Coming Of Age Crisis In The Film 'Smoke And Precious'

Throughout the films Smoke and Precious, we are introduced to an assortment of characters in terms of personalities, goals, and struggles. In Smoke, the character facing a coming of age crisis, Thomas “Rashid” Cole, is a young man being raised by his aunt and uncle. In the movie Precious, Clarice is not having a coming of age crisis, but rather the crisis of being forced to grow up too quickly. Both Thomas and Clarice face problems placed upon them by their parents that lead to individual crises in their adolescent development. In the movie Smoke, Thomas faces issues that stem from the abandonment from his father after the sudden and tragic death of his mother. Although his aunt and uncle raise him and attempt to fill the void created by

According to the testimonial her mother gave at the office towards the end of the film, her struggles began decades before she is even close to becoming an adult. Clarice faced trauma that a young mind, and even a mature mind, often cannot process, which led to her episodes of dissociation. In addition to the horrific sexual abuse that she received from her biological father that resulted in a child when she was only thirteen, her mother was completely delusional and blamed Clarice for the fact that her boyfriend no longer loved her the same. Additionally, her mother physically abused her and did not want her to learn the way that a child should. She preferred that Clarice remain borderline illiterate in oder to collect a better welfare check. Both of her parents failed the most basic of parental requirements — keep your child safe. The bar of necessities for raising a child is on the floor, the bar to raise a functional, non-traumatized child is ultimately the goal, but neither of her parents could even reach the bare minimum. Both of them actively engaged in hurting her, in traumatizing her, in damaging her self-worth, self-image and in the end, they caused her death. Neither of her parents compensate for their egregious behaviors, she has to find it in herself to lift her head up and forge a new path for her life. I cannot relate to her struggle with her parental figures, I instead relate to her turning to food as a way of comfort even though we find out that it is not so comforting after all, the scene of stealing, eating, and throwing up the large bucket of fried chicken is a cycle that too many young girls and women can relate to. The lesson that everyone can benefit from that Clarice demonstrates is that you are more than your circumstances, you are more than what others have done to you and you are more than the bad experiences in your