| Push | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Sapphire |
| Cover artist | Archie Ferguson |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication date | 11 June 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback, Paperback) |
| Pages | 177 (story till 140, then class book) |
| ISBN | 978-0679766759 |
Push is the 1996 debut novel of American author Sapphire. Thirteen years after its release, it was made into an acclaimed film that won two Academy Awards and was produced by Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.
Contents |
The novel is set in New York City in 1987. The narrator, Clareece "Precious" Jones, is an obese and illiterate 16-year-old. Precious is pregnant with her second child, both pregnancies the result of repeated rape by her father. Her mother, Mary Lee Johnston, an obese woman who hasn't left the house in several years, supports both of them with welfare money and food stamps. She receives extra money for Precious' first child, Mongo, who has Down Syndrome. The child lives with Mary's mother. Although Precious' father, Carl Kenwood Jones, is married to another woman and has another family, he lived with Precious and her mother until Mongo was born. After that, he disappeared for about four years, returning to rape Precious and get her pregnant once more. Mary, physically and verbally abusive, hates Precious because Carl would rather have sex with Precious than her.
As the novel begins, Precious is sent to the guidance counselor's office. The school has decided to send her to an alternative school because she is pregnant. Precious is furious, but the counselor later visits Precious' home and convinces her to enter an alternative school called Each One Teach One. Despite her mother's insistence that she apply for welfare, Precious enrolls in the school. She meets her teacher, Ms. Blue Rain, and fellow students Rhonda, Jermaine, Rita, Jo Ann, and Consuelo. All of the girls come from troubled backgrounds. Ms. Rain's class is a pre-GED class for young women who are below an eighth-grade level in reading and writing and therefore are unprepared for high school-level courses. They start off by learning the basics of phonics and vocabulary building. Despite their academic and personal deficits, Ms. Rain strives to ignite a passion in her students for literature and writing. She believes that the only way to learn to write is to write every day. Each girl is required to keep a journal. Ms. Rain reads their entries and provides feedback and advice. By the time the novel ends, the women have created an anthology of autobiographical short stories called "LIFE STORIES – Our Class Book" appended to the book. The works of classic African-American writers like Audre Lorde, Alice Walker and Langston Hughes are inspirational for the students. Precious is particularly moved by The Color Purple.
While in the hospital for the birth of her second child, a boy she names Abdul Jamal Louis Jones, Precious tells a social worker that her first child is living with her grandmother. The confession leads to Precious' mother having her welfare taken away. When Precious returns home with her newborn baby, her mother is enraged and chases her out of the house. Homeless and alone, she first passes a night at the armory, then turns to Ms. Rain who uses all of her resources to get Precious into a halfway house with childcare. Her new environment provides her with the stability and support to continue with school. The narrative prose, which is told from Precious' voice, continually improves in terms of grammar and spelling, and is even peppered with imagery and similes. Precious has taken up poetry. She's also eventually awarded the Mayor's office's literacy award for outstanding progress. This accomplishment boosts her spirits.
With her attitude changing and her confidence growing, Precious finds herself thinking about having a boyfriend, a real relationship with someone near her age, with someone who attracts her interest. Her only sexual experience thus far has been the rape and sexual abuse by her father and, to a lesser extent, her mother. Although she tries to move beyond the trauma of her childhood and distance herself from her parents, an unwelcome visit from Precious' mother reveals that her father has died from AIDS. Testing verifies that Precious is HIV positive, but both her children are not. Her classmate Rita encourages Precious to join an incest support group, as well as an HIV positive group. The meetings provide source of support and friendship for Precious as well as the revelation that her color and socio-economic background weren't necessarily the cause of her abuse. Women of all ages and backgrounds attend the meetings. The book concludes with no specific fate outlined for Precious, with the author leaving her future undetermined.
Critics have gone in both directions as far as their opinions of the style in which Push is written. Some consider "the harrowing storyline [to be] exaggerated," saying that it doesn't seem realistic to "saddle one fictional character with so many problems straight from today's headlines" (Glenn). Others have stated that while the dialect is problematic, Precious herself is believable because she "speaks in a darting stream of consciousness of her days in an unexpectedly evocative fashion" (Mahoney).
Precious begins the novel functionally illiterate. She spells words phonetically. She uses a "minimal English that defies the conventions of spelling and usage and dispenses all verbal decorum" (Mahoney). Precious employs words such as "nuffin'," "git," "borned," "wif," and "chile". She also uses an array of four-letter words and harsh details that depict in the life that she has experienced. Michiko Kakutani, a book reviewer for The New York Times claims that Precious' "voice conjures up [her] gritty unforgiving world." Aero'Stal Journey As the book progresses and Precious learns to read and write there is a stark change in her voice, though the dialect remains the same.
"Last week we went to the museum. A whole whale is hanging from the ceiling. Bigger than big! OK, have you seen a Volkswagen car that's like a bug? Um huh, you know what I'm talking about. That's how big the heart of a blue whale is. I know it's not possible, but if that heart in me could I love more? Ms Rain, Rita, Abdul?" (Push, p. 138).
"Well, I just write in my notebook till I git wif some kinda therapist I can trust. Actually that help me more than talking to her. Plus I'm going to start going to meetings wif Rita for insect survivors." (Push, p. 123).