This message is: never give up and keep fighting. In the story, no matter what he is faced with, Dave refuses to give up all hope. He feels that if he gives up and stops fighting, his mother will truly win. At one point in time, his mother forces him to swallow soap. Instead, Dave hid it in his mouth until he could spit it out. Dave stated that, “after I had finished, I felt as though I had won the Olympic Marathon. I was so proud of beating Mother at her own game” (Pelzer 48). This is one of the events that helped Dave realize that it was possible for him to win. Dave’s father would sometimes help him in any way he could, but one day his father stops trying. His father tells Dave, “‘Well you ah… you better go back in there and do the dishes’” (Pelzer 54). Dave was just stabbed by his mother and found out that even his own father couldn’t help him. Yet, Dave still kept fighting. He realized that since his father couldn’t be the superhero he wanted, he would have to be the superhero himself. Never once throughout the story has Dave given up hope, he always fought even when everyone else gave up. This stands to show that you must never stop fighting, even if all hope seems
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