Preview

Dave Pelzer A Child Called It Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
757 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Dave Pelzer A Child Called It Analysis
“You are a nobody! An It!”(140) Dave Pelzer, the author of A Child Called “It”, was only 4 years old when his Mother started abusing him. Before he started being abused, he lived in Daly City, California with his parents and his brothers where they had the perfect life. They were a lovely family and everything was perfect, until his parents started drinking and his relationship with his Mother drastically changed from discipline to punishment that grew out of control when Father was away at work. Dave considered his Father his hero and believed that his Father would be his savor from “hell”. Dave no longer had a name; they simply called him The Boy. Pelzer tells the story of his severe abuse he suffered as a child; where his Mother would starve him, make him endure cruel and unusual punishments, and beat him; until the age of 12 when he was saved. One day when Dave was in fifth grade, the teachers, administrator and school nurse finally realized they couldn’t let him suffer in silence any longer. The fight for food all started when his Mother would “forget” to feed him. On a good day, he was allowed leftover cereal portions from his brothers, but only if he performed all of his chores before going to school. As his Mother got crueler, he was not allowed to …show more content…
Pelzer is recognized as one of the nation’s most effective and respected communicators, addressing corporate groups, convention and human service professionals. His book A Child Called “It” describes from his viewpoint about the severe abuse he suffered as a child. In the story, Pelzer tells the readers about the abuse of his Mother and how she would starve, torture, and beat him until the point where he couldn’t get up. Until 1973 at the age of 12 he was sent to a foster family. “It is important for people to know that no matter what lies in their past, they can overcome the dark side and press on the a brighter

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The autobiography of Dave Pelzer‘s life highlights issues concerning the youth. His novels, A Child Called “It” and The Lost Boy demonstrated the first awareness of abuse and mistreatment in the homes of blood related families and many other homes. Pelzer‘s story is not the first of many stories to depict a child trying to survive in a home where there is many afflicted injuries. These injuries can be classified into three categories: physical, emotional and mental. The work of Pelzer suggest that the nature of life consist of trials and tribulations and it is the responsibility of the individual to be resilient to every test.…

    • 106 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Daniel Pelka report

    • 2433 Words
    • 10 Pages

    This report is based on Daniel Pelka. A four year old boy who was starved and beaten to death by his own mother and her partner. In this report I will be looking into Daniels short life and identifying what happened to him. I am going to be exploring not only what happened but how it was allowed to happen and in what ways this young boy was failed by systems that are put in place to protect vulnerable children. I shall then give my recommendations and opinions based on my findings.…

    • 2433 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is always a more extensive range of situations that could happen to a child being brutally abused. In the book A Child Called It, by Dave Pelzer, I believe that a variety of situations, good and bad will happen to Dave in the next few chapters. I predict the atrocious and exploitative actions Dave's mother is doing will lead a school staff member to find out about the abuse, Dave’s father to leave the home and Dave to be hospitalized.…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The memoir “Glass Castle” covers a variety of serious concerns that affect any modern society. One of these concerns is child abuse. Child abuse is defined as any deliberate action taking against a child by an adult. These actions may be be physical violence, emotional or verbal abuse, refusal to meet a child's basic needs and even sexual molestation. There is much debate as to what exactly could turn someone, particularly a parent, to cause harm to child. However, a general consensus is that a few basic factors can increase the risk. Among these are mental health issues, substance abuse, lack of support and socioeconomic stress. Of all of these, socioeconomic stress is the most prominent cause of child abuse. This stress is often seen in a…

    • 1110 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Dave Pelzer

    • 1701 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Dave Pelzer was born on December 29, 1960 in Daly City, California. He is the son of Stephen Pelzer, who was of Austrian and Irish descent, and Catherine Pelzer. Dave Pelzer was the second of five boys in the family. He has experienced a truly horrific lifestyle. As a child, he endured the horrors of child abuse, this included physical torture, mental cruelty, and was nearly starved to death. His mother referred to him as “it”, he was the only child that was abused. The rest of his brothers lived a happy typical life. Dave, on the other hand, was looked at as the family slave. He was forced to sleep in the cold, dark basement on a cot with no blankets or pillow. He had only one pair of clothes and they were all torn and worn out from over the years. It all started when Dave was about two years old.…

    • 1701 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In 1874, Mary Ellen’s case shined a light on Abuse of children and was brought by American Society for the Prevention of cruelty to Animals, which later passed a law to protect children from physical abuse from their parents. During the trial, the judge ordered for Ellen to be brought into the court room and from there she gave her heart-wrenching testimony. This testimony made such an impact in history that the author, physician, and writer Howard Markel revealed her story in the New York Times in 2009. In this composition Markel uses appeals as strategies to reveal and remind the audience of Ellen’s case and form a movement to prevent it and protect victims, which is an effort that continues today. In Markel strategies he mostly uses an emotional appeal which is more effective in this composition because the language used in Ellen’s testimony evokes the senses and brings emotion to the audience and helps them to relate her. Her testimony provides concrete evidence which Markel used to give his composition a logical appeal.…

    • 609 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pelzer is the survivor of the third worst case of child-abuse in California's history, a case he vividly recalls in A Child Called "It". Here he tells of a childhood so horrific and, at times, so nauseating that while reading I found myself praying that there was a hell so Pelzer's parents could rot in it for all eternity. And not just hell, mind you, but a special place in hell designed specifically for people like this, a level of hell beyond anything Dante could imagine.…

    • 2120 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Eng4c lesson 3

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages

    This editorial is about Jeffrey Baldwin, a little boy who was killed by his grandmother, after he was placed in her care by Children’s Aid. She had previous allegations of child abuse but no one looked into it. They ignored all the signs that could have saved this boys life.…

    • 614 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    O’Grady speaks about a case, Sandusky’s, that happened around 2008 which started to come out in public. Various mothers decided to stand out for their children since they lacked defending themselves, due to their knowledge. Children thought adults did acceptable things, so they did not question the adult. It develops in a child’s mind assuring them that being abuse is something common and natural when it is not. O’Grady states how children do not react well to the abuse they went through. The problem with today’s society is to maintain their families name clean without a stain of mistake. Matthews-Creech offers examples how one should notice the signs and symptoms of an abused child. The authors contribute a help by identifying a victim by the form of the way they act.…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    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.…

    • 1594 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Child Called “It” is a very tragic book that tells an amazingly true story about a real life little boy in California. Written by Dave Pelzer, the story reveals an extreme case of child abuse, one of the worst ever report in California history. A Child Called “It” tells the unbearable story of a boy who gets beaten day after day by his alcoholic mother. This story is an autobiography communicating very informative information of the severity of child abuse and how important school officials are in spotting this epidemic. Dave came from a typically good family. Dave’s parents loved him deeply, especially on holidays and special trips into town while his father was working a twenty-four hour shift. However, things began to change drastically in a negative way. A Child Called “It” focuses mainly on abuse in…

    • 975 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Dear Reader

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The title of the book I read is A Child Called It. This novel is an autobiography and was written by a man named Dave Pelzer. There are one hundred eighty-four pages in this novel. This book is about Dave’s life as a child. It took place in the year 1973 in the city of Daly City, California.…

    • 521 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Genie interview

    • 1011 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In late of 1970, Genie a young thirteen-year-old girl was discovered to be a victim of extraordinarily severe abuse by her parents. This child was neglected since she was two years old, and socially isolated for nearly eleven years before her discovery by a social worker. The Social worker happened to notice a small skinny girl at the presents of a nearly blind mother, when the two came into the Social Welfare office. Genie’s looks at the office were the to be ages of six or seven to the social worker, when Genie’s real age was already at thirteen. Her hands were held up as though they were resting on an invisible rail and a stooped unnatural posture to Genie’s phasic. The abuser happened to be her father and mother who kept it quite for over a decade. Genie spent her eleven years of childhood at home in solitary confinement. She would spend each day chained naked to a potty chair for toddlers. When night came Genie slept with her arms restrained, inside a sleeping bag in a “cage like crib” made from wood and wire. If Genie would happen to make any noise, her father would beat her for it. The daily food consumption for Genie was baby food, cereals and soft-boiled eggs, all of which were fed to her. Parental abuse was all orchestrated by her father, who locked Genie up to protect her from what he considered, “the dangers of the outside world”.…

    • 1011 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our memories and experiences from a young age shape our reality and what we see as our identity. As youngsters our understanding of who we are is very little. We are often too worried about seeking adventure and amusement that we do not take into consideration much our identity and who we really are. We all have an identity and how much we understand of it has a lot to do with how our memories and experiences have shaped our realities to who we are today. Through experiences and memories we build for ourselves a reality and we can see this through Keith and his experiences with his domineering father. Through experiencing abuse from his father and control, Keith builds a reality for in which he mirrors his father’s trait in possessing dominance and control over his one and only friend, Stephen. This signifies how Keith’s experience leads him to hold an identity of an oppressor when he is in is his own playing field with people his age. Likewise, as we go through school we see bullies and right them off as horrible people. But often are these bullies’ victims themselves of abuse and themselves use abuse on others to free their minds of the burden of their own trauma. What they understand of their identity consists of oppression both on the receiving and distributing ends of…

    • 1346 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Secrets in the Fire

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Sofia survived the attrocities, yet experienced such trauma that no child should have to endure. Set against the natural innoncence of a child's sense of what is just and unjust-the questions -and answers Sofia asks bring us back to the powerful inner beliefs that children have.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays