Literary Analysis #2

1.) (A) The nonfiction book that i chose to read was "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer. This touching story is about a very young boy that was abused, beaten, and starved nearly to death. His mother was an alcoholic that thought of the abuse as a game. The mother even went as far as stabbing Dave in the stomach. Dave was sent to school in clothes that were never washed and looked like something that would be found on a homeless man and his shoes had holes in them. Dave's teachers knew about the abuse but there wasn't much that they could do because whenever they called his mom she would just say that he was an erratic boy and was constantly stealing food, but the only reason Dave was stealing food was because his mom never fed him and would sometimes even make him eat his vomit.
(B) This heartbreaking story is a story about the worst troubles you could ever imagine, but also about the courage and dreams of a young boy to get out of an awful situation and imagine that there was light at the end of the tunnel and that one day he would be in the arms of caring and loving people.
2.) I think that Pelzer chose to write this autobiography because he wanted to get his story of his childhood out in the world and wanted people to hear about the things that could be happening in someones house and nobody even think twice about it. Being able to talk about all the terrifying things that happened during his childhood had to be really rough, but I believe that he wrote about it to inform people of things that could be going on outside of a child's' school life.
3.) I chose this book because I have heard about so many people i know that have read this book and that it was a very heartwarming and touching book. When I found the book and read the back cover it immediately grabbed my attention because I unfortunately had a friend at a very young age that was a victim of abuse from her mom and the summary touched my heart immediately and i knew i had to read it. The beginning of the book was very sad but it kept me interested because all I wanted for Dave was to find an escape from his home.
4.) Like i said before, one of my dearest friends growing up was a helpless victim of abuse which gave me a very close connection to the book. Even though she didn't tell me while it was going on i remember noticing marks on her whenever we would walk to school together but she never did say anything until she moved in with her grandparents, and i still wish to this day that i would have said something about it to someone so that way i could have maybe got her out of that house sooner. The book touched very close to home and I'm so glad i had a chance to read it.
People:
1.) In this particular book the author didn't create any characters because the book was based entirely on true events that happened during his childhood at his moms house.
2.) The first person in the book was Dave's mother. She was an unstable alcoholic that always had red puffy eyes, never wore makeup, and never got dressed. It seemed that all she cared about doing was making her sons life a living hell. Literally. The next person in the book is Dave himself. He had jagged teeth from being slammed into the kitchen tile. He went to school every day with a new bruise or cut on his body. Whenever he would appear at school his teachers always asked him where he got the marks but every day was a new story because he was trying to protect his mother in a way but mostly he didn't want the school to call his mom, because when he got home he would just get it even worse.
3.) I think the thing that makes these people so interesting to write about is that there is so much to these people and what were going through their minds while all of this was going on. Does his mom have an remorse for what she did? Things like that interest me the most and I would love to have more information about what happened after he finally was able to get away.
People (continued):
1.) The only example of an indirect character in the story was Dave himself. There was also only one example of a direct character also which was Dave's mother.
2.) The authors diction would change from day to night whenever he would begin to explain his mother and talk about her actions. He was just a young boy but his thoughts about his mother were completely different than his personality showed.
3.) The protagonist is static throughout the entire book and is also round, because the protagonist in the story turns out to be the author himself because he was able to overcome the abuse and neglect and get away from the antagonist which was his mom.
4.) After reading the book i felt like i had just met a real life person. The author did such an amazing job expressing what his life was really like as a child and he gave such a deep insight to who he was and still is as a person. I believe every word and every emotion that was portrayed through the story.
Style:
1.) The author wrote the story as if it were a journal because he expressed what happened every day that passed and never gave away anything because he was telling his real story.
2.) The descriptions of the people in the book were semi-lengthy because he gave detail about the people in his life, but it left you wanting to know more about them and what they were thinking. The actions on the other hand were very lengthy descriptions but in a good way, because you got the full affect of everything that was going on while Dave was getting the torture throughout his life.
3.) I think that the tool that Pelzer used was his honestly. The truth about what was happening in his home was what set the tone and the mood of the story.
4.) The authors attitude towards the subject i believe was a form of hostility caused by the things he was having to open up about. I couldn't imagine talking about something like this so I couldn't imagine him not being in pain while having to write out all of the actions that were taking place.
5.) The author didn't really offer any resources throughout the reading but it became one of the most know abuse stories in the state of California. Knowing that it was one of the most abusive recording's definitely changed the way i thought about the book because it just showed that us readers really have no idea what Dave really went through throughout the years.
Enduring Memory:
The most important thing that i know I'm going to remember from this book is that you can never ever judge a book by its cover. I know its cliche but you may have an impression of someone at school and think that they have a good family and background, but behind their smile and their actions, something awful could be going on and you would never know it unless you saw it in person and for yourself. I'm sure that the kids at school thought of Dave as just some poor filthy boy, but they didn't know what was really going on behind closed doors. The last thing that I'm going to take from reading this book is that if you see something that you think is out of the ordinary, always say something because you can ultimately be the difference between someones well being and even their death. Its always important to speak up even if you are wrong because in any given situation, its always better to be safe then sorry.