Language Project #3 Literature & Language Reaction Paper

LANGUAGE PROJECT #3

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Introduction

The movie Precious (2009) is set in Harlem in the year 1987 and highlights the experiences of Claireece Precious Jones (Daniels et al., 2009). In the urban setting both standard and African American English are common, and people have different dialects based on their education, race, and class. Among young and urban poor African-Americans living in places like Harlem, the use of the black vernacular is common but unfamiliar to those who use Standard English. The teachers and welfare officials in Precious use Standard English, while blacks who grow up in Harlem mainly speak American Vernacular English, and the narrator uses the dialect throughout the story.

Race and Class and the main characters

  Precious, the main character in the film, is abused, physically, emotionally and sexually, and the sixteen-year-old is depressed living with an abusive mother, Mary Johnston. Precious as also depressed and discriminated against as an obese young black girl who mainly uses African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) or Ebonics. In the Harlem neighborhood, most blacks and Puerto Ricans are poor, and Mary Jones has no job, like many other residents in the areas (Daniels et al., 2009). Precious deals with racism, sexism, and rejection by her family members that she is even blamed for her mother’s life is miserable. Rather than look me keenly into her daughter’s allegations about sexual violence and rape by the father, Mary Johnston ignores this and blames precious for the family’s mystery.

The urban underclass is mainly people of color and experience family dysfunction including single parenthood. There are racism and sexism in the film where blacks living in Harlem are marginalized and disenfranchised and least likely to be educated in better performing schools. The dysfunction is common in Harlem, but the better-educated teachers and social workers live a more comfortable life and even when trying their best to help Precious, they are separated from the life of the protagonist. Precious barely has any social support system, and this complicates her situation while living with an abusive mother.

Language varieties in the film

Precious uses AAVE, as is her mother, but the latter uses much coarse language,