Summary Of A Child Called It By Dave Pelzer

The book I chose to read is A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer who tells the story of his horrific childhood.

Dave Pelzer as a child was brutally beaten and starved by his unstable alcoholic mother, his mother

played so called “games” with him that nearly left him dead. He had to learn to play his mother's games

in order to stay alive, as she no longer considered him apart of the family. As years went by Daves

punishments or so called “games” became more dangerous, humiliating and disturbing. For example, he

was forced to wear the same ripped, smelly clothing everyday. This was just one way his mother tried to

humiliate him, Dave uses his faith and positive self thought

This book was very hard to read. I now

have a better understanding about child abuse and how disgusting and an absolute terrible thing can

happen to a child.

The book was written in first person narrative. “I told myself no matter what she said or did I would

not let her take me down” (Pelzer 34) Dave Pelzer wrote this book in first person narrative to make the

reader feel his pain and the struggle he faced as a child. Dave Pelzer used the technique of imagery,

which in this case, was a very terrible thing for me to imagine. By using imagery, the reader experiences

the awful games his mother played with him. For example, one game his mother played was called the

“gas chamber” where his mother would locked him in the bathroom with a bucket mixed with ammonia

and bleach, The fumes would cause him to feel dizzy and be sick to his stomach.

The social issue of this book is child abuse. It is revealed by Dave Pelzer telling his story as a child

being abused from his personal perspective. I think Dave’s first person narrative voice is very effective,

If he chose to write it in any other narrative voice I don’t think I would have really understood