Find out about the author. How did they end up writing this particular book? How is the author's life reflected in the book?
In the Novel A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer’s life is not just reflected in the book, it is the book. All the experiences Dave faced as a character really happened to him. I think that this makes readers take the events much more seriously because anyone can write about child abuse, but you can only really tell people what it is like if you have experienced it. I did not know that the tortures made up by Dave's mom were real until I was about halfway done. It changed my whole perspective on the story. Something else that I think is significant about Pelzer’s life is that he was able to recover greatly from his childhood. This is actually one of the things that this book intends to show: how children are able to keep the will to stay alive in times of terror. I don’t know anyone who would be confident enough to say to the world the horrible things their parent or parents made them do. I think the reason that Pelzer is so open is that he knows that no one can be as bad as his mother, she may have had a positive affect on his future, but defiantly not his childhood. Because of what has been done to him, things can’t really get worse, they can only get better. Pelzer is the most optimistic person I have ever heard of, he didn’t have a good attitude, but honestly, if I had his mom, I don’t know it I could grow up with out making a few attempts to end my life. He as able to take these skills of optimism with him to adulthood and use them to become a far better person then either of his parents.
Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.
There are two different relationships between characters that are very significant. The first is the relationship between Dave and his father; the other is Between Dave’s dad and his mother. At first, Dave and his father had a very strong relationship; his father would offer protection with little in return. As time went on his father began to see that he was only being hurt by offering his son love. David’s mother began to gain more and more power over his dad until finally, they weren’t even allowed to talk to each other. His father lost confidence that they could escape together. As a result he began to only do things for himself instead of doing things for the benefit of them both. He would stay longer at work to escape from his wife.
Without his father, Dave didn’t have anything else to live for; his father was the only source of love in Dave’s life. With him gone, Dave had to learn to keep himself occupied; he did this with the struggle to live. His dad eventually left and David truly then had no one, just himself. On a few occasions he had love from his mom, like when she stabbed him and let him play with his brothers. Also when the person came to evaluate the safety of his mom. These relationships did not change for the benefit of David; they changed based on whatever his mother had to do. These ups and downs were one of the things that made David’s life so hard. He would adjust to having a nice mother, putting so much energy into making himself believe that she had changed, only to have her immediately go back to the tortures. This made it so hard because it would seem worse when going from happy to sad then from sad to sad.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I believe that the purpose Dave Pelzer had in writing this novel is very clear, he shows how someone’s personality can change drastically and dangerously, and to show how people can overcome adversity. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew were not true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some do not make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
I will be responding to the same question as last week:
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I stand by what I said earlier, but now I believe I can find out even more expanding off of what a previously wrote. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew weren’t true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some don’t make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
What was the author's purpose(s) in writing this book, and how can you tell? How well was this purpose achieved?
I stand by what I said earlier, but now I believe I can find out even more expanding off of what a previously wrote. Dave Pelzer, author, writes,
“The story has two objectives: the first is to inform the reader how a loving, caring parent can change to a cold, abusive monster venting frustrations on a helpless child; the second is the eventual survival and triumph of the human spirit over seemingly insurmountable odds.”
The second objective is easy to see. David is always struggling to stay motivated. He is blinded by his mother of a world outside the “madhouse” they live in. Little things keep him going; even the lies that he knew weren’t true. No matter what it took, David stayed as optimistic as someone could be in his situation. Of course, David is not like every child, some don’t make it, fortunately, David was special, he kept himself busy by staying strong and not letting his mother get anything out of hurting him.
Of course there was another objective for the book, this one harder to see. Pelzer explains that he wrote the book to show how a caring parent can turn into a monster. Based on what I have read, I believe that this happened because there was so much stress on David’s mom to be perfect that she cracked and blamed all of her imperfections on David. Pelzer explains that a lot of the time parents take their anger out on their kids. The weird thing about this situation was that the mother, at one point was a loving, caring parent. Another possibility is that there could have been problems in the marriage between David’s mother and father. Because she is completely unable to harm a grown man, she hurts David instead. This may also be a reason that David’s father was completely unable to help; he felt like his son’s hardships might have been his fault.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Child Called It Author’s Purpose
When Writing A Child Called It, author Dave Pelzer intended to show child abuse from the eyes of a child to help people better understand why abused children experience problems socially, and just to raise awerness for the huge problem that is very much present in America.
Most of the time when we hear about child abuse, we don’t get much detail on what happened. Many would think that this is because the truth is to graphic, but in my opinion, to really understand how evil something is, you must see it at its worst. Recently in history we learned about Gandhi, something that helped his gain support was the press coverage of brutality from the British Empire against Indians. I believe this is a tactic that Pelzer uses to get support for his cause. Now, a child’s point of view may be very biased when it comes to child abuse, but at the same time, the child is the victim, and it is his view that matters. This is a reason that parents and guardians must be extremely careful because something small can cause a lot of damage on kid. Reading o hearing about Child abuse in the media does not give you an idea of how an event really happened. It may tell you, but a child called it shows you. If we hear, “A ten year old was forced to drink cleaning materials.” Our minds wanting to shelter us will fill in the blanks to make the situation not as bad as it really was. However, if we were to hear “Mother rammed the cold spoon deep into my throat… a moment later I couldn’t breath. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front of mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull,” We would see the event as what it really is. It went from a kid force to eat something that tastes bad, to a near death experience. After reading the first half of A Child Called It, almost everything I had thought previously about Child abuse changed.
When Writing A Child Called It, author Dave Pelzer intended to show child abuse from the eyes of a child to help people better understand why abused children experience problems socially, and just to raise awerness for the huge problem that is very much present in America.
Most of the time when we hear about child abuse, we don’t get much detail on what happened. Many would think that this is because the truth is to graphic, but in my opinion, to really understand how evil something is, you must see it at its worst. Recently in history we learned about Gandhi, something that helped his gain support was the press coverage of brutality from the British Empire against Indians. I believe this is a tactic that Pelzer uses to get support for his cause. Now, a child’s point of view may be very biased when it comes to child abuse, but at the same time, the child is the victim, and it is his view that matters. This is a reason that parents and guardians must be extremely careful because something small can cause a lot of damage on kid. Reading o hearing about Child abuse in the media does not give you an idea of how an event really happened. It may tell you, but a child called it shows you. If we hear, “A ten year old was forced to drink cleaning materials.” Our minds wanting to shelter us will fill in the blanks to make the situation not as bad as it really was. However, if we were to hear “Mother rammed the cold spoon deep into my throat… a moment later I couldn’t breath. My throat seized. I stood wobbling in front of mother, feeling as if my eyes were going to pop out of my skull,” We would see the event as what it really is. It went from a kid force to eat something that tastes bad, to a near death experience. After reading the first half of A Child Called It, almost everything I had thought previously about Child abuse changed.
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