The movie Precious is a 2009 American drama film directed by Lee Daniels. Precious is an adaptation of the 1996 novel “Push” by Sapphire. The film stars Gabourney Sidibe, Mariah Carey, Mo’Nique and Paula Patton. The film takes place in Harlem in 1987 where an obese, 16 year old female named Claireece P. “Precious” Jones lives in a Harlem ghetto with her dysfunctional and abusive mother Mary. The family resides in a Section 8 tenement and subsists on welfare. Precious has been “invisible” to the father who rapes her and to the authorities who dismiss her as just another one of Harlem’s casualties. But when Precious becomes pregnant with a second child by her father, Precious meets a determined teacher and a no-nonsense social worker and …show more content…

After she finishes dealing with her mother, Precious goes to a fried-chicken shop and orders a bucket of chicken, but runs off with it before paying. She eats the whole bucket on the way to school and then throws up. This scene reminded me of the Peacemaking theory, even though what Precious is doing it not at all peacemaking for the owner of the friend chicken shop. She is making peace with herself and her own suffering. Crime is caused by suffering, which is linked to injustice rooted in inequality and daily personal acts of harm. Precious is suffering on a daily basis with her family and her life style; she has no other way to fend for herself other than committing another criminal act on top of the one she is living. That scene was so upsetting, seeing that this child is going through so much pain and torture and in order to make peace within herself as well as feeding herself she is forced into going out and stealing her own dinner. During Precious’s second pregnancy she was called into the principal’s office, Mrs. Lichtenstein. Mrs. Lichtenstein then proceeded to ask Precious, “Are you pregnant, again?!” Rather than showing compassion towards this innocent 16 year old child, she shows disgust. She then proceeds to raise her voice at Precious and says, “your sixteen years old, still in junior high school, and pregnant again, what happened?” This principal is portraying many aspects from the Anomie theory. This theory is