Push by Sapphire

A Reading Response by Taitu Fedenko 812

In the book Push by Sapphire, Precious Jones feels unwanted and worthless all of her life. Her mother beats her unmercifully and she is pregnant with a child that belongs to her father who rapes her. Precious is also bullied at school for being overweight and for not understanding things like the other kids do. However Precious feels so shy about speaking up and asking questions in school that  it  has gotten to the point where she is 16 and still in the eighth grade. Until one day when her principal sends her to an alternative school. Although Precious feels alone it takes the support of her new teacher, Miss Rain, and a group of girls just like her to see that she is loved and that she matters.

The theme of this book would probably be that no matter how dark of a place you are in you matter to the world and it takes strength to overcome that dark place and to realize that you are loved.

In the beginning of the book we meet Precious. She aspires to be so much in life but she believes that she can never be somebody important and that nobody loves her. For example in the book the mother believes that Precious took her husband away from her but in reality Precious is raped by her father has already had her first child with him when she was twelve. Her mother always abuses her in anger because Precious supposedly “took her man”. I think that Precious believes that it was her fault her father left because her mother tells her that. This makes Precious feel unloved.

Precious’s life changes when she goes to an alternative school called Each One Teach One. The girls at Each One Teach One are so kind towards Precious because they can understand her pain and what she has been through. This is why Precious already feels so loved by this group of girls.

Also, Miss Rain helps Precious see that to her children she is the world and that they love her and rely on her. I think that because Miss Rain supported Precious’s dreams it made Precious feel like she was loved and like she could do whatever she put her mind to.

Overall the major theme in the book Precious was that you are loved no matter who you are and what anybody else tells you,  you matter.