Push presents what one reviewer called 'one of the most disturbing portraits of motherhood ever published' ( City Paper, November 1996). Which side of the argument do you believe Push to support?ħ. Many black scholars and activists have argued against the report's conclusions. A famous-or perhaps infamous-Labor Department study, the Moynihan Report, blamed the absence of fathers and the dominance of women (rather than economic and racial inequality) for the problems confronting the African American family. What is Precious's attitude toward Louis Farrakhan and his movement at the beginning of the story? How does this attitude change during the course of her education? Why have Farrakhan and his opinions become such a vital part of her worldview? What do you deduce the author's attitude toward him to be?Ħ. How would you describe Precious's self-image at the beginning of the book, and how would you describe it at the end? How have her friends and supporters succeeded in helping to alter her view of herself?ĥ. Why is it detrimental to her? Why is it imperative that she lose her prejudices before she, herself, can be helped?Ĥ. In an interview, Sapphire said of Precious that 'she doesn't know that hating gay people or hating Jews or hating foreigners is detrimental to her' ( Interview, June 1996). They give the race a bad name', but later she questions that uncompromising position.

Early in the novel she says, 'I hate crack addicts. Rain and Jermaine makes her reexamine her knee-jerk homophobia. Her experience with the Hispanic EMS man makes her look at Hispanics for the first time as human beings like herself her friendship with Ms. During the course of the story, Precious is obliged to confront her own prejudices and modify or reject them. In what way are Precious and her family members invisible to the larger world? If you have read Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, can you compare the way the two authors use the metaphor of invisibility for their characters?ģ. 'The tesses paint a picture of me an' my muver-my whole family, we more than dumb, we invisible'. 'The tesses paint a picture of me wif no brain,' says Precious. Wicher and his teaching methods? Is he merely a coward or is he trying his best?Ģ.

Is this an understandable or forgivable attitude? How would you describe Mr. Precious's principal in effect tells her teacher to give up on her, saying, 'Focus on the ones who can learn'. What does this story tell us about the inadequacy of ordinary schools to deal with students' problems and with their resulting learning handicaps? 'I got A in English and never say nuffin', do nuffin'', Precious says.

Precious sapphire book