Who was Catherine Roerva? How did Dave Pelzer’s mother start abusing him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dave Pelzer’s mother, named Catherine Roerva or Catherine Pelzer, was not always abusive. Her behavior changed around the time David entered first grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read more about how Dave Pelzer’s mother, Catherine Pelzer, changed and started abusing him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Around the time David\u2019s in first grade, Catherine Pelzer shifts dramatically. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dave Pelzer’s mother singles out David among his brothers for increasingly cruel punishments. <\/strong>The only explanation David can come up with is that his voice probably carries more than his brothers\u2019 and that he often has the bad luck of being the only one to get caught when they all get into mischief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At first, Dave Pelzer’s mother punishes him with time out in a corner of his bedroom. After a while, she ups the punishment: Mother shoves David\u2019s face into a mirror and then forces him to stand in front of it, looking at his reflection and repeating, \u201cI\u2019m a bad boy!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n At one point, Mother starts sending David and his brothers on endless searches through the house for some item she\u2019s lost. The searches last for months and are never fruitful. Eventually, David is the only one she forces to search, and he dreams of finding the item and getting his mother\u2019s praise and affection in return. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One day, while Father is at work, David hears Mother storming toward the room where he and his brothers are playing. Mother\u2019s drunk, and she begins hitting David for no apparent reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dave Pelzer’s mother punches him and pushes his hands away as he tries to use them to cover his face. David puts his left arm up over his face and Mother grabs it as she loses her balance and stumbles back a step.<\/strong> Suddenly they hear a pop. Mother acts like nothing has happened and walks away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n David\u2019s arm is limp. After dinner, Mother sends him to bed and tells him to sleep on the top bunk, although he usually sleeps on the bottom. She wakes him in the middle of the night and tells him he fell out of the top bunk and hurt his arm. Acting worried, Mother drives David to the hospital, where David recounts the bunk bed story to a skeptical doctor. David is too afraid to reveal the truth.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mother\u2019s terrorizing gradually encroaches on every part of life where David previously found joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example is school, which David considers a retreat from his hell at home. One day, Dave Pelzer’s mother berates and beats him for supposedly failing the first grade, even though he\u2019s sure he gets good scores on more assignments than any of his classmates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Another example is the family\u2019s annual vacation: The summer after David\u2019s first-grade year, his parents drop him off at his aunt\u2019s house on their way to the campsite. David is shocked and heartbroken as he watches his family drive away. Ironically, David yearns to be with Mother, and he tries to run away from his aunt\u2019s house to rejoin his family on their vacation; but when David and his family are back home and Dave Pelzer’s mother finds out what he\u2019s done, she beats him for it. <\/p>\n\n\n\nMother Dislocates David\u2019s Arm<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Catherine Roerva Destroys David\u2019s Happy Escapes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n