David Pelzer Mental Abuse Research Paper

Words Left Unspoken David Pelzer, a now famous author, once stated “I will stay alive.” Fighting for his life, a small boy had to find the will to keep breathing as his mother mentally and physically abused him for eight long years, beginning at the young age of four, a time in one young person’s life where there should be no worries (Pelzer). When people have children, they both consciously and subconsciously take on a certain responsibility, which is often times not met. There is a fine line between discipline and punishment that human beings fail to recognize. Mental abuse is the most common abuse, but is not recognized as much as it needs to be by society (Blue, Laura). Children everyday suffer from mental abuse, and as they grow older

Usually the parents, siblings, family members, or close family friends are the abusers. Most of the children are too little to understand what is happening, or that it is wrong what is happening to them (“Child Abuse” 318-319). Kids are too young to comprehend all of these things that adults do. It is all new to them and grown adults have to corrupt the child’s innocent mind because that is what they enjoy. Some red flags would be bleeding or swelling in the private parts, torn or bloody underwear, fearful behavior such as nightmares, depression, unusual fears, tries to run away (“Child Sexual Abuse”). It is always important that parents and authorities watch for these types of signs. The National Sexual Assault Hotline, 1-800-656-4673, is open 24 hours a day for everyone's available use (“Child Sexual Abuse”). Authorities have stated that there are more incidents than what have been reported. Just in 2003, a report was made that three out of four children have been sexually abused by someone that was close to them (“Child Sexual Abuse

People saw the bruises his mom left on him. They saw the burns she made whenever she burnt him and then tried to make him sit on top of the stove because that was her way of good punishment (Pelzer 41). Then, she started drinking and stabbed him while he had to clean the infected wound himself, but still no one said anything (Pelzer 87). She even made him drink ammonia to quench her thirst of abuse ( Pelzer 74-75). Everyone in Daly City saw the abuse that Pelzer went through, but no one said anything for eight years. How could one person just sit there and allow a child be abused and still sleep at night? There are people that could adopt a child in need, but they always think of the things that could happen. What if you leave this kid in the hands of an abuser? They will not stop. They do not care if this human being dies. So stop thinking about the things that could happen and think about the possibilities of this kid growing up because the people of our nation saved