The document provides a summary of the book "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer. It describes the severe neglect, physical abuse, and emotional abuse that Pelzer suffered from his alcoholic mother from ages 4 to 12. Key details include his mother refusing to feed him, forcing him to say he was a "bad boy" while smashing his face in a mirror, threatening him with a knife, and ultimately stabbing him with a knife without taking him to the hospital. The document expresses sympathy for Pelzer's suffering and admiration for his inner strength to survive such horrific childhood trauma.

1. Theresa Huang(Cuishan)
Feb 11th, 2013
A Child Called It
“Mother simply grabs me and smashes my face against the mirror, smearing my
tearstreaked face on the slick, reflective glass. Then she would order me to say over and
over again, “I’m a bad boy! I’m a bad boy! I’m a bad boy!”(Dave Pelzer, P4) What a
horrifying fact about how a mother hurts her child like that. When I read of this book, A
Child Called It, which it is a real life story about the author, Dave Pelzer, from his age 4
to 12. I was shocking that he had that such a horrible childhood. This book is talking
about he is suffering any abused by his biological mother which is neglect, physical
abuse and emotional abuse.
Dave is suffering neglect by lacking food and clothing. First of all, Dave is
lacking enough food to eat since his mother refuses to give him dinner and he only can
get the leftover cereal portions for breakfast if he is lucky. At night, he dreams of food
when he goes to bed and sometimes he even cannot sleep, “Hours later, I would drift off
to sleep, fantasizing about food. I mainly dreamt of colossal hamburgers with all the
fixings. In my dreams I seized my prize and brought it to my lips. I visualized every inch
of the hamburger.” (P30) Soon later, in order to survive, he begins to steal foods from his
classmates. When his classmates are playing outside the building, he sneaks to the
building right to the homeroom and steal portion of food from his classmates. But later,
he gets caught. Then he changes his mind to steal food from the grocery store. But finally,
he gets caught. When I read of these parts of the story, I feel pity that Dave does not have

2. enough food to eat and this leads him to steal food which it is not a good manner to do it.
It is all about his mother’s faults which she refuses to get food to him. Second, he is
neglected by clothes are old, torn and not clean. His clothes are all smelly since he wears
the same clothes every day. So his friends at school are isolating with him. He feels
lonely without anyone accompany with him.
Dave is suffering physical abuse by his mother who is an alcoholic and is
unhappy with her marriage. Every time, when his husband is working, she goes to drink
and gets drunk. She abuse Dave by grabs his head, smacks, punches, and kicks him until
he is on the floor. One day, when Dave goes back from a Cub Scout meeting, his mother
is so angry and yells at him to stand by the stove, “Mother then reached over and turned
on the gas burners to the kitchen stove”(P28) Then, he uses his tactful idea to extend the
timing. He knows that his brother Ron is coming soon and he never acts so badly when
Ron is there. When Ron is arrived, he saves his life and he knows that “The more Mother
slugged me, the more I began to realize I had won!”(P28) Dave’s inner strength helps
him to take the courage to survive.
Last but not least, Dave’s mother also emotional abuses his child. As time by time,
Dave’s mother tortures him even worst. When he is 10 years old, one evening, his mother
grabs a knife to threaten him to finish the chores on time, if not; she is going to kill him.
But something happen makes her lose the balance; she unfortunately stabs in his stomach
by a knife. At that time, she does not take him to the hospital instead he keeps going to
yell at him to finish the chores on time. His father does not go and help his son instead he
asks him to finish it on time since he does not want to upset his wife. What a helpless

3. father is that. His son is getting hurt by a knife and he just ignores it. It is a life for a child
and how can he does it like that?
If Dave’s father has the courage to help his son, he would not suffer neglect and
physical abuse regularly by his mother at his age from 4 to 12 years old. Dave’s courage
to survive inspires us that we have the ability to change the shadows of the past and live
in a new stage of the life. Our inner strengths encourage us to success.