Dave Pelzer

Imagine if you were scared to come home and feared to find out what your punishment was going to be that day. This autobiography, “A Child Called It”, was written by Dave Pelzer. Surprisingly, Dave Pelzer was the little boy that was abused in this book, and decided to share it with the world to make everyone aware what might happen behind closed doors. In this report I will include many parts of Dave’s life story including: plot, setting, characters, themes, and my response.

First, there were many conflicts that Dave came by, but the biggest battle was his mother. She was the main source of his pain; making him feel worthless or as if he was a punching bag. Dave’s mother had stabbed him, causing a scar to appear across his torso. His school counselor saw the wound stretched across his body when giving him his weekly check up. They had started giving him these “check ups” because the teachers were getting concerned about his full coverage bruises. She then could not let Dave’s abuse continue and showed the school board; explaining that they need to get help for Dave. With that being said, a simple family in a beautiful home is showed to explain that any household has a secret, for every individual family has their struggles and differences. This makes the setting for the background confusing, plot twisting, and difficult to imagine such horrible situations happening in such a perfect welcoming home. Dave’s mother would abuse him when his father wasn’t home, for it was the easiest time because they were alone. In the beginning of the book Dave was expectedly shy and introverted; allowing his mom to feel in complete control. He was told he was a horrific and distasteful child because he stole food from other students, but he had no choice because his mother wouldn’t feed him the nutrients that were necessary to survive. Finally, during the book he gets motivated by the fact that he could make his mom feel unimportant and out of control. With that new confidence, Dave changes and doesn’t show his mom fear, struggle,or pain; this makes him more willing to survive because he is overpowering his mother. Second, …show more content…
A Child Called It reminds me of an extremely mean bully, but this bully takes it to a whole new level. This story relates to me in a way that Dave and I have both been judged and made fun of, because our peers didn’t know what was actually occurring at the time. Whether it was family issues, loss of money, or depression, we all go through tough situations in life and this book can be somewhat of a “you’re not alone” feeling. I dislike this book because it definitely hits a spot in my heart and makes me sad, but it also contains terribly gruesome details that are difficult to read. I like this book because of the ending and that Dave overcame a situation he never thought he would be able to. Again dehumanizing and survival were involved in this book and I think it’s important to understand what was happening in between the lines of just getting beaten. Most people think that violence would be the theme for this book, but in reality Dave became numb to the pain. He later didn’t understand why he was so terrible, why he didn’t get food, and why his mother no longer loved