Analysis Of A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer

The book, A Child Called It, is about the life of the author himself, Dave Pelzer. He was severely abused physically, mentally, and emotionally by his mother. The most obvious abuse is foreshadowed on the title. David’s mother went from calling him “David” to “The Boy’ to “It”, which is a form of emotional abuse. Throughout the book, the abuse became more severe, and even affected his social life outside of the house. For example, David was forced to wear the same clothes everyday even though they were old, unwashed, and destructed. This resulted to David becoming an outsider in school. By the end of the book, one can tell David has given up on hope and his faith in God. The end of the book is where one can see David at his lowest point in life, just as a fifth grader. Although, this book does not end in the rescue of David from his abusive mother; chapter one is about the teachers and a police officer questioning David which leads to his rescue. Clearly, child abuse is the problem shown in this book. The

For example, Mr. Hansen knew David had problems at school which usually originated from his home life, Mr. Hansen took no action to help David’s situation. For instance, Mr. Hansen once called David’s mother to ask his bruises. This called led to more beating from his mother. The next day the principal saw this and instead of taking action, Mr. Hansen never called David’s mother again. Mr. Hansen’s decision to not help David with the obvious abuse he was receiving at home is a problem. The solution in this situation should have been to talk to David privately and develop a relationship and trust with him. That would have made David feel comfortable with his principal which could have resulted in him telling the truth about his mother and the abuse. Then the principal could have taken action on David’s mother in order to get David out of the house and into a safe