Mary's Role In The Precious Family

Roles were a primary commitment in Precious family. The family state of equilibrium (homeostasis) consisted of Precious being the subject of abuse and not speaking up about it. She was supposed to take the violence and not react against the ones who condoned it. This was seen when Mary asked Precious to cook her some food because she was “starving.” Precious quietly said something and her mother responded with “did you say something” and precious stayed quiet. Mary continuously showed that she was the dominant figure in the house and that Precious had to do what she said by making her eat the dinner she cooked when she was not even hungry (negative feedback loop). That moment was an indicator that Precious should go back to her place as the subject of her
mother’s abuse and not someone that goes against orders (Gladding, p. 31). The family pattern of interaction consisted of Mary hurting precious either physically or verbally in order to keep the family equilibrium in check. There were many moments that Mary threw objects at Precious to hurt her physically when her verbal abuse was not working.
Precious family life stressors included past and present issues known as vertical stressors (Gladding, p. 66). According to Gladding, vertical stressors include poverty, violence, genetic makeup (obesity), and ignorance which are seen throughout the interactions Precious has with her direct family (p. 67). Mary has been holding to the past and the present situations as she causes harm to precious. Because Precious “stole” Mary’s man since the first type he raped her, she was lashed out against Precious her entire life. The violence gets very intense after Mary sees the second child precious gave birth to. She said “he looks like his father” and threw the child on the floor as she tried to take her anger out on her own daughter. Her own mother throws a television to try and kill her daughter and the newborn child because Precious had taken her man. The film portraits a family that their only known interaction is of physical and verbal abuse. However, the known rule is to not show what is happening in the household when the mandated social worker/welfare worker checks on the family
situation. What is surprising about the entire situation is that until Precious can no longer take the abuse of her mother, she is committed to her family. Even when her communication with her mother is only based on verbal abuse, precious tries to see her mother as caring and committed to have the family together. When those hopes and dreams are shattered, Precious walks away from her ideal life with her children.