Dave Pelzer

Words: 627
Pages: 3

“Mother can beat me all she wants, but I haven’t let her take away my will to somehow survive” (Pelzer 4). This is the strongest quote from A Child Called It, written by Dave Pelzer, which is an autobiography of a his childhood. Dave Pelzer was horribly mistreated by his own mother; everyday he was beaten and starved. His “punishments” got more severe as time passed. Dave never gave up on his hope that things would get better. The novel has plenty of elements to make sure that it is nearly impossible to put the book down. First of all, A Child Called It is a book about struggles. Dave has to constantly fight with his mother. Throughout the novel, Dave’s mother is constantly treating him as a slave. Sometimes, she does not even treat him as a …show more content…
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