Precious
An unfortunate girl who finally finds her voice as a powerful poet. She is also a mother, raising her two children (sibling children, in fact, because the babies' father is Precious's father too, who rapes her often throughout her entire childhood). At school, she is misunderstood, and her social paralysis and reading issues (along with her second pregnancy) lead to her expulsion from school, but she decides to find another way to attain her education.
Mary
Mary is Precious's abusive mother. Jealous that her husband, Carl, would rather have sex with their daughter than herself, Mary takes her resent out on Precious, physically beating her and humiliating her. She even calls her first grandchild, "The Little Mongo" because the child is born with Down Syndrome (because it is an incestuous pregnancy from her father's rape).
Carl
This child rapist is so disturbed that when he has a baby with his wife, he fixates on her. When she is still just a young child, he starts raping Precious. By age 12, Precious is pregnant with Carl's baby. It happens again at 16. In the end, Carl's rape has fatal consequences, because Precious will likely die from the HIV that her own father passed on to her.
Ms. Rain
A friendly teacher at the alternative school who doesn't mistreat Precious. Finally, someone who will treat Precious like a human, and unsurprisingly, Ms. Rain easily evokes Precious's ability to read, thrusting Precious into the world of poetry and the written word. Precious is so inspired by her newfound support system that she writes poetry for her class, and they absolutely love it.
