Other characters

Rhonda

Rhonda is one of the other girls in Precious’ reading class. She is described as a “big redbone girl” (p. 43), and Precious notes that she is big, tall, fat and ugly (p. 43).

We learn that her mother used to have a restaurant, where she helped with cooking and other tasks, but she is now working towards getting an education.

Precious notes that Rhonda is keen to take control of the situation in the classroom (“OK, I see Rhonda likes to run things”, p. 45), but we also get many indications that she is a kind and caring person. For example, she supports Ms Rain during her confrontation with Jo Ann (p. 47), and she lets Precious borrow money for snacks despite having just met her (p. 48). We also learn that she is a Christian (p. 102).

In the appendix of the book, we learn more details about her tragic background: She was sexually abused by her own brother for years, but when her mother discovered this, she kicked Rhonda out instead. She was then forced to survive on the street, though she did also have a couple of short-lived jobs taking care of the elderly - despite having to deal with both racism and unwanted sexual advances. You can read more details about her background in the summary of her life story.

Rita

Rita is also one of the girls in Precious’ reading class. She is described as a “Spanish girl with light skin” (p. 43), and she has messed up teeth and wears “all black” clothes (p. 44).

She is taking the reading class because she dropped out of school due to drug addiction and is now trying to brush up on her reading and writing (p. 44). She is presented as a kind person, very supportive of both Ms Rain and Precious. The clearest exa...