A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer - Book Report/Review Example

24 February, A Child Called “It” by Dave Pelzer Review: A Child Called “It” has been written by Dave Pelzer. It is a book filled with adventure, thrill, grief and violence. In this book, the author has penned an unforgettable event of child abuse that is so severe that it may be regarded as one of the extremely violent cases of child abuse that California has seen in its history. The case gains its strength and aggression from the fact that the child has been abused by the last person on Earth, that anyone could expect in the position of an abuser.

Dave Pelzer’s own mother used to beat him brutally and kept him starving. Her madness could be attributed, to much an extent, to her obsession with alcoholism. The alcoholic mom would play violent games and keep the little child in torture. The violent practices of mother almost sucked all life out of Pelzer, and he was left close to dead. Poor little boy was left with no choice but to learn his mother’s skill so as to make her loose. Pelzer had to play the very games not for the sake of fun, but to survive through the physiological and psychological torture that he was regularly offered by his mother.

He needed to learn the games in self defense. To his mother, Pelzer was more of an “it” than a “he”. His mother neither considered Pelzer human nor did she deal with him like humans deserve to be dealt with. In order to ensure his survival, Pelzer had to break free of the slavery he was inflicted upon by his mother. Dave’s clothes were shaggy, worn out and raunchy and he was offered a bedraggled army cot by his mother to be used as a bed in the basement. The food he was given was no better than a dog’s meal, and sometimes, even worse than that!

His mother would make spoiled scraps for Pelzer. Despite the overt expression of violence and inhumanity, Pelzer’s mother was not known as a psycho by the outsiders, because all what Pelzer had to go through happened at home. Therefore, Pelzer did not have anyone in life to share his grief with, though he sustained his dreams through all the tensions and hard times. He dreamt of someone who would care for him and his feelings, and would call him son. The book is full of painful events and the miseries have been interpreted well into words.

Pelzer has done a great job by revealing such a horrific impact of alcoholism on human psychology. Although this does not appear to be a fundamental message of the book, yet by showing an alcoholic mother in the position of an abuser, Pelzer has sufficiently condemned the legalization of alcohol. The subject of the book is unique and the tone of language accords with the grievous mood of the subject. Overall, it is a unique piece of literature that presents violence quite differently from the conventional ways in which violence is made.

Works cited: Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called "It": One Child's Courage To Survive. Health Communications, Inc., 1995. Print.