Push Essay
Yuliana Mejia
Ms. Wheeler
Pre-AP American Literature
16 June 2010
Part I: Critical Reception In a critical essay, “Pushed to Survival”, about Sapphire’s Push, Paula L. Woods explores the impact that the novel will leave on the readers. One of her first comments was, “The opening line of Sapphire’s first novel hits the reader like a Mack truck, and it clearly signals that the literary ride ahead won’t be in your father’s Oldsmobile” (Woods 86) I find this interesting because Woods explains how right from the first sentence you’re captivated, you don’t have time to get bored and to me that’s a very important detail that many books lack. Woods later in her criticism adds, “…Sapphire gives the fictional Precious something that surveys and case studies do not-a mind, heart and a ferocious rage to survive that ignite the book and make it strangely compelling for all of the horror Precious relieves in the telling” (Woods 87) This comment is very interesting because it describes how the book has life, and how it’s not like any other book, and that’s what many readers like I love about it. Woods also includes, “Astute readers will dram parallels between Precious’s emerging identity and language skills and those of Celie in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple” (Woods 88) In my opinion this quote is important because Push is being compared to a very powerful and well known book that changed and impacted many lives. The Color Purple like Push is trying to open the eyes of their readers and let them see the bigger picture behind the story that is actually being told. Rosemary Mahoney explains the connection between the reader and the main character, Precious, in the critical essay “Don’t nobody want me. Don’t anybody need me” about Sapphire’s Push. Mahoney has many powerful comments but one that stud out the most to me was, “Push is a novel about acceptance, perseverance, self-discovery and the ways in which the three are intertwined; Sapphire has managed to work into her
Ms. Wheeler
Pre-AP American Literature
16 June 2010
Part I: Critical Reception In a critical essay, “Pushed to Survival”, about Sapphire’s Push, Paula L. Woods explores the impact that the novel will leave on the readers. One of her first comments was, “The opening line of Sapphire’s first novel hits the reader like a Mack truck, and it clearly signals that the literary ride ahead won’t be in your father’s Oldsmobile” (Woods 86) I find this interesting because Woods explains how right from the first sentence you’re captivated, you don’t have time to get bored and to me that’s a very important detail that many books lack. Woods later in her criticism adds, “…Sapphire gives the fictional Precious something that surveys and case studies do not-a mind, heart and a ferocious rage to survive that ignite the book and make it strangely compelling for all of the horror Precious relieves in the telling” (Woods 87) This comment is very interesting because it describes how the book has life, and how it’s not like any other book, and that’s what many readers like I love about it. Woods also includes, “Astute readers will dram parallels between Precious’s emerging identity and language skills and those of Celie in Alice Walker’s The Color Purple” (Woods 88) In my opinion this quote is important because Push is being compared to a very powerful and well known book that changed and impacted many lives. The Color Purple like Push is trying to open the eyes of their readers and let them see the bigger picture behind the story that is actually being told. Rosemary Mahoney explains the connection between the reader and the main character, Precious, in the critical essay “Don’t nobody want me. Don’t anybody need me” about Sapphire’s Push. Mahoney has many powerful comments but one that stud out the most to me was, “Push is a novel about acceptance, perseverance, self-discovery and the ways in which the three are intertwined; Sapphire has managed to work into her
Cited: Kakutani, Michiko. “A cruel world, Endless until a teacher steps in.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1996. 99: 82-83 Mahoney, Rosemary. “Don’t nobody want me. Don’t nobody need me.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1996. 99: 84-86 Woods, Paula. “Pushed to survival.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Detroit: Gale, 1996. 99: 86-87 Sapphire. Push. New York: Vintage Books, 1996.