Book Response

The memoir, "A Child Called 'It'" written by Dave Pelzer, is a heartbreaking yet heartwarming at times. This is not only what he went through everyday of his childhood from when he was five to around eleven. It makes you want to keep reading while wiping tears and reading through the ripples of fluids created at the bottom of your eye. Every word is written with emotion and many words are written with hatred and anger towards everything. He narrates what he goes through on a daily basis, from weeks of starvation, blows to every inch of his body, years of torture, and hours of being submerged under water and sometimes in a gas chamber of ammonia and bleach. These are many of the effects of having not only one but two alcoholic parents in the household. With alcoholism stimulates thoughts, induces violence and conflicts with kindness. Mother was the aggressive one while father was to busy fighting fires or too scared to confront her. Peltzer wrote this book to make people realize the severity of some circumstances and to prove to those ignorant drinkers that alcoholism is a problem affects everyone.

This memoir begins as an enchanting tale of the perfect family. Dinners together, field days out, a walk around the park or even a picnic day on beautiful days. All of a sudden it becomes a book of heartbreaking, gut wrenching happenings that are too hurtful to lock up emotions. Dave's mother was often to drunk to have any respect for anyone not even her father. On page 147 he writes, "She often telephoned Father at the station and called him names. 'Worthless' and 'drunken loser' were two of her favorite names for him." She had no respect for his image at work, or as a family man. She made him seem like a horrible example while losing respect for  herself in insulting him publicly. Dave himself explains the atrocity of a life he lives not having father.

   "After awhile, Father didn't even stay home on his days off. He would come in for only a few minutes.
    After seeing my brothers, he would find me wherever I was doing my chores and say a few sentences,
    then leave. It took Father no more than 10 minutes to get in and out of the house, and be on his way
    back to his solitude, which he usually found in a bar. When Father talked to me, he'd tell me that he was
    making plans for the two of us to leave. This always made me smile, but deep inside I knew it was a
    fantasy"(103).

Not only did Father lie to him but abandoned him to his luck knowing that he was the only person he could ever rely on or at least feel like he might be safe. He knew he was never safe but he knew at least punishments wouldn't be as hostile and bellicose. This book clearly depicts how problems between parents or others affect the children and entire household even thought they might not be noticeable.

The life Dave Peltzer went through is much more sever than what many other children go through. They might not be tortured or starved but they might be neglected or misunderstood becoming of less importance. It shows every side of everything. How hypocritical parents can be and whether there can be trust in certain circumstances. In the end the book is the prime example for the fact that he was affected both emotionally and physically.