The voice of Precious definitely changes the way she is seen by the audience. In the beginning, at a point in time where she is the least educated she is going to get, we get a very harsh, in-your-face type of exposure from her character. She is an exact product of her environment at the time. Her thoughts are very restricted only to what she knows; which is what she picks up at home. Her tone of voice suggests she is very alone and confused, confrontational, and angry. She cannot even begin to fathom anything outside of her small little world because she is in such isolation; there is nowhere to go and no means in which to learn and grow. It changes the way others in the community see her and it’s picked up immediately, within the first 2 pages, in her confrontation with the math teacher. But the confrontation stems from her ignorance: “But I couldn’t let him, or anybody, know, page 122 look like 152, 22, 3…all the pages look alike to me. ‘N I really do want to learn.” Because she can’t communicate with teachers in an ideal sense, she puts up a defensive wall, and ends up lashing out in anger. The teacher either doesn’t know the root cause of Precious’s problem, or, more likely, he doesn’t care, maybe because the reputation she already has for being hostile. Her voice also has affected how she is seen by Ms. Weiss, the social worker. Precious has much difficulty opening up and effectively communicating with Ms. Weiss, for obvious reasons. Weiss remarks, “My rapport with Precious is minimal.” Because of this, she is unable to understand that Precious actually has ambition and personal goals in mind (this is speaking in an ideal sense because there is also a huge possibility that Weiss just doesn’t care). Precious is furious when she learns that Weiss just wants to place her in a job taking care of elders.

          Language and emotion are directly connected in the book. Earlier in the book, Precious is just simply unable to convey certain emotions because she doesn’t possess the language skills to articulate certain emotion. As her language skills develop, the more in tune with her emotion she becomes. All these changes begin when she starts her at Each One Teach One. A trifecta of events occur (learning from Each One Teach One, Abdul, and her support group outside her Mama’s house i.e. the other students and Ms. Rain) that finally provide Precious with the means to grow and escape the confines of her past. When she returns home after childbirth she takes the first step in the right direction. She yells “Nigger rape me. I not steal shit fat bitch you husband RAPE me RAPE ME!” She is now able to understand and articulate the fact that none of that stuff was her fault and even mustered the courage to leave her Mama behind. All sorts of new possibilities and doors open up for Precious at her halfway house. Things begin to turn around for her, especially from within, as she finally begins to find some sort of happiness in life. She says toward the end, “I’m alive inside. A bird is my heart. Mama and Daddy is not win. I’m winning. I’m drinking hot chocolate in the Village wif girls- all kind who love. How that is so I don’t know. How Mama and Daddy know me sixteen years and hate me, how a stranger meet me and love.” Certain things she surely still cannot understand due to many years of being broken emotionally/physically/sexually broken down, but through language development and the comfort of friends and more exposure to the world, she is blessed with the ability to gather some form of self-worth and a sense of meaning and purpose, providing a 'foot-in-the-door' for a better future.