“A child called It,” has to be the saddest book I have ever read, every page throwing more tears at me, word by word provoking a reaction inside of me; sorrow, anger, disbelief. This book is the beginning of a compelling biography, by David Pelzer. The concluding parts to his biography can be found in the books: The Lost Boy and A Man called Dave. I have started to read The Lost Boy and will be sure to follow with the conclusion, as I want to read the story of such a brave little boy, so here is my account of that little, helpless boy called Dave.
The biography starts with an example of how Dave’s mother would treat him. It’s the beginning of what proves to be one of escape from the terrible torture he suffers. This day, 5 Match 1973, starts as any other for Dave; going about the house being the slave, chores for his mother in return for a scrap of food and no beating. This is no way to treat a child both you and I will agree, though this happened and I was moved. This day improved when finally the school nurse had enough couldn’t bear to look at Dave any more, having worn the same clothes for what had seemed an eternity.
The school authorities had been informed, Dave was somewhat naïve, he thought the world was caving in on him yet again and that he was going to jail for being a ‘Bad Boy’ as he was always referred to by Mother. That was a triumphant day, Dave was extremely fortunate, he escaped after his ordeals, allowed to rebuild his life, though at the time his may concern was what mother would think.
Child abuse will often leave a child scarred, naturally. One who is under the constant wrap of their parents, subject to intense alcohol abuse have every right to fear for their life and to think the worst. The constant threats Mother gave Dave about alerting the authorities had him never even contemplating it, so he was scared when they contacted him and wanted to alert mother that they were taking him away. Dave feared for his life. At this point of the book, I thought we had reached a conclusion as little Dave was free, free from his Mother and had the right to live. Though, Dave Pelzer wanted to re-collect the torture in which he was put through.
Dave Pelzer wanted to paint a picture in our mind of his family, his ‘perfect’ family before alcohol was consumed as readily as water. A whole chapter is dedicated to the wonderful acts of mother, how she used to be so nice and respected in society. These were the ‘good times’ and a memory Dave is keen to retain. I felt warmth in this chapter, though reading on later made me feel totally anger, of how a woman as charming as made out, could turn to an evil, nasty bitch!
The remainder of this book graphically describes the acts Dave had to carry out.
I cannot begin to think how he felt, or how other children like Dave feel. Child abuse causes one death a week in the United Kingdom and so what can we do, look out for our children and their friends and make sure we are not ‘mother’ ourselves.
So I stated before that the abuse for Dave really started when his mum developed an alcohol addiction. This is a problem in it’s self and if it had been addressed then the possibility of this awful nightmare, may never have happened. I know this may be an unfair comment and in the end it went out of control, but I can’t help contemplate of how it could have been prevented with a little more awareness to her problem initially, although I also think she was mentally ill.
So your child is bad. Not as bad as any other, not worse than any Brother or what you were yourself at that age. However, you decide he has to be punished,
“Deal with the boy,” mother always exclaimed! It is surreal to think of what he was put through, as if beating your child was not bad enough, that you had to find more ways to disharmon them, to play with their emotions. So what could you do, dislocate their shoulder perhaps, I know let’s ‘accidentally’ stab them.
I cannot feed my child, they don’t deserve it do they?I mean who would be nice to a child who goes into innocent children’s’ lunch-boxes and removes contents in order to satisfy their stomach. Who? So as your child returns home from school you decide too make sure they haven’t been eating, not scraping through any bins or the likes. How do you do that then? Well, make your child vomit, stick his fingers right down his throat. Oh so he has eaten something today, hotdogs? What will you do, he cant get away with that, be mean, be witty,
“So you are hungry,” and make ‘the boy’ eat the contents of his vomit, as he is so desperate to eat. Good old boy, at this rate then one day you may be more of an It, now though, you are my child, called IT!