A Child Called It: One Child’s Courage to Survive

Pelzer recalls his family before abuse, which he characterizes as the “‘Brady Bunch’ of the 1960s” (22). Dave lives in Daly City, California, with his two brothers Ronald and Stan. His mother Catherine Roerva is warm, and his firefighter father Stephen Joseph is supportive. Pelzer describes Catherine as creative and his father as charismatic. While Stephen works a lot, Catherine keeps a clean house. She is a gifted cook and an empathetic, creative mother. Pelzer recalls culture trips to Chinatown, elaborate picnics in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and camping vacations across the Bay Area. His mother often anticipates Dave’s needs and fears. The family keeps many pets, including cats, dogs, and aquariums of exotic fish. Once, when a cat is in labor, Catherine prompts the boys to come out and watch to teach them about birth. Pelzer recalls, “No matter what the family was doing, she somehow came up with a constructive lesson; though we were not usually aware that we are being taught” (25). Pelzer remembers active Halloweens, festive Thanksgivings, and cozy Christmases. He remembers witnessing his mother crying because she is so happy to have a “real family” (27). Pelzer’s fondest childhood memory is a trip to Russian River, in which they watch the sunset as a family and his mother hugs him tenderly. He writes, “I never felt as safe and as warm as that moment” (29).

Pelzer describes the origins of his abuse and how it escalates throughout his early childhood. He describes being targeted by his mother, who claims he is a “bad boy” (33). Pelzer recalls the “mirror treatment,” in which Catherine smashes Dave’s face into the mirror and forces him to repeat “I’m a bad boy” to his reflection (31). He is singled out among his brothers, punished exponentially more severely, and receives fewer material goods such as food and holiday gifts. At first, Catherine abuses Dave in secret, burning him, beating him, and once severely injuring his arm. After she injures Dave’s arm during a beating when he is in kindergarten, she waits until nightfall and instructs him to sleep in the upper bunk, though he usually sleeps in the lower one. In the middle of the night she shakes him awake. Catherine takes Dave to the hospital. At the hospital, she tells the doctor that Dave fell out of the upper bunkbed. Dave notices that the doctor does not believe the injury is an accident.

Though Dave loves school, he is held back from the first grade for mysterious reasons. Catherine devises reasons to punish him. For instance, she claims that she drove past the school and saw him playing on the grass, an activity she strictly forbids. Dave’s punishment for supposedly playing on the grass is sticking his hand in the stove fire at home. However, this does not prove to be enough for Catherine, who insists that he lay down in the flames of the stove. Dave realizes that if he stalls his mother long enough, he can prevent further injury. He makes up excuses until his brother Ron comes home; Dave knows his mother will not act bizarrely in front of Ron. When Ron gets home, Dave runs to the garage and tries to dress his wounds. He realizes at this point that he has the smarts to survive his mother. He vows to never give in to her and to do everything he must to survive.