The Child Called It By Dave Pelzer

The Child Called “It”

In the novel The Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer. In the book the main character Dave experiences what it is like to be abused. In the beginning he talks about how it all started and by the end, he finds a way to escape.

In the beginning of the novel, Dave talks about the good times his family had. From the start his father showed affection towards him. The narrator says, “I felt special when he winked at me and called me ‘Tiger’”(18). This shows good times because later on in the novel, his father is oblivious to Dave being abused. When he was in 1st grade, his mother pushed him to do great things. As stated, “Mom often told us that we must always do the best we could, in whatever we did”(19). His mom used to love and care about her kids future. The Pelzer family used to enjoy doing things as a family. The narrator shows, “ Spring meant picnics. Mom would prepare a feast of fried chicken, salads, sandwiches and lots of desserts the night before”(24). This demonstrates that his family was caring and spent quality time together. Things were not so bad before his mother became an alcoholic.

When his mother began abusing him, his father was not able to help him. As stated, “I felt that He must have hated me”(111). This shows that the drinking problem, his mother developed, not only affected his mother but his father also. When Dave was about 11 years old, his mother started threatening him with death threats. His mother screams, “If you don’t finish on time, I’m going to kill you”(85). The quote explains that Dave will be severely punished. As one of his mom’s punishments she starved him. Dave states, “If I ran out of her time, then my time to eat would too”(92). If he were not able to finish his chores under the time limit his mom gave him, she would not feed him. During this time, his mom would do anything to make his life