Chapter summaries

Chapter I

The chapter opens with the main character, Precious, talking about the various reasons why she has been left behind in the school system. She says that she was left behind when she was seven because she could not read and peed herself in class, and when she was twelve because she had a baby by her own father, and the baby turned out to have Down’s Syndrome. She finally mentions that she is now pregnant for the second time.

Precious moves on to present the story she is going to tell, noting that it will not be told in chronological order, but that she will focus on telling the full truth.

The story skips to a scene at school, when Precious is heading for math class. After a brief flashback discussing her first lesson in this math class and revealing her inability to read, we see Precious being pulled aside by the school principal, Mrs Lichenstein. Mrs Lichenstein confronts Precious about her pregnancy and tells her that she will be suspended from school. Precious is angered by this. She makes a threatening move and yells at Mrs Lichenstein, who calls for security. Precious rushes out of the building before anyone can confront her.

At home, Precious is standing in the kitchen while her mother yells at her. This makes her think about the time when she had her first baby at the age of 12, when her mother both yelled at her and attacked her physically while she was going into labor, before the hospital staff finally arrived to help her, encouraging her to push. At the hospital she was well taken care of, though the staff were shocked by both her young age and the fact that her own father, Carl, was also the child’s father. The police finally arrived to investigate, but she refused to talk ...