She convinces him he is bad, and that he needs constant discipline, and he believes her so much that he repeats this even at school during the intervention. His life, which seemed perfect at first, has become a nightmare, and this is significant for the shift from normal nuclear family to a family full of secrets and abuse. He writes, "By this time, for all practical purposes, I was no longer a member of the family. I existed, but there was little or no recognition" (Pelzer 50). This is a terrible situation for a child to have to live through, and it could serve to stigmatize him and haunt him his entire life.
School, and Dave's love of it, is also significant. It is his place to escape and feel normal, even when he becomes an outcast and the other children ridicule him. It is the only thing normal in his life, and it is understandable that he feels safe there, and wants to spend as much time as possible there. In addition, school is what "saves" Dave, because it is his principal, teachers, and school nurse that finally call in the authorities and put an end to his abuse, something that he is grateful for and acknowledges at the beginning of the book.
Finally, for very clear reasons, Dave decides there is no God, because God would never let him suffer as he does. This is understandable, and refers to the sacred powers of God that society believes, and that God is good. If there is a good God, why would he allow Dave to suffer? He writes, "No just God would leave me like this. I believed that I was alone...
Again, his belief in survival guides him and helps him get through his ordeal, rather than faith in a higher being or a religion. He depends upon himself and no one else for his survival.
Personally, this book was very difficult to read because of its subject matter. Young Dave lives in a horrific world of abuse and violence from the person that most people can turn to for nurturing and love. His world is turned upside down, and it seems there is nowhere he can turn for help. I would certainly recommend the book to others, because of the serious nature of the content and how Dave turned out to be a good man and a good father, even after undergoing so many horrifying experiences. I believe this shows his use of social change and social movement to gain a new look at life, and his will to survive was always stronger than his mother's will to harm him. He managed to make a deadly situation into a moving and motivating book, and I would recommend it to any social worker, so they could look for the signs of abuse and violence that Dave illustrates here. The author's writing style is very compelling, and many of his descriptions make the reader feel as if they are right in the room with him, experiencing the horrors that he experienced, which is one reason this book is so difficult to read.
References
Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called it: One Child's Courage to Survive. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc., 1995.
