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.