A Child Called "It"

A Child Called "It"

      This week I decided to pick up the nonfiction autobiography, A Child Called "It" by David Pelzer. It was actually a fantastic novel, as I was able to finish the book over the course of this week. It is quite a short novel, yet it is equally as heartbreaking as a lengthy text like Romeo and Juliet (lol). The novel stars David Pelzer himself, and shows readers his childhood life. It takes place in California, and young David has two incredibly unstable parents. His mother was an abusive drunk who treated her son cruelly. She physically and emotionally abused him, she starved him, and she did unspeakable and horrifying things that a young child should never have to go through. She didn't think of him as her son, she thought of him as her slave. She was unpredictable and cruel, and the only thing that kept him alive was his unfaltering hope for someone to love him.

     He was never able to tell anyone about his problem at home, as it required an enormous amount of courage and strength to do so. So when he was able to announce his unfortunate story to an officer, it was a major event. He had spent his entire childhood being hit and starved and burnt and yet he still loved his mother with all of his heart. At one point, he was staying with his aunt, and he ran away from her home because he missed his mother. He truly loved her, although she practically put her own son's arm in an oven. Thinking about this child's treatment is excruciating, it's so horrible that such an innocent young boy was forced to live his life as a boy who wanted nothing more than to be loved.

     In general, the novel was quite inspiring yet very heartbreaking. The fact that a pure young child like David was forced to be afraid of his mothers voice, proves that we should all be so grateful for what we have. We constantly ask for new clothes, or electronics, or whatever it is that has momentarily caught our attention, when there are kids who want nothing more than a warm meal every now and then. It shows that humanity becomes greedy; the more we are given, the more we want. However, we shouldn't be materialistic and obsessed over something as simple as a new pair of shoes. We should all think the way David thinks, that very little is required to make one happy. Love induces happiness, and we should always remember that.

Abuse can be both physical and emotional. It's quite horrifying what someone can do to a young child.