. It is shown that Precious never forget to continue her study. She wants to be able to write and to read as well, even though she is suspended from the Junior High School before. Precious’s character undergoes especially after she moves from the Senior High School to the Alternative school. In the Senior High School, she doesn’t special at school, she never says anything, she never open her book, and she is just sitting at the back of the class. It makes her, unable to read and write so she feels that she is stupid compare to other students in the class. She often gets discrimination from her friends, and she has no friends in her school. But, she has ambition to be better in her future life such as: she wants to be a normal girl, pay attention to her teacher, and to sit in front of the class. She has spirit to keep studying in school although she never gets the chance to improve herself to be better because her teacher and her friends never supports her. No one cares about her, no one wants to be her friend, and no one thinks about her. Precious: I don’t say nothing. I don’t open my book, even. I just sit there. I’m gonna be a normal, and pay attention, and sit in the front of the class, someday. When she is pregnant for the second child, she is suspended by her headmaster. She feels that her pregnancy is not a problem, she thinks that she always does her work and she never do any fault in the school. Meanwhile, the headmaster thinks that Precious’s pregnant is a problem so that she is suspended from the school, because she is 16 years old and she is still a student in Junior high School. But Precious’s headmaster recomends her to continue to study at the Alternative School because she is one of the best Mr. Wicher’s students for Maths. Ms. Linchenstein : hello Claireece, are you pregnant? You’re 16, you’re still in Junior High school and you’re pregnant with your second child. I’m going to have suspended you. Precious: that ain’t fair I didn’t nothing, I do my work. Ms. Lichenstein : all right, Claireece. I spoke to Mr. Wicher and he told me that you’re one of this best math students, like a potential for Math. So I called Mrs. Mcnight from higher Education Alternative Each One Teach One, it’s an Alternative School. Precious has ambition to get a higher education, even though her mother rejects it because in her opinion school will not help anyone and it is not important, especially if the teachers are white people. She doesn’t like if Precious’s teacher cames to their house, especially if she must discuss about Precious’s education. Mar y: School ain’t gonna help none You need to forget about that school shit and take your ass down to the welfare. Don’t listening white bitch Precious: I don’t know what on Alternative school is, but I feel I wanna know, my heart is all warm inside, Mr. Wicher think I’m a good student. Precious keeps her desire to get a higher education. She always talks to herself that she wants to change her life, and she is really optimist to face her future life, and she finds a way to solve her problem by herself, even though in the beginning of the story she feels that she can not be a better person. Neverthless, when she decides to enter the alternative School, she feels better and she has motivation to improve herself. In this situation she starts to change her attitude, and characterisctic and she always gets support from her teacher and her friends in the Alternative School, which make her more comfortable and happier. Precious: I wish I could sit in the back of the class again. I never really talked in the class before. Ms. Rain said we gonna read and write in our notebooks everyday, how we supposed to do that? But, then she sees the worry on my face, and she say “The longest journey begins with a single step”. Whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean. I’m happy writing, I’m happy to be in school too. She Ms. Rain gonna write back to us everyday too. Mammy said this school ain’t shit, she say you can’t learn nothing writing in no book. She wrong about that, it’s learning. I’m gonna read to this baby too, and hang colors on its well. Listen baby, mother not dumb. After she has the second child, she really wants to educate her son to became a good person, more educated, and she doesn’t want her son to be like her. She wants to teach all knowledge to her children. Precious desire is in line with feminist ideas which always suggest that girls need to develop themselves to be smart although many problems and obstacles come. Precious : Ms. Rain is the one who put the chalk in my hand made me queen of the ABC’s. After I settled at the halfway house, I worked my hardest to memorize letter sounds, writing in the journal, and reading smaller and fatter books. Then I found out the Mayor’s office give me a literacy award and a check for progress. Precious : I don’t really want to read the whole thing. I kind of just wanna say what its about. At advancement house, they were quizzing me about my mother and my father, right But its not really about them. They’re trying me to get me to do workfare. They want me to be a home attendant. All they want me to do is work, now; I do wanna work, but not for welfare check. I’d only see Abdul on Sunday, plus I’d have to leave class, plus I’m gonna start going to survivor meetings. After she graduates from the Alternative School and after she completes a General Educational Development Test, she gets a good job, and she begins to make plan for her life. She tries to be good person like other people who have a good occupation, so she tells to all her friends about her desire and about her payment from her job. Thirdly, the writer analyzes about Precious’s financial status. Precious and her daughter get money from social worker for their life because her child Lil Mongo, gets down’s syndrome. Her mother who is unemployed because gets the money from Precious and her child. Precious : My grandmother Tsosie brings little mongo over to our house, on days when the social worker come, so it looks like she live with us, then my mother gets money and food stamps for me and mongo. If Ms. Turner, a social worker, comes to her house, her mother pretends to be a good mother and good grandmother to Precious and her daughter. She gives more attention to Precious and her children, in order to create a good image of her so that the social worker continue give the money to them. When Precious comes to the Alternative School to register her study, she doesn’t need much money to fulfill the payment, because she and her daughter get money from the social worker, even though she never holds the money by herself, because her mother has already taken all the money. In addition, Precious lives in a small apartment with her unemployed mother and their life are very simple. They only depend on their life on the money that is given by social worker every month. Precious: that’s the end of them welfare checks. I just couldn’t lie no more, I shouldn’t have said none of that Momma gonna kill me. Precious: I got kicked out of school cause I was pregnant, I could start today? My mother gets AFDC for me and my daughter. Staff : so your mother has custody of you and your daughter, and you’re on her budget?. Finally, the writer analyzes Precious’s social status, that include her social background, and her relationship with the family and friends. Precious was born in the Harlem City in 1987 and she lives in a black people environment. She only lives with her mother in their small apartment because her grandmother, Tsosie, who take cares her first child in her house, her step father does not with them. She has two children by her step father, the first is Little Mongo and the second is Abdul. She is impregnated twice by her step father and in the end of the story she gets HIV virus from her step father too. Besides that, she also suffers long term physical sexual and mental abuse from her mother. Every day, she does cooking for her mother, and she does all house chores. However, she still has the spirit to continue her study, because she wants to be able to write and to read so she can teach all knowledge to her children later. Precious promises to her grandmother, Tsosie, who take cares of her first child, Lil Mongo, if she gets GED, she wants to take her children to her apartment. Precious often gets pressure from her mother, and the climax is when Precious is pregnant and giving birth for her second child. Her mother is angry because she is jealous that her husband makes love with her daughter. Meanwhile she doesn’t have any children from him. Mary: See. You will never know shit. Don’t nobody want you, don’t nobody need you. You done fucked around and fucked my motherfucking man and had two motherfucking children, and one of them is a goddamn animal, running around, looking crazy as a motherfucker, bitch, you know what In addition, her mother often called her with the worst nicknames such as: stupid, uppity bitch, you’re a dammy bitch, motherfucking woman, you fat bitch, and you fucking bitch. But, Precious is still silent and still respects her mother because she still loves her mother. Actually, she is a good daughter, she wants to get attention from her mother, sometimes she often makes the imagination that her mother gives the attention, love, and care to her, for example:“you need some rest; you have such a big day ahead of you tomorrow, and remember Mommy loves you precious”. But, she know that it is in her imagination, not in real life, but at the end of the story, she has the brave to fight her mother. Mary : you ruined my fucking life. You done took my man, you had those fucking babies. Precious: I ain’t stupid, and I didn’t take your man, your husband raped me. From the text above, the writer concludes that the relationship between Precious and her mother is not good. This is one of the examples that describes the relationship between mother and her daughter. Precious has bad relationship with her mother but she has a good relationship with her grandmother. When she comes to the Psycologist, she tells about her feeling during her stay with her mother. She also explains about the condition in her home life, her purpose coming to the psycologist is to find a safe place for her. Ms. Weiss: so, tell me about your home life? Precious: I just wish I had my own TV, so I could watch it in my room. If I had my own TV, I wouldn’t have to watch it with my mother. Ms.Weiss : and what’s it like watching TV with your mother? Precious : my mother like a whale on the couch. She says I eat at the time, but she always making me eats, then she calls me a fat mess. She says the apartment is little cause of me. Only time she ever leaves is to play her numbers, I feel like I could just sit in the house with her everyday the shades drawn, watching TV, can you help out with that? Can we talk about something else now? Precious: I wish she’d stop this shit. The other day I cried, I felt stupid. The relationship between her and her step father is also not good. After she is raped by her father, she believes that her father make a promise to marry her because she gets children by him, but she never meets him again. She is really sad about that, especially when she knows that she gets HIV positive from her step father, and at the time she feels nobody loves her, and nobody needs her. She thinks that love ain’t done nothing for her, likes in her statement Love beat her, raped her, called her an animal,make her feel worthless, make her sick. Ms. Weiss : you know what? Let’s talk about your father? Tell me about your relationship with him? Precious: I don’t know much more than you do Ms. Weiss. I ain’t say shit like it. Move on. Bitch. Can we change the subject? Precious: nurse says I’m HIV positive. But Abdul is all right. I just got to stop breastfeeding him. Ms.Rain : Remember, you once talk to me, you never really got to tell your story, so write now Precious : fuck you You know nothing of what I’ve been through I ain’t never haad no boyfriend, my daddy said he gonna merry me, how he gonna do that It would fucking be illegal, i’m tired ms.Rain. nobody loves me. Ms.Rain: people do love you, precious Precious : please don’t lie to me Ms.Rain. love ain’t done nothing for me. Love beat me, raped me, called me an animal,make me feel worthless, make me sick. Ms.Rain : that’s wasn’t love, precious. Your baby loves you. I love you too. Precious is really sad because she knows that she will die, and she thinks about her children if she died. She only wants to be a good mother for her children and she wants to look after and rise up her children because she loves them. She never gives up on that condition. She has spirit to change and manage her life, and she also wants to show to the people that she could manage her life well. Precious: Ms. Weiss said I got HIV, she said I was supposed to die from it, I ain’t worried about dying shit, I gotta worry about how I’m supposed to raise these kids. I just wanna be a good mother to them. The last point about Precious’s social status is her relationship with her friends and her teacher in the Alternative School. She starts to adapt a new society in this school. Even though in the beginning, she has a bad relationship with her friends, due to her overweight, and unattractive appearance, her teacher always gives her some advice and motivation to make her a good student and a good friend to all until she can get along with them. Before she enters to the Alternative School, she doesn’t have friend, but in the alternative school she has some friends such as: Rhonda Patrice, Rita Romero, Jermaine, and Joann. They always help Precious to solve her problem in her life, so Precious feels more comfortable with them and she finds a new family. Precious: ain’t nobody ever grabbed my hand like that before. They’re so nice to me, why other people should be nicer to me than my mother and my father? I felt warm, they’re fine, and grandmother’s scared of momma. I know that’s why she ain’t letting me stay with her. Precious lives in the black people environment and she is a black girl too, but she often gets oppression from black boys. She feels unconfident because of her physical appearance, but she can’t do anything to against them, sometimes there are many black boys on the street and they disturb her like this statement: Boy: she’s stupid. That’s not even funny. That’s what she’d get anyway. In the end of the story she starts to change her life and she wants to be a better person than before. The more important is that she becomes an independent girl, she wants to show to other people that she can prove that she can manage her own life without her mother. She gets many experiences and lessons which make her better than before, and she always gets some support from her teacher in everything. Precious says that “Blu Rain is the one who put the chalk in my hand made me queen of the ABC’s.” Ms.Rain: I think your first responsibility has to be to yourself. If you keep Abdul, you might have nothing. You’re learning to read and write, that’s everything. You come back to school when you get out of the hospital. You’re only 17.Being a good mother might mean letting Abdul be raised by someone who’s better able than you meet his needs you can got GED, and go to college. You can do anything precious. Precious: “Some folks got a light around them that shine for other peoples, I think maybe some of the tunnels, and in that tunnel, maybe the only light they had was inside of them, and then even long after they escaped that tunnel, they still be shinnig for everybody else, that’s Ms.Rain to me.” Precious: All years I sit in class, I never learned, now I got a baby again by my father. I wish I had a boyfriend like the other girls, and then I’ll feel right. I love my baby, I just wanna be a good mother. I’m gonna read to this baby too, and hang colors on its well. Listen baby, mother not dumb Mother loves you. When she was studying at the class”. From the text above, the writer analyzes that she has a good relationship with her friends and her teacher. She can change her characteristics to becomes independent, confident, responsible and mature person. She starts her new life with her children, she can be an educated girl and a good mother for her children. In short, Precious’s characteristics in this film reflect feminist ideas.

C. Feminist Ideology on Precious’s Characteristics