‘A child called it’ by Dave Pelzer

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‘A child called it’ by Dave Pelzer

                

My Specialist Study is based on the novel ‘A child called it’ by Dave Pelzer.  The book is solely based on Dave’s triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds, and his indomitable spirit throughout the roughest years of his life.  In my essay I will tell you of his life from 4 – 12 years of age.

 Although this book is mainly about abuse, and I do feel great sympathy towards Dave, it is also about how he used his mother’s abuse to help him and gave him the motivation he needed to succeed in life.

Dave Pelzer was one of the three most severely abused children in the history of The State of California.  The other two are dead.  Dave could have been dead too.

The first part of Dave’s life was idyllic in his memory – he says his family was ‘the bunch’- a loving mother and father with whom he enjoyed wonderful holidays and visits to the Russian River.

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 his brothers did something wrong, Dave was the one to receive punishment – at first it was just banishment to the corner of a bedroom, which quickly lead onto Dave being forced to drink a concoction of Ammonia and Bleach.  Then his mother began spending her days watching TV and drinking beer.  Easily irritated, she yelled at Dave for the slightest reasons.  Soon, instead of banishment, Mrs Pelzer smashed Dave’s face against the mirror and made him repeat over and over “I’m a bad boy! I’m a bad boy!”  He was forced to spend hours staring into that mirror.

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Throughout the novel Dave gives a very descriptive account of events, which include his mother doing such things as, burning his arm on a hot stove, refusing him food, and ‘accidentally’ stabbing him in the stomach.

 When there was a new baby born, Dave was forced to eat from the dirty soiled nappies.

 The last straw for Dave’s teachers came when 12-year-old Dave came to school with badly burnt arms because he had been forced to soak them in ammonia.  At the point several teachers put their jobs on the line (this was long before ...

This is a preview of the whole essay