I noticed that Vy wrote about the things she hates and I've decided to copy her in my post.
Going to School in the Rain - I actually don't really mind the rain. In fact I like when it rains... that is when I can just stay at home and don't have to go outside. It has been raining a lot this week and i am not enjoying it because i've had to go to school. This means that by the time I leave my house and arrive at school my hair is already frizzy and just gets worse as the day goes on. Also, since I was outside during PE for two hours, my feet and hands were frozen and my nose was cold. I was so relieved when I finally got home and was able to turn on the heater.
Certain Teachers and Their Weighing of Finals- So I just looked on SchoolLoop and I noticed that this one teacher (I won't say names) put in the grades for her finals. Yesterday I had about a 78% and I received a 97% on her final. This would be a good thing if my grade had risen more than one percent. I want at least a B in my classes, but now my grade is only a 79%. I really hope that this is a mistake because if it isn't... well that's just ridiculous that a big final that we stressed over effected my grade by one percent.
My Stupid Cell Phone- My cell phone sucks. I barely get service anywhere now and it's just dumb. I don't even care when I drop it. A few scratches doesn't really bother me anymore, my phone already sucks.
My Geomerty Final - I thought that I did so well on my final exam for geometry. I felt so confident while taking it and I thought that I would get a great grade on in. However, I didn't so as well as I thought. Ms. Mccoy said my score wasn't too bad, but I was really disappointed because I felt so confident in myself that I would get really high score and I got a very mediocre score. I just know that next semester I will work a lot harder i n all of my classes.
Anyways... to end on a positive note, I am so glad that we have three weeks off for winter break (that's like a month, kinda) ! And we don't have any homework! Now I can completely relax and de stress from school !
Friday, December 17, 2010
A Child Called "It" Final Response
So, I have finally finished reading The Child Called "It" and it was definitely a lot to handle. I've read part of this book before, but I just didn't realize how hard and sad it was to read about these traumatizing events that happeed in Dave Pelzer's life.
During our discussion on Thursday our group discussed the possible reasons why David's mother treated him so bad and only picked on him instead of his other brothers. Meriam had done some extra research on Roerva Pelzer and found out that she was also abused as a child. We also looked up some information during class and learned that she was an alcoholic since the age of 13 and was frequently locked in a closet and denied food. I don't remember there being information on if she had any siblings or not. However, on David Pelzer's website it did say that his other brother got abused my his mom after Dave left for foster care, but she never abused her oldest son.
Meriam also mentioned that Mother suffered from a multiple personality disorder. The main direction where our discussion was going was trying to uncover the unknown mystery of why mother specifically singled out David in her horrible acts of abuse and most importantly, what caused her to so suddenly change from a perfect sweet, Brady Bunch mom to a wicked witch. I suggested that it may have been caused because of the alcohol and depression, but this doesn't seem like the correct answer considering she'd been an alcoholic since she was 13. Whatever the reason, i feel like it will always be a mystery, but it does make me want to read other books written by Dave Pelzer.
Also, Mr. Sutherland brought an interesting observation to our discussion. As someone who had never read this book before, he brought up how he noticed that when his students read this book and have discussions on it, he is constantly, mainly hearing them just talk about the horrendous acts of abuse that goes on in this book. He said something like, "This book can't possibly just be horrible event after horrible event." However, the truth is, this is pretty much exactly what this book is. The author is telling his memories of being a very young boy and receiving numerous amounts of beatings and severe "punishments" from his mom. I know they other books Pelzer's written are more about him over coming his struggles and becoming a great person.
After reading this book it made me highly appreciate my parents and family members and it made me realize that i have it very easy. I may get mad at my mom and dad sometimes but after reading about David's experiences it makes me thankful that they aren't beating and starving me.
During our discussion on Thursday our group discussed the possible reasons why David's mother treated him so bad and only picked on him instead of his other brothers. Meriam had done some extra research on Roerva Pelzer and found out that she was also abused as a child. We also looked up some information during class and learned that she was an alcoholic since the age of 13 and was frequently locked in a closet and denied food. I don't remember there being information on if she had any siblings or not. However, on David Pelzer's website it did say that his other brother got abused my his mom after Dave left for foster care, but she never abused her oldest son.
Meriam also mentioned that Mother suffered from a multiple personality disorder. The main direction where our discussion was going was trying to uncover the unknown mystery of why mother specifically singled out David in her horrible acts of abuse and most importantly, what caused her to so suddenly change from a perfect sweet, Brady Bunch mom to a wicked witch. I suggested that it may have been caused because of the alcohol and depression, but this doesn't seem like the correct answer considering she'd been an alcoholic since she was 13. Whatever the reason, i feel like it will always be a mystery, but it does make me want to read other books written by Dave Pelzer.
Also, Mr. Sutherland brought an interesting observation to our discussion. As someone who had never read this book before, he brought up how he noticed that when his students read this book and have discussions on it, he is constantly, mainly hearing them just talk about the horrendous acts of abuse that goes on in this book. He said something like, "This book can't possibly just be horrible event after horrible event." However, the truth is, this is pretty much exactly what this book is. The author is telling his memories of being a very young boy and receiving numerous amounts of beatings and severe "punishments" from his mom. I know they other books Pelzer's written are more about him over coming his struggles and becoming a great person.
After reading this book it made me highly appreciate my parents and family members and it made me realize that i have it very easy. I may get mad at my mom and dad sometimes but after reading about David's experiences it makes me thankful that they aren't beating and starving me.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
A Child Called "It" Response #2
In The Child Called "It" by David Pelzer, the author/main character describes his "fight for food". While reading this book, i noticed that Mother constantly taunts David with food. She gives him unmeetable time limits to complete his chores and if he doesn't finish on time, he won't get any food. On "good days" he would sometimes be given the leftover scraps of his brother's cereal for breakfast. However, more often than not, David goes to school hungry. Because of this, he begins stealing food from school. He starts off taking little snacks from his classmate's lunch boxes during recess. Unfortunately, teachers eventually find out and notify Mother. David was severely punished and beaten for his actions, but he felt like stealing was his only way of getting food in order to survive. Once, he takes a frozen lunch from his school and eats every morsel of it in the bathroom. He is very proud of feeding himself, but Mother finds out at has him perform a horrible task. She makes Dave puke into the toilet, scoops the contents into a bowl, and makes him re-eat his digested meal.
What was discussed during our disscussion was if Davids mom didn't want him to steal, why doesn't she feed him? I think the answer to this is because she likes to feel like she has ultimate control over everything. She probably enjoys feeling like she decides when and what David eats and when he goes against her will by getting food for herself, she decides he "deserves" to be punished. However, this is no excuse for the way this horrible woman treats her son. What she does is horrible and disgusting.
Another topic we discussed this week is how much of a coward David's dad is. One part in this book that really stuck out to me was in the chapter titled "The Accident". One night Mother is drunk and she has a knife in her hand. Her youngest son, Russle is also swinging on her leg. On "accident" (according to David) mother throws the knife at him and it strikes him in the stomach. When David wakes up, he is in the bathroom and his mom is gently placing gauze around his wound. However, she doesn't take him to the hospital and when she is done wrapping his cut, she tells him that he has 10 more minutes to finish the dishes. When David tells his dad that his mother stabbed him, the only thing he says is "Just finish the dishes before you irritated her even more!"
I think the mother has control on pretty much everyone in her house, including her husband. However, Davids dad is a firefighter. there is no excuse on why he couldn't get help to save his child. I talked about this in my last blog post and my view on his still hasn't changed. David's dad is a whimp and a loser.
What was discussed during our disscussion was if Davids mom didn't want him to steal, why doesn't she feed him? I think the answer to this is because she likes to feel like she has ultimate control over everything. She probably enjoys feeling like she decides when and what David eats and when he goes against her will by getting food for herself, she decides he "deserves" to be punished. However, this is no excuse for the way this horrible woman treats her son. What she does is horrible and disgusting.
Another topic we discussed this week is how much of a coward David's dad is. One part in this book that really stuck out to me was in the chapter titled "The Accident". One night Mother is drunk and she has a knife in her hand. Her youngest son, Russle is also swinging on her leg. On "accident" (according to David) mother throws the knife at him and it strikes him in the stomach. When David wakes up, he is in the bathroom and his mom is gently placing gauze around his wound. However, she doesn't take him to the hospital and when she is done wrapping his cut, she tells him that he has 10 more minutes to finish the dishes. When David tells his dad that his mother stabbed him, the only thing he says is "Just finish the dishes before you irritated her even more!"
I think the mother has control on pretty much everyone in her house, including her husband. However, Davids dad is a firefighter. there is no excuse on why he couldn't get help to save his child. I talked about this in my last blog post and my view on his still hasn't changed. David's dad is a whimp and a loser.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
A Child Called "It" Response #1
A Child Called "It" is a really sad story about one of the worst child abuses cases in the nation. This book is kind of hard for me to read because the author's descriptions of the events that happens to him are so in depth and specific. One question that came to me while reading this book is if Dave Pelzer's father was at fault just as much as his mother was for the abuse that happened to him.
In this story, Dave's mom beats, starves, and tortures him as a young child. She rarely ever feeds him, constantly beats him, and performs terrible acts of torture to him. In one part of this book, Dave's mother forces him to take of his clothes and almost makes him lay on the stove so she can burn him. She doesn't take it this far, but she does hold his arm over the burning fire for a while. Luckily Pelzer's father and brothers come home in time before she can take it any further. For some reason only Dave gets abused while his other brothers are treated completely fine.
David's father doesn't actually abuse him, but he doesn't do a thing to stop it either. He pathetically tries to talk his wife into not beating their son or to give him food, but after a few effortless tries, he just gives up. What sucks is that Dave looks up to his father and views him as a hero. His dad keeps telling him that he will get him away from his crazy mother, but it doesn't seem like he is doing anything to make such a thing come true. What really upsets me it that David's father is a fire fighter and he can't have any guts to stand up to his crazy wife to protect his son. She does seem pretty scary, but if he is that afraid of her he could easily contact the police. He IS a witness of all the horrible abuse that is going on in his house and if he hates it so much he could try to do something to stop it instead of just leaving to go to work. In my opinion I actually think Dave's dad is a very selfish person. It's pretty obvious that he uses his job as an excuse to escape all the madness that goes on at his house, but if he stayed there he probably knows that Dave won't get abused as bad as if he wasn't home. Throughout this book Dave mentions a few times how he knows that his mom won't torture him so bad when his dad and brothers are home. However, more and more his father starts spending more time at work.
One part of this book that is still unclear to me is what made Dave's mother switch from being nice to be a completely horrible person? In the first chapter of this book (titled Good Times) Dave's mom seems completely normal, loving, and nice. She would take her family on trips to the lake, cook great meals for all of them and would treat each and every one of her sons equally. However, all of a sudden she just became a lazy bum and did nothing but get drunk, watch TV, and yell at Dave all day. It's kind of clear where the abuse towards Dave starts. At the beginning, she makes all of her kids search for things she lost, but pretty soon she begins to single out Dave. Her crazy behavior is spontaneous. She's been an alcoholic since she was 13 so it isn't like her excessive drinking was anything new. What ever the reason her behavior is NOT okay what soever. Who the hell would ever treat there own child such a way. I hate this woman!
In this story, Dave's mom beats, starves, and tortures him as a young child. She rarely ever feeds him, constantly beats him, and performs terrible acts of torture to him. In one part of this book, Dave's mother forces him to take of his clothes and almost makes him lay on the stove so she can burn him. She doesn't take it this far, but she does hold his arm over the burning fire for a while. Luckily Pelzer's father and brothers come home in time before she can take it any further. For some reason only Dave gets abused while his other brothers are treated completely fine.
David's father doesn't actually abuse him, but he doesn't do a thing to stop it either. He pathetically tries to talk his wife into not beating their son or to give him food, but after a few effortless tries, he just gives up. What sucks is that Dave looks up to his father and views him as a hero. His dad keeps telling him that he will get him away from his crazy mother, but it doesn't seem like he is doing anything to make such a thing come true. What really upsets me it that David's father is a fire fighter and he can't have any guts to stand up to his crazy wife to protect his son. She does seem pretty scary, but if he is that afraid of her he could easily contact the police. He IS a witness of all the horrible abuse that is going on in his house and if he hates it so much he could try to do something to stop it instead of just leaving to go to work. In my opinion I actually think Dave's dad is a very selfish person. It's pretty obvious that he uses his job as an excuse to escape all the madness that goes on at his house, but if he stayed there he probably knows that Dave won't get abused as bad as if he wasn't home. Throughout this book Dave mentions a few times how he knows that his mom won't torture him so bad when his dad and brothers are home. However, more and more his father starts spending more time at work.
One part of this book that is still unclear to me is what made Dave's mother switch from being nice to be a completely horrible person? In the first chapter of this book (titled Good Times) Dave's mom seems completely normal, loving, and nice. She would take her family on trips to the lake, cook great meals for all of them and would treat each and every one of her sons equally. However, all of a sudden she just became a lazy bum and did nothing but get drunk, watch TV, and yell at Dave all day. It's kind of clear where the abuse towards Dave starts. At the beginning, she makes all of her kids search for things she lost, but pretty soon she begins to single out Dave. Her crazy behavior is spontaneous. She's been an alcoholic since she was 13 so it isn't like her excessive drinking was anything new. What ever the reason her behavior is NOT okay what soever. Who the hell would ever treat there own child such a way. I hate this woman!
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