Preview

"The lost Boy" by Dave Pelzer

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1855 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
"The lost Boy" by Dave Pelzer
Dave Peltzer the author of "The Lost Boy" tells his story from the time he left his abusive mother and alcoholic father, through his experiences in five foster homes and juvenile detention, and how he eventually made it into the Air Force. He was a defiant, rebellious boy who, despite his background and personality, managed to endear himself to many guardians, social workers, and teachers. Pelzer writes in an honest, sometimes rambling, style; he is never bitter, and his story will find many sympathetic readers. The main purpose for Dave to write this book is to show at what lengths children and adolescents have gone to over come the unmentionable hardships of and abusive family. The three most valuable things I have learned from this book are very hard to choose. The book was full of many things to help me in my everyday life. Ranging from how to deal with kids who have be through abusive situations to how kids of abuse act in general. The first one has to be, Dave was very tactful in how he handled his thoughts and feelings. Many children his age are running around chasing girls and hanging with the guys. Not him he was studying hard and trying to be better than his parents were. He would always squander away what he had, so no one could take what was rightfully his and that includes his life. The second thing that was useful was how Dave was never angry with his situation he would just look at it as another challenge. Many times through out the book Dave would have to change foster homes after being fairly settled in the way of living there. Most teens his age can't handle a great deal of change but Dave would just go with the flow and never bat an eye lash. The third most valuable thing has to be his willingness to help. I would think that since no one would help him he would not help anyone else. On the contrary, Dave was always helping with chores, making dinner, and doing little extra things he didn't have to do. I later found out through reading the book

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • 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

    In the 1940s the United States was getting ready to get involved in World War II and needed to set an example of good ethics on a global stage to help bring. The book The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc written by, Douglas Brinkley has many examples of ethical decision making that was critical at the time in order for the United States to bring peace to World War II. For instance the author is re-establishing already known information but with a new style of how he obtained the information, which was straight from the sources of D-day survivors. With the decision to tell the story of D-day through the quotes of survivors it helps show how the army generals and rangers would act showing their ethnicity toward the United States and helping resolve World…

    • 1667 Words
    • 7 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
  • Good Essays

    Prior to the twenty-first century, most cases that involved trauma towards a minor were not evaluated close enough to reveal the psychological and social damage children were experiencing. Experts believed children possessed an innate attribute that allowed them recover quickly from oppression or abuse. However, in the novel The Boy who was raised as a Dog, Bruce Perry exemplifies how despairing experiences can psychologically damage a child’s brain and leave permanent damage that guide dysfunctions in behavior and cognition. Perry urges how healing sessions and social interaction with positive role models, are key to help children cope with traumatic experiences that direct their life.…

    • 538 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Often times it is easier to neglect the inevitability of death, but there is no neglecting the further rebuked notion of murder. The world is quite familiar with this utmost evil and shows no tolerance, but when it comes to the instance of a child who has committed the same crime, the rationale of justice is flipped on its head. There are many conflicts to be raised by two major viewpoints. Those who believe that adolescents deserve mandatory life in prison are understandably hurt and angered by their losses, but they disregard the sheer weight of certain particulars. When a juvenile is convicted of such an act, their age and environment in which they were raised prove to be reasonable mitigation for their horrid conducts.…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homecoming by Bruce Dawe

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War was the “unpopular” war and was intensely criticized by the Australian people for the reasons stated in the poem, Homecoming, by Bruce Dawe. In the poem “Homecoming” by Bruce Dawe, Dawe identifies his personal concerns of the Vietnam War and then presents them through the use of poetic techniques. It is clear to us that Dawe’s foremost concerns are that of the number of dead, the lack of respect and the dehumanisation of the dead, and the careless attitude of the Government towards the War.…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Till it´s gone Robert Crumb born in Philadelphia 1943 (73 year), also called R. Crumb, has made 1992: short history of America, which is a colorful short cartoon about America throughout the past years. The pictures remind me of a song called "Don´t know what you got, till it´s gone” because, in the comic strip the wonderful nature is destroyed, and eventually the people who lived there have planted trees which I think is a sign that when we destroyed nature, we realized what we had lost, and regretted it. Industry is a big success for the world, but at the end, people will long for the past. “Don´t know what you got till it´s gone Don´t know what it is I did so wrong…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Ptsd Book Report

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages

    This paper examines the diagnosis of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as demonstrated by David Pelzer in his autobiographies A Child Called It and The Lost Boy, with a focus on the latter book. Dave is the son of alcoholic parents whose mother severely abused him while his father turned the other cheek. Dave has been subjected to torturous mind games, starvation, and physical abuse so horrendous that he is left scarred, bruised, and nearly dead. The staff at his elementary school eventually takes action and David is removed from his parents’ custody. From there, he spends his teenage years in various foster homes while he struggles with the emotional scars left by the trauma he endured. His search for answers to why he was treated this way and effort to understand the frightening nightmares and emotions he experiences becomes a long journey toward self-love and forgiveness.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There were kids who were petrified of leaving home and kept it to themselves. Then there were the kids who acted like it was a big joke and fooled around. They turned their big brown name tags around so you couldn’t see their name and age. And finally, there were the kids, who were happy and relieved to leave home because they were abused and treated badly.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Homecoming by Bruce Dawe

    • 1161 Words
    • 34 Pages

    In “Homecoming”, poet Bruce Dawe uses vivid visual and aural poetic techniques to construct his attitudes towards war. He creates a specifically Australian cultural context where soldiers have been fighting in a war in Vietnam, and the dead bodies flown home. However the poem has universal appeal in that the insensitivity and anonymity accorded to Precious lives reduced to body bags are common attitudes towards soldiers in all historical conflicts. Although Dawe makes several references to the Vietnam War, the sense of moral outrage at the futile, dehumanising aspects of war is a universal theme. He also speaks on behalf of the mute, dead soldiers who have no way of expressing their suffering and loss of hope. By “speaking for those who have no means of speaking”, Dawe ultimately exposes the brutal hopelessness of soldiers caught up in foreign conflicts and the shocking impact on families.…

    • 1161 Words
    • 34 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Child Called It

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages

    I decided to use this book because it really grabbed my attention the first time I read it. This book is such a horrific story; it makes you wonder how he got through what he did. Also it's motivating, because if he got through that and is now a very successful author it means that you can honestly be anything you want to. The book itself was really detailed and it makes you feel his pain, and also it helps you realize the seriousness of child abuse. A detail about the book…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many foster youth do not graduate from high school, but with the bonds between foster families and the foster children, there will be a long success in their future. Some of them have their own stories that they would love to share with the world. “A young boy suffered from abuse and neglect and responded with outbursts, bad behavior and anxiety. His foster father gave him unconditional love and helped him through disruptive visits with his birth mother that would frequently set him back. The boy healed and improved greatly and yearned for a permanent home. For Christmas this year, his foster father gave him the greatest gift of love the boy could imagine.” “Five siblings were in need of adoptive homes. One of our foster parents recruited three other families to KidsPeace Foster Care, and together, the families adopted all five children through KidsPeace. They all live in the same town and most attend the same church, so the siblings get to see each other often and celebrate birthdays and holidays in a big happy group. One of the mothers candidly tells her unique story and discusses her motivation.” “Teenage mothers to be are often placed in foster care to ensure they learn how to care for themselves and their babies. In this case, the baby was born…

    • 1711 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Lost Boy Summary

    • 3193 Words
    • 13 Pages

    Lost boy is a follow up to Dave Pelzer's book “A Child Called It”. This Novel is an auto-biography of Dave Pelzer. In Pelzer's The Lost Boy, he answers questions and reveals new adventures through the emotional and intense story of his life as an adolescent child in the foster system. Now considered an F-Child (Foster Child), Dave is moved to five different homes. He suffers shame and experiences displeasure from those who feel that all foster kids are trouble makers and worthless of being loved just because they are not part of a "real" family. It follows his experiences in the foster care system. After being taken from his mother Dave goes from one foster home to another describing his life. I believe the title of the book (“The Lost Boy”) relates to Dave to feeling lost, as in alone. He does not have a family.…

    • 3193 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cited: Merryn, Erin. Stolen innocence: Triumphing Over a Childhood Broken By Abuse: a Memoir. Deerfield Beacch: Health Communications, 2004. Print.…

    • 845 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Expectations. It’s an odd word. It means that you believe that something will have a certain outcome. It can be either good or bad. Most people tend to forget that though, and only associate it with the good things. In reality, most expectations don’t have the outcome you want them to. No matter how hard you try to meet everyone’s expectations, it isn’t always in the cards for you. It could be that you expect a good grade for your latest essay or that you will find your yet to be discovered talent. This short story shows this exactly.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics