Ms. Rain Symbolism

Sapphire uses the character of Ms. Rain throughout Push as a form of symbolism of power through education combined with the literary technique of agency development that directly connects to the symbolism to demonstrate that knowledge is ultimate tool, especially in relation to gender and race. This is done to demonstrate the injustices concerning women's rights despite the arrival of feminism, defined as "advocacy of equality of the sexes and the establishment of the political, social, and economic rights of the female sex" (OED). Although women gained many rights within the last century, African American women still face many inequalities in accessing those rights which is demonstrated through the lack of help Precious receives despite the many outward signs of the problems going on at home such …show more content…
Making the test between only the two of them also enables Ms. Rain to help Precious more directly than her previous educators, symbolizing that paying special attention to people in an oppressed position, such as young African American women, and ensuring that they are also elevated through education gives them a chance to also develop themselves and gain equality in society. The main reason for the symbolism here is to demonstrate to the reader that Precious is already gaining confidence which will enable her to develop her own agency as opposed to continuing to stagnate. ~~~~~~ Ms. Rain shows Precious that she is capable of accomplishing anything she desired, Ms. Rain is symbolic of the knowledge will help Precious accomplish a lot. Perhaps this is more akin to a final paragraph? Pre-Ms. Rain, Sapphire shows us the inverse of her metaphor with the insight to her childhood. Precious, being uneducated and dehumanized by her peers, is restrained from learning how to gain agency and interact positively in a social