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DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW

UNIVERSITY
VISAKHAPATNAM, A.P., INDIA

PROJECT TITLE

REVIEW ON THE BOOK A CHILD CALLED “IT”

SUBJECT

ENGLISH

NAME OF THE FACULTY

Ms. BEENA PUNJABI

NAME OF THE CANDIDATE

AMRUTHA YANAMDALA

ROLL NO. & SEMESTER

19LLB018

FIRST SEMESTER
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INTRODUCTION

AUTHOR: The author of the book A CHILD CALLED IT is Dave Pelzer. Dave Pelzer is an
American author of autobiographical and self-help books, and is a survivor of child abuse. His
most famous book is A Child Called "It", a memory of the abuse he suffered at the hands of his
mother while growing up.

He was born in San Francisco, California, as the second of five children, son of Stephen Joseph
Pelzer and Catherine Roerva Christen Pelzer. He grew up in Daly City, California, and between
the ages of 4 and 12, his mother abused him horribly, thinking it was a game. This abuse did not
stop until 1973, when his teachers finally intervened and placed him in foster care.

He joined the United States Air Force at age 18, in 1979, and served in the Gulf War. He married
twice, first with a woman named Patsy (although this is a pseudonym, not his real name), with
whom he had a son, and then with his second wife, Marsha, who was his editor. He published his
first book, A Child Called "It", in 1995. His second book, The Lost Boy: A Foster Child's Search
for the Love of a Family, which details his life as a teenager in foster care, was published in 1997
, finally followed by a man named Dave: A story of triumph and forgiveness, completing the
autobiographical series.

There has been controversy over some of the abuses that Pelzer details in his books, and both his
maternal grandmother and his brother have disputed them. Another brother, however, confirms
Pelzer's memories in his own memories. Due to the criticisms he has received, Pelzer does not do
interviews often; However, he travels the country giving lectures and volunteering.

OVERVIEW:

A Child Called "It" tells the heartbreaking true story of the abuse that Dave Pelzer suffered at the
hands of his alcoholic mother. In these memoirs, Dave recounts his struggles to deal with abuse,
which he survived by trusting in the faith, determination and kindness of strangers.

Dave lives in Dale City, California, with his mother, father and two brothers. His mother is an
alcoholic and abuses Dave in increasingly ingenious and horrifying ways, such as locking him in
the bathroom with a bucket of harmful chemicals.
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Dave's mother forces him to sleep in the garage. He wears the same clothes to school every day
and starts stealing food to make up for the fact that his mother has been starving him. One day,
she "accidentally" stabs him, but doesn't take him to a hospital.

Meanwhile, Dave's father and brothers sit idly by and allow the abuse to occur. Often, his
brothers participate in it. Finally, the police intervene and Dave takes his mother. Enter foster
care, where you can rebuild your life. His story continues in The Lost Boy.

SUMMARY:

The memoir begins with Dave Pelzer at twelve years old, getting an examination from his school
nurse. He lied to her about the bruises all over his body, but she knew that they were from his
mother, who beat him. She left the room and returned with the school’s principal, who said he’d
had enough of this. He escorted Dave to a meeting with a police officer and the police officer
took him away, telling him that he would never have to go back to his mother again—he was
free. Then, the memories date back to Dave's early childhood, when his mother was kind and
lived happily and without worries. He lived with his parents and his two brothers in Daly City,
California, near San Francisco. His father worked most days, but his mother took the children on
day trips around the city and always taught them the lessons he could. They went on a family
vacation to the Russian River, a place that made Dave happier than anything else.

But Dave's relationship with his mother began to change as she began to discipline him more and
more, and this became a large-scale abuse that got out of control. The abuse was not so bad when
his father was close, so Dave clung to him, but his father did not dare to challenge his mother
and warned him to be a "good boy" around him. He and Dave's mother would have happy hours
in the afternoon, when they would drink a lot in the kitchen, and his mother would always beat
him worse when he was drunk.

The school was a Heaven for Dave, as it was the only place where he could get away from his
mother. But things at home get worse, as he forced a bar of soap into Dave's throat, left him at
home during a family vacation and even forced him to hold his arms on a burning stove. Soon,
she began to starve him, and he spent all his time trying to find ways to get food. He stole it from
the children of the school, the grocery store and the frozen trucks, but his mother began to vomit
after returning from school to make sure he had not eaten anything.
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The worst came one day when she was waving a knife at him as a threat. He escaped his hands
and stabbed him in the stomach, and was seriously injured. He immediately began to heal the
wound, but not because he was worried about Dave's health, but because he knew he would be in
serious trouble if someone discovered that he had stabbed his son. Dave told his father that she
had stabbed him, but he did nothing about it. This was when Dave stopped thinking of his father
as his superhero. He soon had a terrible fever and his wound became infected, but he struggled
and recovered, and then decided that it was his own Superman.

His father began to spend much less time at home and his mother remained hungry, once for ten
days in a row. A new punishment emerged, in which she would lock Dave in the bathroom with
a bucket of Clorox and ammonia and make him breathe the vapors. His mother had another baby
and, while he was in the hospital, the children lived with the neighbor, Shirley, who later became
close friends with their mother. One day, Dave's mother began to treat him inexplicably better,
and for him, it was too good to be true, then he realized that it was because a social worker came
to his house to talk to him. He lied to her and said everything was fine.

As the years went by and nothing changed, Dave began to lose hope completely and wish he was
dead. He didn't even feel safe at school anymore, where the children harassed him. His mother
began to alienate all family members, not just Dave, and one day, they got in the car and took
Dave's father to a motel. His parents separated, because his father couldn't take it anymore. The
memories end with Dave in the back of the car walking away, praying.

The epilogue advances rapidly into Dave's adulthood, where he stands at the edge of the ocean
with his little son, Stephen. Think about your life and how you have become stronger as a result
of the abuse you suffered. He takes his son to the Russian river, and they agree that it is his
favorite place in the world.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS:

Dave
Dave, the author and protagonist of this memoir. Dave was horrifically abused between the ages
of 4 and 12 by his mother. He is a smart kid, but his home life makes it difficult for him to excel
in school. Looking back, Dave feels that he is a stronger person after going through everything
he had to endure.
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Catherine Roerva
Catherine Roerva is Dave's abusive mother. She started off as a loving family woman, and then,
perhaps as a result of discipline, alcohol, and dissatisfaction with her life, singled out her middle
son and tormented and starved him for eight years of his life, while leaving her other children
alone.
Stephen Joseph
Stephen Joseph is Dave's father. Dave originally believed that he would be his protector and
keep him away from his mother. He is a passive, weak man, however, and allows his wife to
control him rather than intervene to save his son. Eventually Dave's father leaves for good after
his parents separate.
Ron
Ron is Dave's older brother, whom their mother does not abuse. Later in their childhood, he
often hits Dave.
Russell
Russell is the fourth child in the family, who learns to despise Dave through watching his
mother abuse him. He becomes their mother's "Little Nazi," watching Dave's every move for her.
Stan
Stan is the third child in the Pelzer family, who also learns to despise Dave and who hits him
along with Ron.
Kevin
Kevin is Dave's youngest brother, whom Dave loves, even though he is not allowed anywhere
near him.
Mr. Hansen
Mr. Hansen is the principal of Dave's school. Dave spends a lot of time in his office, and Mr.
Hansen knows that Dave is a problem student who steals food. He knows that Dave suffers abuse
at the hands of his mother, but he does not intervene for a long time, until he calls the police
officer to take Dave away when he is twelve years old.
Miss Moss
Miss Moss is Dave's math teacher, who has repeatedly reported concerns about Dave's bruises.
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The Nurse
The school nurse examines Dave on many occasions, taking note of his bruises. She knows what
his mother does to him, but also does not intervene.
Aggie
A girl at school who torments Dave, insisting that he should kill himself.
Stephen
Dave's son, who appears in the epilogue of the book. Dave treats his son with all the love and
care that Dave himself did not receive as a child.
Shirley
A neighbor of the Pelzer's who watches the boys while their mother is at the hospital in labor.
She then becomes good friends with Dave's mother, and asks why Dave is not allowed to play
with the rest of the children.
Officer Smith
The police officer who comes to school to take Dave away from his mother.
Mr. Zeigler
Dave's fifth grade teacher, who gives him praise and encouragement, which makes Dave feel
special and important. He writes a letter to Dave's mother about Dave's winning the contest to
name the school newspaper, but she insists that there is nothing Dave can do to impress her.
Aunt Jose
Dave's aunt, with whom he stays while the rest of his family is on a camping vacation.
Clifford
A classmate of Dave's who beats him up, making it so that Dave is not even safe at school.
Miss Woods
Another of Dave's teachers. She attends the meeting where Dave is told he is being taken away
from his mother.
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CONCLUSION:

This book was amazing, one of the best I've read. It gives me a great perspective on what
battered children are going through and how well they can cover even the worst situations. The
book opens with the boy David, who meets with his nurse and soon everyone in his school who
knows him and finally a policeman appears to free him from the prison he has been in for years.

At this point, he receives some aspects of what David's mother has done to him, but as he enters
the book, nothing can prepare him to understand why someone would do that to his own son,
especially one and would treat so well to others. We learned of his struggles for food, of being
stabbed, of an episode in which he was forced to eat his brother's defecation, to burn on the
stove, to be gassed and his mother's attempts to hate him. itself. His mother turns the world
against him with great success and the world is convinced that she is an incredible mother, so no
one believes that he asks for help and attempts to help always fail. It is really sad to see his father
try to help him and then see him finally give up when the mother turns to control him even.

CRITICAL COMMENT: The writing is beautiful and extraordinary. This book has been
reviewed by Focus on the Family’s marriage and parenting magazine. It is the first in a series of
books about the author’s life. Although A Child Called "It" is a memory, Dave Pelzer knows that
his experiences are not necessarily the same as those of other victims of child abuse. In fact,
many victims of abuse never escape their parents, or flee and end up living streets. However, by
writing such an intimate and personal memory, Pelzer hopes to raise awareness about child abuse
and ensure that the public is not indifferent or ignores the suffering of children..Now I know
what some children can go through and how one can never assume what life at home really is
like. I felt that this book was surprising and inspiring for everyone because there is no other
means of communication that can make you feel the pain of another person like this and make
you think, if David Pelzer can overcome that, my life is not so bad.