PDF Summary:A Child Called 'It', by Dave Pelzer
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1-Page PDF Summary of A Child Called 'It'
All the alarming statistics about child abuse and neglect—millions of cases reported each year, killing nearly five children each day—don’t begin to illustrate how victims experience abuse. In A Child Called 'It', author Dave Pelzer provides a rare and grisly glimpse into his experience of severe physical and psychological abuse at his mother’s hands.
In one of the worst child abuse cases reported in California’s history at the time, Pelzer was starved, burned on the stove, regularly locked in the bathroom with a noxious mixture of ammonia and Clorox, and forbidden from speaking to or looking at any of his family members. Through it all, Pelzer maintained an indomitable will to survive that’s a testament to the strength of the human spirit even under the bleakest circumstances.
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- Forbidding David from looking at or talking to anyone
- Forcing David to stand in the garage each night while his family eats dinner
- Forbidding David from playing or watching TV with his brothers
- Never using David’s name, calling him only “the Boy” and “It”
- Banishing David to sleep on an old army cot in the cold garage
Mother Stabs David
As time goes on, the abuse intensifies.
One night when David is 10, Mother is giving David his list of chores for the evening, holding a knife and threatening to kill him if he doesn’t finish them within the time limits she gives. As usual, Mother is drunk. Mother begins to sway and loses her balance, and a moment later, the knife in her hand strikes David in the stomach.
David blacks out. When he comes to, Mother is dressing his wound. Neither she nor Father takes David to the hospital, and Father’s failure to act devastates David.
Mother still makes David wash the dishes, though she shows some warmth and caretaking as the night goes on: She allows David to play outside with his brothers, calls him by his name, and checks on him through the night.
However, when David wakes up the next morning, it’s business as usual. Within a few days, the wound becomes infected and David must resort to using a dirty rag and a few drops of water to clean it himself. David renews the vow he made to himself the night Mother burned him, to survive through self-reliance and strength of spirit.
Father Doesn’t Protect David From the Abuse
For a while, David considers Father his protector because Mother limits her abuse when Father is home. But as time goes on, Father spends more time at work or at bars to avoid being home, and eventually, his presence no longer deters Mother’s abuse.
Around the time David enters fourth grade, Mother’s abuse includes:
- Starving David for 10 days
- Locking David in the bathroom with a bucket full of a noxious mixture of ammonia and Clorox (David calls this the gas chamber)
- Forcing David to offer to mow neighbors’ lawns for a fee—which she’ll pocket—setting an unrealistically high earnings quota, and beating David when he can’t reach it
- Forcing him to lie for hours in a cold bath with his head under water, leaving only his nostrils above water to breathe
At one point, Mother forbids Father from seeing David, and David loses all hope of a better life. He stops praying to God and stops fantasizing that some superhero will rescue him.
David Hits Rock Bottom
One day, out of the blue, Mother apologizes to David and tries to make amends. He spends two blissful days believing her charade, but it comes to a crashing halt when a social worker visits the house to ask David about his relationship with Mother; David immediately realizes Mother’s gestures were hollow, and the abuse continues. He’s crushed, but, at the very least, he’s grateful to have had two good days.
After the social worker’s visit, David loses faith in God and resigns himself to simply surviving each day.He stops finding escape through his imagination, and he comes to hate everyone around him because no one has stepped in to save him.
David hates his Father and brothers for going along with Mother’s abuse, but most of all he hates himself because he feels responsible for allowing the abuse to continue for so long. David is convinced that he’s weak and that he deserves his mistreatment.
David sinks so low that he wishes he were dead. He assumes Mother’s torture will ultimately kill him, so he decides to provoke her. For a short period, David rebels—doing his chores sloppily and disobeying Mother in every way he can—until she locks him in the gas chamber longer than ever before and tries to dunk his face into the bucket of chemicals. After that, David returns to submission.
Around this time, Mother and Father’s marriage reaches a breaking point. Their relationship has been disintegrating for years, and Father finally moves out a few days after Christmas. David is resentful, jealous, and, most of all, scared of what Mother will do to him now that Father’s gone. David is sure Mother will kill him soon, and he merely hopes she’ll do it quickly.
David’s Rescue
It’s March 1973 and David is a fifth-grader in Daly City, California, just outside San Francisco. When he arrives at school, the nurse does her regular inventory of David’s new bruises and scars. David attempts to give one of the explanations Mother told him—that he ran into a door—but the nurse knows better and eventually David admits that the marks are from Mother.
Shortly after, David’s called into the office to meet with the nurse, two of his teachers, the principal, and a police officer. The nurse asks David to show the scar on his stomach from when his mother stabbed him.
The officer takes David to the police station, where he calls David’s mother to tell her that David is now in the custody of the San Mateo Juvenile Department. David is terrified, but the officer reassures David that he’s finally free.
As an adult, David attributes his survival to the fact that he took control of himself and his circumstances any way he could.He also credits his horrific experiences for his strength, adaptability, intrinsic motivation, and unique perspective on life.
After he escapes, David vows to make the most of his life by creating success and pushing himself to be the best person he can be. He finds community and a sense of purpose as a member of the United States Air Force, and he builds a loving relationship with his own son.
(Shortform note: David’s parents faced no charges after he was removed from their custody. His father died in 1980 and his mother in 1992.)
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