My Father David Themes

One of then most important themes of the memoir was abuse and how it was easy seeing it normalized. This being that because David was at such a young age when he started being abused,he came adapted to it. At first his mother was possibly one of the sweetest and loving mother you could have met, but she gradually turns into what is appeared as a “witch.” David’s mother put him through unmanageable situations to the point where he got used to some. This idea of him getting used to it could be seen exceptionally in “I was still the bastard of the family.” (page 96)
I agree with the way David acted in the book. While David couldn’t necessarily act against his mother’s actions in fear of getting worse punishments, or even becoming more of a “bad boy,” he still realized what she was doing was wrong. This meaning he used to try to beat her at her tactics, called her names like “bitch” in his head but rather decided to keep doing what he was put through instead of arguing. He knew that

possibly if he died, she would win in the end so he did whatever he could have done to survive.
Although children nowadays over react about certain arguments or events they experienced, I do not think David was biased about anything.

Especially David realized all the terrible punishments he was given, he took note of it in his head as well as times when people actually were compassionate and treated him like a real person. I feel like David’s mother would have looked at this in different ways. She could have made arguments that the alcohol made her do it, because she was such a heavy drinker, or that “David is a bad boy who needs to be punished for a long time.” David’s mother even said this to her neighborhood friend who asked why David was never allowed to play outside with the other kids. I feel like the brothers might have been in denial that David was actually abused, before they experienced it themselves, because they weren’t around for it half the time. If they were, they just saw it as because he was a “bad boy” like their mother said, he needed to be punished for being

one.
One of the most important things learned from reading this memoir was to notice the signs of abuse, and to not try and normalize it. Also, it was to learn that to never judge people, because you never know what circumstances they’re under. David was brainwashed into lying why he had bruises and all things on his body,and had to steal food from classmates and the school just so that he could eat. When David was caught, classmates made fun of him and tried to stay as far away from him as possible not realizing what he was actually going through.
I think that the title of this book shows the real idea of how he was treated. This meaning that usually you would call any child by their actual name, along with people, and never call people a “it.” If you are to call something or someone a “it” it is saw as lesser than you or not worthy of getting a proper name. David was excluded so much from the family that he was rather a burden than an actual person born into the family. Even in some cases, David felt he was treated lesser than an actual dog, as seen in the quotes above, when in reality it should be the other way around.