A Child Called It Essay

A Child Called It is written by David Pelzer. It was published by Health Communications, Inc in 1995. The book is 184 pages. A Child Called It is a memoir of David Pelzer, who experienced one of California's worse cases of child abuse. As a child he endured the horrors of child abuse including physical torture, mental cruelty and starvation by his alcoholic mother. His mother would vent her rage of him and blame him for all the family unhappiness. David's faith and courage helped him defeat the torturous games his mother played on him and grow into one of nations most respected professionals. He took his tragic experiences and helped and inspired millions of children who are suffering from abuse. Since the book is a memoir, it gives the reader a first hand view of what the author went through. The reader experiences the tortures and emotions David goes through.

In the book Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support by Roberta M. Berns, chapter 4 talks about the inappropriate parenting practices and mentions child abuse and neglect. There are three kinds of abuse- physical, sexual and emotional. David experienced both physical and emotional abuse. Physical abuse can be defined as maltreatment involving deliberate harm to the child's body (Berns p.168). David was beaten on a daily basis, stabbed, ordered to lie down on a burning stove, forced to drink ammonia and starved for days. David also experienced psychological and emotional abuse. His mother belittled him and blamed him for the family source of unhappiness. She punished him for being a "bad boy" and blamed him for all the problems she had with her husband. The author points out that alcoholism is a psychological problem and that it's linked to abuse.

The book mentions the child and maltreatment and how abuse in the childhood can have consequence in adulthood such as inability to trust others, low self-esteem, depression. A large percentage of abused children become abusive in their adult years. David mentioned on the Larry King Show that his mother came from an abusive family therefore she became abusive as an adult. This however