Nonfiction Blog

     Yesterday, I finished a book called A Child Called It. It's a memoir and tells the story of Dave Pelzer. Dave, who lived in San Francisco California, was unfortunately beaten, starved, and brutally tortured by his alcoholic mother. Basically, he was abused as a child for several years. He had four brothers that surprisingly were treated well. They were not given the abuse and respect that Dave had to experience. They were sadly brainwashed into thinking what their mother was doing to Dave wasn't bad. They thought he was just given consequences for his bad behavior. When the boys had gotten older, they then realized what a true monster their mother really was. The father, Stephen Pezler, barely showed any care for Dave. He always came home drunk which led to him and his wife getting into heated arguments. He eventually left the family leaving Dave all alone. Thankfully, teachers noticed what Dave had been through and called the police finally saving his life.

     A passage that I found interesting in the book was, "Suddenly, I began to realize the longer I could keep myself off the top of the stove, the better my chances for staying alive. I knew my brother Ron would soon be coming home from his scout meeting, and I knew Mother never acted this bizarre when anyone was in the house. In order to survive, I had to buy time. I stole a glance at the kitchen clock behind me. The second hand seemed to creep ever so slowly. To keep Mother off balance, I began to ask whining questions. This infuriated her even more, and Mother began to rain blows around my head and chest. The more Mother slugged me, the more I began to realize I won! Anything was better than burning on the stove." (42) Although this moment in the memoir almost leads to Dave possibly meeting his death, I was interested by it. It interested me because it showed how smart Dave was back then. At an age like that, he used his brain to get out of something like that. I thought that was amazing, how he adapted and took smart actions. I'm not saying he is a genius or anything, but I thought it was pretty clever on how he distracted her and tried to kill time so his mom can stop.

     Something I am bound to never forget after reading this book is the fact that kids who have been severely abused can really consume and numb yourself as a person. According to the book, "My morale had become so low that in some self - destructive way I hoped she would kill me." (141) Of course it's a given that kids who have been abused, you don't normally function or act as though someone who was my age or younger that thankfully never had to go through all of the abuse he did. Just the way he said that made me knew that issues like this are really serious. Of course I knew they were, but hearing life threatening stories always put me in perspective of that persons issue and makes me feel terrible for that person or group of people.

     Something else I am never bound to forget was what Dave had to go through. "...My brothers and I were playing in our room when we heard Mother rush down the hall, yelling at us. Ron and Stan ran for cover in the living room. I instantly sat down in my chair. With both arms stretched out and raised, Mother came at me. As she came closer and closer, I backed my chair towards the wall. Soon I touched the wall... I closed my eyes as the oncoming blows began to rock me from side to side..." (134) Every time I heard about him being hit like that just mad me feel really sad. This is is what he had to go through every day. This book gave me the realization that kids that could be my age face bigger problems then me. In conclusion, this memoir indeed made me learn a lot about Dave and child abuse in generally.

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