One Child’s Courage to Survive: “ A Child Called It ” Abstract This is one of the best, yet saddest books that I have ever read. There are so many bad things out there that are happening to good people. We just have no idea. You never know what is going on behind closed doors. I am so lucky not to have experienced anything like this growing up. There is so much reality in this book, but I never knew that reality was ever this awful. It brought me to a realization that I have never known before. It is extremely sad that something like this really did happen to such a sweet little boy. Summary A Child Called “It” is a story based on a real life little boy’s tribulations with his mothers shocking abuse. The first part of Dave's life was idyllic in his memory--he says his family was "the Brady Bunch"--a loving mother and father with whom he enjoyed wonderful holidays and a happy trip to the Russian River. Everyone on the outside thought that David’s family was perfect. No one in their neighborhood would have suspected anything was wrong. All that changed when Dave was in first grade. For no known reason, his mother singled him out from his siblings and began abusing him. The abuse began relatively mildly. When he and his brothers did something wrong, Dave was the one to receive punishment--at first simply banishment to the corner of a bedroom. Then, his mother began spending her days watching TV and drinking beer. Easily irritated, she yelled at Dave for the slightest reason, or sometimes for no reason at all. Soon, instead of making him go down to the basement, Mrs. Pelzer smashed Dave's face against the mirror, then made him repeat, over and over, "I'm a bad boy! I'm a bad boy!" He was forced to stand for hours staring into that mirror. Dave's father soon joined The Mother, as David called her, in her drinking. He, too, knew David was a "good boy." He did not join in the abuse, but he did not to stop it, either. David was treated like a slave in his own home. His mother treated him as if he wasn’t even a member of the family like a nobody or an “It”. She first referred to him as, “The Boy, then it quickly changed to It”. Nobody at his school liked him, they called him "Pelzer Smelzer" because his mom never washed his clothes and made him wear the same thing every day. After school, o... ... middle of paper ... ...er of the Year. In 1993 Dave was honored as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans (TOYA), joining a distinguished group of alumni that includes Chuck Yeager, Christopher Reeve, Anne Bancroft, John F. Kennedy, Orson Wells and Walt Disney. (Dave Pelzer Biography 2002, Para. 2) In 1994 Dave was the only American to be selected as one of The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP), for his efforts including child abuse awareness and prevention, as well as for instilling resilience in others. During the Centennial Olympic games, Dave was a torchbearer, carrying the coveted flame (Dave Pelzer Biography 2002, Para. 2) References American Psychological Association. (2001) Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed). Washington, DC: McLaughlin & Reinking A Child Called It. (1995). Health Communications, INC. Deerfield Beach, FL: Dave Pelzer The World of Psychology. (2002). A Pearson Education Company. Boston, MA: Samuel Wood & Ellen Green Wood p. 593 Dave Pelzer Biography. (1997-2002) Book Browse LLC, Davina Morgan-Witts, CEO. San Jose, CA. (para.2). Retrieved 04/29/02 from http://www.bookbrowse.com/index.cfm/author/authorID/145.htm
This is where mother played many games of torture with Dave. She played 'Gas Chamber' which is a dangerous game where Dave has to stay in the bathroom with many different chemicals causing him to choke. She also made him swallow ammonia and made him sit in a bathtub of freezing cold water for hours.
...ngs. He bruised his son and created many scars on his body but Dave was determined to live. He says, “Mother can beat me all she wants, but I haven’t let her take away my will to somehow survive” ( 4). He was abused by his mother and treated les than human, but Dave never ceased to preserve his own life and sanity. Dave struggled to stay alive in a house he was unwanted and mistreated. He was treated like an animal, but Dave still struggled to stay alive and overcome all the abuses from his mother.
The author is attempting to teach the readers that no one should treat people this badly. David is an innocent child and does not deserve his bad childhood. David does not even do anything wrong, and his mother continued to treat him like an object. Pelzer succeeded in telling how cruel the mother is. He also teaches that people can be cruel to each other, and that it is important to teach people that kindness can go a long way. The whole book discusses his childhood. Pelzer wrote some sequels to tell the rest of his child life for the interested readers.
1. In the book, the father tries to help the son in the beginning but then throughout the book he stops trying to help and listens to the mother. If I had been in this same situation, I would have helped get the child away from his mother because nobody should have to live like that. The father was tired of having to watch his son get abused so eventually he just left and didn’t do anything. David thought that his father would help him but he did not.
Mother is introduced to us from “The Rescue” and we continue to learn of her tortures throughout the book. Mother is a woman who is angry, specially towards Dave, specially when he is in need of punishment. Mother does not take care of her appearance anymore, she walks around in robes all day, watches tv, never bothers to put on make up, and often smells of alcohol. She is vindictive, cruel and abusive, always barking orders, assigning impossible chores and coming up with more sickening ways to break Dave. Mother attacks Dave’s self esteem by making him repeat and believe that he is a bad boy. Dave’s self esteem deteriorates even more as she treats him worse than one would a dog, yet acts towards his brothers with care and affection and even goes on to teach them to look down on Dave.
Child abuse was still on the verge of emerging like mental illness, there were no laws or rights being enforced to protect those against neglect or abuse. Furthermore, all the marks that were present of David’s body had to be cause by more than he was admitting being no one else witnessed the abuse. For instance, when Catherine tried to have David eat the defecated diaper, the abuse stopped when Ron, Stan, and David 's father came back to the vacation cabin (Pelzer, 1995, pp. 57). It was a risky long drawn out rescue mission, but if Catherine had assumed a social case was being built on David’s behalf she may have killed him before he had a chance to realize it. I could not envision myself in a situation of that nature, yet as a person concerned about the well-being of a child, I would have done my own personal questioning to David. I understand teachers have to adhere to protocol, but if you notice everyday your student smells or looks unhealthy, you have to investigate as too why, especially if the mother looks glamorous during a parent teacher conference while the child dresses like a hobo. You may want to question why? Stephen, David 's father was the main person in authority with an opportunity to prevent maltreatment. David 's father stood by watching his son use a five-gallon bucket to relieve his diarrhea. When David was forced to eat
Dave Pelzer was placed into foster care as a result of his teachers risking their careers in order to save his life. Authorities ensured him that he would be safe from his brutalizing mother. Pelzer bounced around at least five separate foster homes. During this time his mother fought to have Dave committed into a mental institution; however, Dave was released from the foster care system when he enlisted into the United States Air Force at the age of
Schacter, D. L., Gilbert, D. T., & Wegner, D. M. (2010). Psychology. (2nd ed., p. 600). New York: Worth Pub.
In Rowling’s series, muggle born witches and wizards are readily assimilated into the Wizarding world with no barriers, only facing hardship once they arrive in the form of the discrimination discussed previously in this essay. This open-door style of immigration encouraged in Rowling’s series is lacking in most nations, which maintain preservationist laws that make immigration difficult for many individuals. However, Rowling makes some of the most talented characters in her series muggle born witches and wizards such as Hermione Granger and Lily Evans Potter. These characters serve to represent the exceptional immigrants which the home nation, in this case the wizarding world, can benefit from accepting.
In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’s world, however, things couldn’t get much worse with the main figures, knowing that the end of them is programmed in the title of the play. As adaptation, ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead’ happens to be locked in the end set in the initial play. This causes a deep pessimism sense in the play that cries over the absence of change and action, based on the knowledge of the audience that the only change possible will happen to cause the protagonists death.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play centered on a theme which tries to explain the basic mysteries of the world. Our two main characters Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, find themselves in almost the entirety of the play, in confusion, and lacking basic knowledge, for example, their identities. The play starts off with our two heroes unable to remember their destination, the purpose for their journey, and a constant misunderstanding and confusion of the world around them. This constant confusion and lack of understanding results in the demise of our heroes.
Gall, S. B., Beins, B., & Feldman, A. (2001). The gale encyclopedia of psychology. (2nd ed., pp. 271-273). Detroit, MI: Gale Group.
On the surface, the Harry Potter series is set in a world that is colour-blind, one where those of any foundation can ascend on account of their capacities alone. Underneath this surface, however, Harry Potter explores profound racial themes and, as the books go on, develops a complex and very stratified racial order; the books explicate the social and genetic predispositions of its characters. Furthermore, they highlight the revulsions propagated by individuals who seek global racial purity, i.e. Voldemort, while offering multi-layered feedback of the egregious racial stratification that is maintained
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead follows both Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and they both ponder on all sorts of things just as they did when they were developing in Hamlet, and the play ends with their deaths...
Edited by Raymond J. Corsini. Encyclopedia of Psychology, Second Edition, Volume 1. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.