Pelzer, D. (2000) A Child Called ‘It’, London: Orion Books Limited.
I chose the Dave Pelzer testimony to review because of its varying slant on the typical societal perception of child abuse which predominately deems maltreatment as either occurring from infancy, or instigated by males. Evidencing this misconception, Dave’s childhood is portrayed as idyllic until, around aged four, life rapidly deteriorates when his mother develops mental health and alcohol issues and turns from being devoted and loving into a sadistic, controlling and manipulative woman. At the hands of his own mother, Dave is singled out from his two brothers for being ‘naughty’, scapegoated and subjected to appalling treatment which leaves him physically, emotionally
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It begins by highlighting the survival tactics twelve year old Dave has developed, having perfected learning his mother’s thinking style and demand for supremacy, over years of repeated torture. Consumed by hate, but knowing how his mother functions, Dave is aware survival is dependent upon him not retaliating or being disobedient. Terrified of repercussions, Dave instead visibly displays submissive signs to his mother’s beatings, including tears and cowering. The acts of fear-induced compliance can be especially observed when Dave; lies to teachers that his injuries happened accidentally to adhere to his mother’s orders, begged teachers to refrain from contacting his mother, and panicked when he thought the policeman was taking him home, rather than a place of safety. Yet, Dave’s immense terror is understandable as his mother’s ‘discipline’ escalates, becoming progressively more violent, degrading and calculating throughout the …show more content…
Steve is Dave’s hero, whereas mother and son initially appear to have a nurturing and close relationship where they share intimate moments. Catherine’s mental health and alcohol problems, however, destroys their connections and fragments the family unit. With a changed demeanour, Catherine engages in façade parenting of Dave whilst in her partner’s presence and to the outside world. In reality, four year old Dave is inflicted with various punishments by his mum; being made to stand in corners, his face being smacked, as well as smashed into mirrors whilst he is forced into repeating ‘I’m a bad boy’. As Dave grew older the abuse and neglect became regular, harsher and less hidden within the family. Endurances ranged from virtual starvation, ice-cold baths, stabbed in the stomach with a knife, made to eat human excrement, and touch a hot stove, to being poisoned with toxic
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...
'You are a nobody! An It!?(Pelzer 140). These were the raw, disheartened remarks that came from the disgusting coldhearted mother's mouth. These painful hurting remarks at her son was how the book got its title and that's what interested me in reading this book. A Child Called 'It', by Dave Pelzer, is a life-changing story about, a young boy who is starved, beat, and tortured by his mother and her cruel games, yet he manages to turn his life around when he grows up. This young boy uses his faith, self-discipline, and will power to overrule his mother's destruction and life damaging obstacles.
School was Dave's only refuge away from his mother, and it was the only place he could actually get food and feel safe. Sometimes he would wish to stay at school forever just so he wouldn’t have to stay home with his mother. He dreaded holidays so much. His school was also a place where he felt loved by the nurse and put an end to his abuse.
Dave Pelzer’s book “A Child Called ‘It’” told his story of growing up in an abusive household. Pelzer’s family at first was just like any other, his parents loved each other and their children and they would do many fun activities together. As time progressed a change happened and his mother began to always punish Pelzer rather than any of the other children. The small punishments soon began to grow and become more and more serious. Soon, Dave’s father and siblings could not help him out of fear that their mother and wife would turn on them. Dave was banished to the garage where he would have to sit at the bottom of the stairs waiting until his mother called him to do his chores. Usually Pelzer would be starved for very long periods of time
The main characters are David, his mother, and father. David, the abused child, cannot escape his mother’s punishments. David’s mother is a drunken, abusive mother that refers to her child as “It”. David’s father is caring and understanding, but cannot help David escape. The mother and father drastically change after the alcohol abuse. David also changes in his attitude towards his parents.
A Child Called "It", by Dave Pelzer, is a first person narrative of a child’s struggle through a traumatic abused childhood. The book begins with Dave telling us about his last day at his Mother’s house before he was taken away by law enforcement. At first I could not understand why he had started at the end of his tale, but after reading the entire book it was clear to me that it was easier to read it knowing there indeed was a light at the end of the dark tunnel. This horrific account of extreme abuse leaves us with a great number of questions which unfortunately we do not have answers for. It tells us what happened to this little boy and that miraculously he was able to survive and live to see the day he left this hole which was his home, however, it does not tell us why or even give us a good amount of background with which to speculate the why to this abuse.
Dave Pelzer’s book, “A Child Called It” (1995), discussed unforgettable accounts of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California’s history. The book is a captivating, yet intimidating journey through the torturing childhood of the author, himself. The child, David (Dave) Pelzer¸ was emotionally and physically tormented by his mother who was unstable and addicted to alcohol. He was the victim of abuse in his own home, a source of ridicule at his own school, and stripped of all existence. This book left me in suspense as I waited with anticipation for the end of this little boy’s struggle to live. Throughout this paper, I will focus on the events that took place in this book and discuss my personal feelings and the effects this story
According to Papalia and Feldman, an estimation of a tragic 905,000 cases were received by child protective services in response to about 3.3 million referrals regarding maltreatment within six million children in the year of 2006. One of the six million children include, David Pelzer. David, in his awe-inspiring novel, A Child Called It, takes the reader upon an unfortunate path as he reflects upon the deplorable life struggles he experienced from the cruel actions of his abusive alcoholic mother. Despite the never ending struggles throughout his daily life at such a young age, David learns to become resilient as time progresses. Keeping in mind that writing this autobiographical
Dave Pelzer, also known as the child that was called “It.” An American author of several autobiographical novels including his most famous 1995 memoir A Child Called It, was actually the recipient of years of child abuse at the hands of his mother, Catherine. Reading his novels, you would think that such graphic content would only be fit in a fiction book, however, the reality of his mother’s so called “games” stands as a memory that Dave carries
Besides telling her child that she hated him and wished him dead Dave’s mother put him through tremendous physical pain and abuse. From a young child till the fifth grade Dave Pelzer had been made to sleep away from the family in the basement in a small army cot. He was starved for days and days on end. His mother longed for any time to severely beat him, it made her day, she would think of morbid things all day to do to him when he got home from school. Among many other things, Dave Pelzer was; stabbed, made to drink ammonia, bleach, and dishwashing detergent, made to sit in a bathroom for hours with many chemicals creating a small gas chamber, put in freezing cold water for hours with just his nose sticking out of the tub, burnt on an open fire on the stove, and made to eat his little brother’s dirty diaper. These were only some of the torturous things his mother could think of to do to her little boy.
Dave Pelzer is the survivor of the third worst case of child abuse in California's history. Dave grew up with his two brothers and two parents. Catherine, Dave's mother, loved to cook exotic meals for her family and decorate their home in creative and imaginative ways each holiday season. She was full of energy, often taking her kids on tours of downtown San Francisco while her husband was at work as a fire fighter, exposing them to Golden Gate Park and Chinatown. Once, while on a family camping trip, young Dave was watching the sunset when he felt his mother embrace him from behind and watch the sunset with him over his shoulder. "I never felt as safe and warm as at that moment in time," he recalls.
It is often common to have an author or the writer of a certain poem write about similar topics and also reflect the same stylistic characters among his or her poems. In Peter Meinke’s two poems, titled Untitled and Advice to my son, he created them both using a specific tone and the same subject to create different themes. Both of these poems also included some of the important elements of poetry.
The book “This Boy’s Life” by Tobias Wolff is a memoir written about the author’s childhood memories and experiences. The author shows many different characters within the book. Many of them are just minor character that does not affect the author much in his life choices and thoughts throughout his growth. But there are some that acts as the protagonist and some the antagonist. One of them is Dwight, the protagonist’s or Jack’s stepfather. This character seems to be one of the characters that inhibit Jack’s choices and decisions. This character plays a huge role in Jack’s life as it leaves a huge scar in his memory. The author here spends the majority of time in this character in the memoir to show the readers the relationship between Jack and Dwight.
"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" explores the beauty of a child's innocence in a time of war:
“What distresses me at times is that I meet a lot of people in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, who still say they’re a victim of child abuse.” Dave Pelzer.