Summary Of ' It ' Middle Childhood Application Essay

The traumatic effect of the abuse marked Pelzer’s life. Through a psychological point of view, it is visible that there are many different ways the abuse affected Dave. Dave was mistreated in ways that made him wonder why. I was also left feeling perplexed and sometimes feeling frustrated, I wanted to know why David 's mother singled him out for her abuse and why his father, siblings, teachers, nurses, administrators, and neighbors did so little to protect him. Then, I realized that these were the same frustrations David has lived with most of his life.

In 1995, David Pelzer wrote a book describing his childhood, a book that is highly recommend as a must read. The book starts off with a happy home and quickly turns into his very own nightmare. Pelzer is a survivor of child abuse. This story is so nauseating that while reading it you find found yourself praying that his parents would rot in hell for all eternity.

The first factor that played a role in the continuation of abuse in Pelzer’s life is alcohol. His mother started to increase the intake of alcohol, she drank. Dave’s mother had a drinking problem when she began to associate drinking alcohol with getting rid of her problems as a wife and mother. Pelzer explains that his relationship with his mother drastically change. The mom’s behavior became worse when her husband went to work and she spend her entire time laying on the couch , dressed in her bathrobe and watching television. She only movement was to only use the bathroom, getting more drinks or heating left over foods (Pelzer, pg. 29). Through the progression of Pelzer’s life , his mother drank heavy. Most of the time her day was spend drinking. Pelzer’s father contributed to the increase of abuse that Dave receive. He passive allowed his wife do whatever she wanted with Dave because he was tired of battling with his wife. This became a moment of realization for Dave when he figured out that there was no one to advocate for his rights at the

Family relationships and society play fundamental roles in how a child grows and makes their own choices. How they are seen and treated by society can influence how the child acts. From how they are raised, to what values and morals they are taught will determine the child’s reactions to obstacles that come up in life. I will be discussing some major events in the book that stood out to me as to why two men who basically grew up on the same block, ended up on very different paths.

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.

David Pelzer was finally freed from his abusive home after years of neglect from his family, doctors and educators. Through his book, A Child Called “it,” he recounts the different types of abuse he faced and the effects the abuse had on his ability to communicate with others and in his overall life. Throughout David’s abuse, his mother took the primary role of abuser by developing different reward and punishment techniques to discipline her child. As it is mentioned, her first disciplinary techniques and forms of abuse where to dehumanize and humiliate David by asking for others to ignore him, require the family to treat him as if he was not a member of the family, and wear the same clothes to school for months. David’s mother would also mentally mistreat him by using the “corner treatment” and then the “mirror treatment,” both techniques meant to make David believe that he was a “Bad Boy” that deserved to be punished. As well, his mother’s abuse often employed physical punishments such as beatings consisting of punches, kicking, and slapping. David was also stabbed once in the stomach and made to drink ammonia, Clorox and liquid soap. All of the abuse David suffered, resulted from years of child abuse neglect and sexism.

Dave's hopes for rescue initially lay with his father. Once an advocate on behalf of his son, Stephan Pelzer, also an alcoholic, eventually grew tired of battling his wife and allowed her to do what she would to the boy. When Dave told his father that he had been stabbed, Stephan responded by asking why. Upon hearing that the boy had been stabbed while doing the dishes, the intoxicated father told his son, "Well, you ah , you better go back in there and do the dishes." He did, however, promise not to tell his wife about their conversation so that the boy wouldn't get into further trouble. It was at this moment that the boy realized that no one in his household would or could help him. Eventually, the elder Pelzer left the family, allowing his wife to take her reign of terror to new heights of sadism.

Throughout the short story the reader can tell that Dave is eager to leave his childhood

Dave Pelzer has endured so much in his past. The years of abuse that seemed like a never ending maze of torture, were like a routine of beatings to him. The wicked games that his mother played on him and the bizarre ways of practicing them, felt like an eternity for a 12 year old boy. Nevertheless, for every darkest storm there is a shining ray. The ray of hope that has fueled Pelzer's motivation to strive for the best, for his freedom, and for a brighter future. Pelzer's journey to finding the power to continue begins by acceptance; accepting the fact that he is an abuse victim. Once the acceptance has been initialized, the healing process begins to take place.

David presents himself as a wayward lost soul caught in a shaky tower. Growing up, David never truly had a childhood. His parents argued to the point of physical fights, his dad would ridicule and beat him in drunken rage, and for the most part this was how life was. David lived in fear waking up the next morning to the next challenge or emotional trigger. Little did David know, the triggers of his dad yelling down the hall activated more than just a startle response and negative thoughts of worthlessness and feeling unloved and unwanted leading to “toughening up” while he was hit (Beck & Beck, 2011).

Dave’s childhood was a horrible one to say the least. Dave’s Mother was a drunk who beated him, starved him, and did many more horrendous things. It wasn't always bad though; he was approximately 3 when his mother was a wonderful woman. Dave’s father was a firefighter who cherished his wife and children. They had many pets, such as exotic fish and a turtle named “Thor”.

Mr. Fishel, born in 1988, considers his childhood to be "pretty normal". With a brother that is only a year and a half younger than him, they would constantly fight and play around together. They would fish, hike, and play baseball. His sister is much younger than him, but they still share a close relationship. His father influenced him as a child; he would teach him about survival techniques and the great outdoors. They would do things such as fishing, camping, and hiking. His father taught, inspired, and even saved him at one point. He tells about a time when he almost drowned in a lake as a child; "I remember him racing by the lifeguard, and realized my father was some sort of superhuman who could do anything". When it comes to his verbally abusive mother, Mr. Fishel admitted, "My mother wasn 't much of a presence in our life, so we just tell people she isn 't in the picture".

Dave had three brothers who never once were abused; his mother chose only to torture him. Throughout his terrible childhood, Dave somehow managed to maintain a hopeful outlook on life and somehow kept his will to survive.

When David, known as “Tsotsi,” misguidedly stole an infant, his perception of society distorted; the vulnerability and innocence of an infant triggered him to distance himself from his harsh reality engrossed in violence. Watching David use the child’s innocence to escape reality caused me to reflect on my past attempts to escape the harsh reality that society implements. With a respective connection to David’s childhood, I experienced not only the pain and sorrow of his emotional journey, but also the discomfort of my broken childhood. While I did not embody an identical situation, the hopelessness and self-loss familiarity emerged.

A Child Called "it" In his two novels A Child Called "it", and The Lost Boy, the author, Dave Pelzer explains about his childhood. During that time, author was a young boy from an age 3 to an age 9. David’s mother has started to call him " The Boy" and "it." The author mainly covers the relationship between his family. His main focus point is the bond between his mother and him. He describes his mother as a beautiful woman, who loves and cherished her kids , who changed from this " The Mother," who abused him because she was alcoholic and was sick. The Mother used David to take her anger out. An abusive mother who systematically closed down any escape he may have from her clutches. Shuts