MBTI Type: ESFJ

Precious has a warm and winning personality, which makes her a good detective, since she can get anyone to open up to her just by being sweet, charming, and taking an interest in them. She knows what is appropriate in the culture and feels confident asserting it – when one person asks if it is “okay” to accept food from a woman who has so little, Precious nods and says “she wants to do it.” As if her desire to do so makes it okay, even if she will go without later – a Fe response that respects the feelings of the person offering them food. She doesn’t like to deliver bad news to people, but is also bold in confronting them when she is upset about their behavior. She will also bend the truth to solve crimes! Precious’ case-solving strategy relies on stereotypes about men and women and their behavior, and on the books she has read about being a good detective (which she consults frequently, if she doesn’t know what to expect). She pays attention to details and tracks down answers methodically, going places, asking people questions, and not hypothesizing until she has a solid lead. Often, she will solve a crime just by being in the right place at the right time (such as who is breaking into the shops all along the street). Precious does have good Ne in that once she has enough information, she will put all the pieces together – a remark her husband makes about having been with many other women causes her to suspect (accurately) that they were never actually married; he was married to someone else when he proposed to and married her, rending their marriage illegal. But she is also often wrong in the conclusions she leaps to, including about whether a girl has a boyfriend or not (she assumes she has made him up because “no boy is that perfect”). She fails to foresee that proving a man’s infidelity will cause his wife to turn on her and accuse her of being a “home-wrecking slut!” She also struggles to let go of her own painful experiences and move on, and in that way, she is very tied to her own past; it’s hard for her to allow herself to love JLB, even though she knows he is a “very good man.” Precious likes to solve crimes, but is not always rational in her decisions – she often winds up doing pro bono work out of the goodness of her heart, which means she struggles to pay the bills.

Enneagram: 2w3 so/sp

Precious wants to start up a detective agency to help people—and that’s what she does, often saying that there’s no charge for her services if the needy require assistance. She hires an orphan kid on the spot to hand out pamphlets, even though her assistant tells her that he may dump them in the trash, because she feels sorry for him. She is so kind, and has such a need to do the ‘right thing’ that she forgives her fake husband for deceiving her, and even gives him some money in passing—for his music, she stresses, not his cocaine habit. Whenever she gets riled up, we see flashes of her line to 8 – she becomes angry and assertive, a departure from her usual mild-mannered, agreeable self. Her 3 wing is ambitious and not above bending the truth; she will pretend to be just about anyone to solve a case, and does it successfully; she keeps a cool head and her composure, even when others are being directly insulting to her or making fun of her weight (she tells them men like a woman of her size!). She can also be assertive when she needs to be.

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