{"id":18832,"date":"2020-11-21T13:33:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-21T17:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=18832"},"modified":"2020-11-29T09:39:28","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T13:39:28","slug":"effects-of-child-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/effects-of-child-abuse\/","title":{"rendered":"Effects of Child Abuse: David Pelzer’s Fight for Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What are the effects of child abuse in A Child Called “It”<\/em>? How does the book demonstrate the short-term and long-term effects of child abuse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In A Child Called “It”<\/em> David Pelzer<\/a> is horrifyingly abused by his mother. He shows the effects of child abuse in terms of hope and anger, and provides a perspective on how he has done as an adult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more about the effects of child abuse as discussed in A Child Called “It”<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Effects of Child Abuse While It Happens<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the effects of child abuse in the short-term is the loss of hope when you feel like you’re never going to be safe. For David, this happened after Father was no longer a protector. Eventually, Father\u2019s presence no longer inhibits Mother\u2019s abuse. In fact, Mother doesn\u2019t even allow Father to see David. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David is truly the family slave. Mother abuses him, Father is forbidden from seeing or talking to him, and his brothers ignore him entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, David loses all hope of a better life. He stops praying to God and stops fantasizing about superheroes rescuing him. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That Christmas, David is stunned to receive a gift: roller skates. But they end up being just a prop for another of Mother\u2019s cruel games. During the winter, she forces David to skate up and down the street for hours in the cold with no jacket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Short-Lived Respite<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

That spring, Mother is out of the house for a few days when she gives birth to her fifth son, named Kevin. It\u2019s a desperately needed respite for David. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Mother is gone, Father lets David play with his brothers, who let him join in without hesitation, showing the apparent power of Mother\u2019s influence on everyone in the family. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

David and his brothers also spend some time playing at the house of a neighbor, named Shirley, who has a young son. When Mother returns home, she and Shirley become friends\u2014until Shirley begins asking why David faces so much punishment and is forbidden from playing with his brothers. Mother makes some excuses at first, but after a while, she flat-out says that David is bad and deserves punishment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, Mother stops speaking to Shirley. Although Shirley hadn\u2019t gotten directly involved, she had been someone kind who had noticed David, and the broken friendship makes him feel more isolated and vulnerable.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Gets a Few Threads of Help<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After Shirley is out of the picture, a few others outside the family begin to notice that something\u2019s wrong. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the first couple weeks of David\u2019s fourth-grade year, he has a substitute teacher who intuits that there are problems in David\u2019s home life.<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The substitute teacher informs the school nurse. The following month, the nurse calls David to see her, and she asks him about his bruises and tattered clothes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the effects of child abuse is the willingness to protect your abuser or the fear of telling the truth. David initially repeats the lies Mother has taught him to tell. After some talking, David begins to trust the nurse enough to tell the truth<\/a>, and the nurse invites David to come back and talk to her anytime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Effects of Child Abuse<\/strong>: Hate<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After the incident with the social services worker\u2014just before starting fifth grade\u2014David loses faith in God and any hope of having a better life. <\/strong>David\u2019s been praying to God for years, and he can\u2019t fathom how he could live such a miserable life if God exists. David resigns himself to simply surviving each day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David no longer mourns the lack of dignity and respect he receives. He will do anything to survive, resorting to any means necessary to get food. He even eats table scraps out of the dogs\u2019 food bowl after the dogs have picked through it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

David detaches himself from physical pain and shows no outward emotion unless it\u2019s strategic, when he thinks it will ease the abuse. Whereas he previously used his imagination to escape his torment, David stops dreaming and fantasizing.<\/strong> (Shortform note: Trauma survivors often stop using their imaginations. Read more about the effects of trauma in our summary of The Body Keeps the Score<\/em><\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Survivor\u2019s Perspective on Child Abuse<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

David felt completely alone in his abuse, but thousands of children endure similar atrocities. <\/strong>(Shortform note: As of 2015, the United States had 2.9 million child abuse cases<\/a> reported annually.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re likely to hear about unusual cases of abuse\u2014such as grisly murders and extreme neglect\u2014in the media. But more often, victims suffer quietly, join gangs, or run away from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hardship is seldom over when the abuse ends because of the long-term effects of child abuse: Adult survivors of child abuse are more inclined to lash out or engage in self-destructive behaviors<\/a> than the general population. (Shortform note: Child abuse survivors are 59 percent more likely<\/a> to be arrested as a juvenile and 28 percent more likely to be arrested in adulthood.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many survivors also struggle to build and maintain healthy relationships<\/a> because they\u2019ve had such poor models; David intentionally broke the typical cycle of abuse in his relationship with his son. The long-term effects of child abuse generally carry past the abused generation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David shared his story of abuse for two reasons: <\/p>\n\n\n\n