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Dealing and Healing: A Study of Dave Pelzer’s A Child Called ‘It’ in Light of Trauma
Criticism
Mahsa Fazl Avar1, Leyli Jamali1,*, Majid Alavi1
1
Department of English, Tabriz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz, Iran
*Corresponding Author: Leyli Jamali
Received: 12 April 2015, Accepted: 15 May 2015, Available online: 21 May 2015
Abstract
Experiencing trauma in childhood can have a severe and long-lasting effect and in most cases
can lead to neuropsychiatric problems classified as Post – traumatic stress Disorder (PTSD).
Children whose parent(s) have unresolved trauma are at intense risk for being traumatized.
Children subject to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, separations, losses, and misbehaviors of
caregivers, are at greatest risk of trauma. In very rare cases the victims of childhood traumas turn
to speak out or write about their experiences at their adult life and produce the literature on
trauma. This is the case with Dave Pelzer who wrote about his personal experience of child
abuse which is one of the most social types of trauma in his trilogy opening with A Child Called
“It” in 2001. It is believed that literature and narration are the factors that cause the traumatized
person get towards healing of some kind. By narrating his semi-biography in A Child Called “It”
and the two successive volumes The lost Boy and A Man Named Dave, Dave Pelzer attempts to
move towards what Judith Lewis Herman calls healing through dealing. Drawing upon primary
sources including wounded memory, dealings, and pretended healings of the main character,
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Dave, this article aims to reread Dave Pelzer‟s A Child Called “It” to examine how Dave‟s
wounded memory, struggles to achieve healing through dealing with the traumatized child within
him through the act of writing.
Key words: Childhood Trauma, Memory, Narration, Dealing, Healing
1. Introduction
Child abuse and its traumatic effects have been a main issue mostly within the American and,
European communities for the last twenty years. Each year in the United States more than five
million children are exposed to some form of extreme traumatic stressor. As Perry notes
“children do not benefit from not thinking about it or putting it out of their minds. If a child
senses that his caregivers are upset about the event, he will not bring it up” (4). In the long run,
this only makes the child‟s recovery more difficult. Immediately following the trauma, the child
will not be very capable of processing complex or abstract information. “As the child gets further
away from the event, he will be able to focus longer, digest more and make more sense of what
has happened” (Perry 4).
During the twentieth century some novelists utilized the narrative
space to argue children abuse. As one of these writers, Dave Pelzer, through the act of writing,
not only narrates his own individual problems but also informs readers of such a problem in the
society and awakes the soul of bravery in the other victims to narrate their traumatic life story to
deal with it and try to heal. By using narrative technique, Pelzer demonstrates his conscious and
unconscious desires to transform his abhorrent experiences into a story. He not only tries to solve
his traumatic problem but also wants to open a window to the world of traumatized children.
Therefore, by narrating his semi-biography, Pelzer attempts to introduce his dealing with the
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traumatic world to the reader. In his books Pelzer represents a child (himself) who is severely
abused. But in the course of the story Dave changes retrospectively. By tracing Dave Pelzer‟s
authorial voice through A Child Called “It” as a traumatized narrator; one can trace the attempts
of a wounded victim who deals with the unseen trauma and trying to heal. Moreover, the present
paper aims to illustrate that not only talking about traumatic events but also using a pen and a
paper to jot it down is a step forward towards partial healing.
2. Discussion
A Child Called “It” narrates the life of main character, „Dave‟ during the ages of four to twelve.
Dave is shown at the hands of „the mother‟ who causes him to suffer emotionally and physically.
Instead of seeking help of any kind David accepts the punishments silently, keeps quiet and
thinks all to be his fault. It is only later in life that he decides to write about it because there is no
ear to listen to him.
Kathleen J. Moroz in the book The Effects of Psychological Trauma on Children
and Adolescents (2005) asserts that children may experience trauma as a result of a
number of different circumstances, such as: abuse, including sexual, physical, emotional
and exposure to domestic violence and severe natural disaster, such as a flood, fire,
earthquake or tornado and war or other military actions and abandonment and witness to
violence in the neighborhood or school setting, including fights, drive by shootings, and
law enforcement actions Personal attack by another person or an animal and Kidnapping
and Severe bullying and Medical procedure, surgery, accident or serious illness.
Posttraumatic stress is traumatic stress that persists after a traumatic incident has ended
and continues to affect a child‟s capacity to function. If posttraumatic stress continues
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and the child‟s neurophysiologic responses remain chronically aroused, even though the threat
has ended and the child has survived, then the term posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is used
to describe the child‟s enduring symptoms. Seemingly this is the case with „David the narrator‟,
who attempts to recover through writing down „David the victim‟ in a story which he hopes to
save his remaining life.
2.1. Identifying the Source
The first step to initiate a meaningful healing process in dealing with trauma is “to identify a
focal problem that lies at the bottom of contemporary social difficulties (Smolewski 77). Dave,
the narrator, retrieves that source is his mother and the fact that she is abnormal. However, as a
child he thought that he was the source of the problem. It could be argued that although the
concrete source traumatic events was his mother the vague source has always been Dave.
In Dave‟s own assessment he is not truly the source of evil, as he writes: “I am not a bad
boy” (12). Dave wants to be liked, and loved. According to this sentence it is obvious that Dave
is not responsible for the problems and that the mother is the main source. As Dave reports, she
has problems with her mother and her other sons too. Dave writes about his mother‟s problem
with his grandmother saying: “sometimes Grandmother tried to help me, but that only made
things worse. Mother insisted that her appearance and the way she raised her family were
“nobody else‟s damn business. After a few of these confrontations, Grandmother rarely visited
Mother‟s house” (85). Dave also reports that his mother speak of his problems with the brothers
“Once, from the basement, I heard Mother call my brothers into the kitchen and tell them that
they no longer had a Grandmother or an Uncle Dan” (87). Dave writes about his mother‟s
problem with her husband, his father, who finally abandons her: “Father shook his head and said
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in a sad voice, “I can‟t take it anymore. The whole thing. Your mother, this house, you. I
just can‟t take it anymore” (87).
2.2 From Reality to Imagination
As Kyeong Hwangbo maintains, trauma annihilates the sense of continuity in our lives and our
self-narratives, bringing to the fore the incident of our lives. It destroys the fundamental
assumptions of our conceptual system, which helps us to easily control it. And transform
different branches of random experiences into a certain view of our reality with high self
confidence. “Not feeling like oneself due to a sudden, violent change is the “hallmark of being
traumatized” (6). Such a loss in sense of continuity is apparent in Dave‟s narrative. We read that
a few weeks before he started the fifth grade, he starts to hate himself so much that he wishes to
be dead; he sometimes does not want to continue his terrible life. As it is obvious in many other
parts of the book, Dave cannot understand and cope with the reality and is just living in his
imaginations. Dave notes that “I imagined myself marching upstairs with my prize and Mom
greeting me with hugs and kisses. My fantasy included the family living happily ever after” (23).
In another part he writes about his fantasy:
Hours later, I would drift off to sleep, fantasizing about food. I mainly dreamt of
colossal hamburgers with all the fixings. In my dreams I seized my prize and
brought it to my lips. I visualized every inch of the hamburger. The meat dripped
with grease, and thick slices of cheese bubbled on top. Condiments oozed
between the lettuce and tomato. As I brought the hamburger closer to my face, I
opened my mouth to devour my prize, but nothing happened. I‟d try again and
again, but no matter how hard I struggled; I could not taste a morsel of my fantasy
(30).
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He also writes “once, during my midnight fantasies, I came up with the idea of begging for food
on my way to school” (44).
In this part Dave confesses to be a real being “sometimes at night I would wake up and
try to imagine I was a real person, sleeping under a warm electric blanket, knowing I was safe
and that somebody loved me” (42). Dave‟s story is full of words like “imagine” and “fantasy”.
The word “dreaming” is one of his favorite words which takes him away of the real world. He
writes: “in the darkness of the garage I closed my eyes, dreaming I was a king dressed in the
finest robes, eating the best food mankind had to offer. As I held a piece of frozen pumpkin pie
crust or a bit of a taco shell, I was the king, and like a king on his throne, I gazed down on my
food and smiled” (49). He notes in another place: “I felt proud of myself. I imagined myself like
a character in a comic book, which overcame great odds and survived. Soon my head slumped
forward and I fell asleep. In my dream, I flew through the air in vivid colors. I wore a cape of red
… I was Superman” (59).
Hwangbo mentions that “the one who is traumatized doesn‟t feel like oneself” (78). Dave
imagines himself a real person, a character in the book; he does not feel like a child named
“Dave” he feels like a child called “it”.
2.3 Mental and Physical Injuries
According to the definition of trauma Dave Pelzer‟s A Child Called „It‟ is full of wounds;
external bodily injuries, and internal psychic injuries that Dave tries to deal with. His mother
threats him badly and, mental tortures affect him hard. Dave reports that as soon as his family
leaves mother brings out one of his baby brother‟s soiled diapers and smears it on Dave‟s face.
He tries to sit perfectly still. Dave knows if he moves it will only be worse. He does not look up.
He can‟t see, with mother standing over him he can only hear her heavy breathing. After what
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seems like an hour, Mother kneels down beside Dave and in a soft voice says, “Eat it” (34).
These cases are difficult to deal with but they never finish, each page of this book is full of such
wounds. As Dave claims, his mother drags him into the bathroom and slugs him so hard that he
bends over in the stomach. Pulling him around to face the toilet, she orders him to shove his
finger down his throat. His mother rams her finger into his mouth, as if she wants to pull his
stomach up through his throat. She finally let him go, but only when he agrees that he will vomit
for her. She returns with a small bowl, orders him to scoop the partially digested food out of the
toilet and put it in the bowl. All of these memories are repeated throughout the novel.
Being in a bad condition and ignoring him is not only a physical but also a mental
torture. As Dave writes “I heard something pop, and felt an intense pain in my shoulder
and arm. The startled look on Mother‟s face told me that she had heard the sound too, but
she released her grip on my arm, and turned and walked away as if nothing had
happened”( 24). He continues: “plopped down at a T.V. to try to eat. As I reached for a
glass of milk, my left arm did not respond. My fingers twitched upon command, but my
arm tingled and had become lifeless. I looked at Mother, trying to plead with my eyes.
She ignored me. I finally fell asleep, with my left arm carefully cradled in the other”.
2.4 Desensitizing People around the Traumatized One
Trauma is originally a medical term used to refer to a wound or an external bodily injury, or a
psychic injury, “especially one caused by emotional shock the memory of which is repressed and
remains unhealed or the state or condition so causes” (Hwangbo 83). Through his trilogy Dave
Pelzer claims that he gets healed but the correctness of this claim could be argued. Hwangbo
notes that “a pervasive cultural atmosphere saturated by images and narratives of violence may
desensitize people to what they see and hear, making it just another mundane part of their daily
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lives” (95). Supposedly, this is what happens during the novel. Dave‟s protector, his father
becomes passive. In the first part of the novel Dave talks about his father‟s character a lot, but at
the end of the book his father‟s glory fades. Not only his father changes but so do the whole
family.
Initially, the father is a protector making him feel special by calling him a “tiger” (15),
but the atmosphere desensitize father and he changes. As Dave writes his passive father is
Dave‟s only hope: “When Father was home; it became his habit to help me with the evening
dishes. Father washed and I dried. While we worked, we talked softly so neither Mother nor the
other boys could hear us” (60). Yet, gradually, Dave‟s miserable condition becomes routine for
his family and to his father: “The man who had helped me in the past, just stood like a statue
while his son ate something even a dog wouldn‟t touch” (42).
By losing the father‟s support, Dave loses the sense of love of the family and they all
become the same to Dave “Sometimes one of them came into the bathroom to use the toilet.
They just glared at me, shook their heads and turned away. There finally came a time when it
didn‟t do any good for Father to be home because Mother had forbidden him to see Dave” (69).
Things even gets worse and “in the summer of 1972 they took turns hitting me and appeared to
enjoy throwing their weight around. It was obvious that they felt superior to the family slave”
(79). Seemingly, the atmosphere and passing of time makes the tortures a routine act to the
others. Something they become a part of without really knowing about its nature.
2.5 Faith
Dave is a hopeful boy, his great hope being God and then his father. This hope to God is
comprehensible throughout the novel. He writes “I was on my own, and every night I prayed to
God that I could be strong both in body and soul” (42). Dave‟s personal relationship with God is
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not always very strong: “About a month before I entered the fifth grade, I came to believe that
for me, there was no God. No just God would leave me like this. …With no dreams, I found that
words like hope and faith were only letters, randomly put together into something meaningless –
words only for fairy tales” (77). Yet, page after page, the reader sees Dave praying to God:
“Afterwards, I collapsed on the floor praying for a miracle. It never came. My useless prayers, I
knew it had finally happened my parents were separating” (88). In some cases he becomes really
a religious person, but there are times when he totally loses faith and fails. These are the times
when he truly hates God.
At that instant, I hated God more than anything else in this or any other world.
God had known of my struggles for years, but He had stood by watching as things
went from bad to worse. He wouldn‟t even grant me a trace of Father‟s Old Spice
after Shave. God had completely taken away my greatest hope. Inside I cursed
His name, wishing I had never been born. Instead of dwelling on the past, I
maintained the same focus that I had taught myself years ago in the garage,
knowing the good Lord was always over my shoulder, giving me quiet
encouragement and strength when I needed it most. (92)
It could be argued Dave‟s faith is drastically conditioned by the traumatic state of his body and
mind. Dave‟s praying and believing in God emerges at times when he is desperately in need of
hope and something to cling to. However, this gives way to despair when God fails him. His
unstable character is tossed from side to side by the hurricane of trauma and he is so fragile to
side with anything at that stage.
2.6 Language
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As Susan Sontag suggest, “the psycho-formative functions of narrative-building and meaninggenerating are central to human experience, and the core concept of the self cannot be sustained
without these functions. Disintegration of these psycho-formative functions means disintegration
of the self. Hence, desymbolization is a major symptomatic effect of trauma” (50). Traumatic
events as defined above “are the incomprehensible, unsymbolisable real that disrupts the
personal narrative of self. Trauma as unassimilated, unsymbolized experiences haunts survivors
like the specters of those who have not been properly buried” (57). Moreover, “since traumatized
people cannot process their experiences cognitively, emotionally, and symbolically, their story of
trauma becomes”, to use Maurice Blanchet‟s term, “the “un-story” over which they have no
conscious control” (138). This brings to fore a highly complicated issue of traumatic memory
and its connection to other symptoms of trauma, such as dissociation, and psychic splitting that
explain the considerable limitation and decrease of the self in the arouse of trauma (Sontag 58).
This could be true in the case of Dave‟s narrative, which is in some dimensions not a
story but an “un- story”, because the unconscious control, makes issues complicated decreasing
the self in the wake of trauma. As apparent in many parts of the novel, Dave writes about his
imagination, and although he is conscious, he admits that he is living in his dreams. He has a
good family, a good mother, in his unreal world. Besides, another point that makes Dave‟s
narrative an un-story is the language he uses to narrate it. Being the first volume of a trilogy,
Dave Pelzer in A Child Called „It‟ deploys a language that unfolds from a child‟s viewpoint.
Thus, naturally, the tone and vocabulary reflect the age and wisdom of the child at that particular
time.
Based on the child‟s life from ages four to twelve, A Child Called „It‟ is supposed to be
narrated by a boy. But through the story the language is somehow out grows the child. For
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example, when Dave says: “he pays too much attention for his moms make up and
weight” (8), or where he notes: “As usual, she wears no makeup. She is overweight, and
she knows it” (8) Dave goes to details in an unbelievable way. This kind of language use
is somehow too much for a child. In another incident, Dave recalls:
My father, Stephen Joseph, supported his family as a fireman, working in the heart
of San Francisco. He stood about five feet ten inches tall, and he weighed about
190 pounds. Most of the people do not know even what they eat yesterday. A
child language is usually soft and pure one but….:”When she yelled at us, her
voice changed from the nurturing mother to the wicked witch. Even when she
barked at one of my brothers, I‟d run to hide in our room, hoping she would soon
return to the couch, her drink and her TV show (21).
The reason that there is a discrepancy between Dave‟s use language and age is that as a child
what he wants is just being happy but for Dave there is no chance for this through childish
behavior: “But more than anything, I wanted just an ounce of respect; one little bit of dignity”
(63). This he thinks he could be earned by using by grown up language.
Throughout the novel, he uses the words like “barking” and “witch” that are not normal.
In most events his calculating as a child is really surprising: “Suddenly I began to realize the
longer I could keep myself off the top of the stove, the better my chances were for staying alive.
I knew my brother Ron would soon be coming home from his scout meeting, and I knew Mother
never acted this bizarre when anyone else was in the house. In order to survive, I had to buy
time” (28).This strange behavior and command is not possible for a child: “I began to ask
whining questions. This infuriated her even more, and Mother began to rain blows around my
head and chest. The more Mother slugged me, the more I began to realize I had won!”(28). The
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words such as „army cot, marching, jail, prison‟ are used many times but, as mentions the age is
4-12 Dave‟s condition of present life and his adult slang penetrates in his narrating childhood
memories. As if an adult one becomes child again and writes this book.
2.7 Exaggeration
Apart from abnormal use of language, exaggeration is another detectable defect in Dave‟s
narrative. There are some special times in our life that we think the world is against us.
Seemingly, Dave exaggerates the otherwise normal conducts and statements made by other like
when his mother says “Uncle Dan will take care of me. She makes it a threat” (8). Normally,
such a statement does not have such a strong tone and wouldn‟t be considered as a threat as
emphasized by Dave. However, he tends to emphasize on strong word like „threat‟ repeatedly to
create the atmosphere he desires just as he does in: “I act timid, nodding to her threats” (7).
Another very obvious case of exaggeration is where he asserts: “My long sleeve shirt has
more holes than Swiss cheese” (9). This simile shows an intense exaggeration and a powerful
overstatement. In another case Dave reports: “It‟s the same shirt I‟ve worn for about two years.
Mother has me wear it every day as her way to humiliate me” (9). How can a shirt be worn by a
little boy for two years, without going unnoticed? Dave even tries to judge about his mothers
thought and the fact that she wants to humiliate him. He even compares home to jail. What does
a little boy know about the poor condition of a jail? Dave even concludes in an astonishing way
that: “Good, I tell myself. At least she won‟t be able to beat me if I‟m in jail” (12).
2.9 Memory
Writing about brain structures Neuner mentions that:
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“Because traumatic stress can affect a variety of brain structures during development,
it is reasonable to assume that development of episodic memory may be delayed in
children who grow up in stressful conditions. As a consequence, the memory theory
cannot be adapted unconditionally to children below the age of 5 years. In addition,
the phenomenology of symptoms in traumatized preschool children differs to some
extent from that in older children, and approaches to treatment must be adapted for
these children. Because of ethical concerns, there is a lack of research on the
neurophysiology of trauma in children. In particular, there is no symptom-provocation
study involving children. The authors found that temporal disorganization, but not
absence of emotion, was associated with the presence of PTSD symptoms at a later
stage” (657).
In contrast, dissociative themes in the trauma narratives showed a weak relationship with the
development of consequent PTSD. These outcomes support the idea that “in children, as well
as in adults, traumatic memories might be characterized by a lack of coherent autobiographic information and, at the same time, by a dominant network of sensory and
emotional elements” (Neuner 658).
The main tool of narrative exposure is language, and in Pelzer‟s novel the
narrator‟s memory acts at a level which is more than believable within the linguistic
domain. Dave recalls every day with every detail in his keen mind in spite of his small
age. This recalling is, however, somewhat incomplete. While recalling the past events
Dave remembers the smallest details as when he reports: “By the end of the session, my
nose bled twice and I was missing a tooth.” (33).
2.10 Silence
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Muteness and being silent are generally considered to be signs of disempowerment. In many
Holocaust novels such as The Painted Bird, the protagonists regaining their voices often signal
their transformed status from victims to survivors (Sontag 95). In A Child Called “It” David
Pelzer‟s protagonist remains silent in spite of the horrible tortures inflicted upon him. This is the
case even when as he says the mother “whipped me with the dog‟s chain. It was very painful, but
I just gritted my teeth and took it” (69). And also where he mentions in another part that: “I
wanted to scream, but I refused to give Mother the pleasure of hearing me cry” (29).
As Susan J. Brison aptly notes, “narratives necessarily involve choices and integration.
Thus, trauma narratives, by virtue of their performative nature as speech acts, often contribute to
remaking of the self and bring about a shift from the object to the subject status for those
narrating their own stories. Saying something about a traumatic memory does something to it”
(85). Within the framework of what is mentioned above, Dave tries to build a new ontological
landscape. By writing his story, he aims to show his unorganized life story and bring into
perspective his tortures and really painful traumatic experiences rebuilt in a positive way through
narrative.
Judith Lewis Herman in her Trauma and Recovery asserts that: “The conflict between the
will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of
psychological trauma when the truth is fully recognized, survivors can begin their recovery. But
far too often, secrecy prevails and the story of the traumatic event surfaces not as a verbal
narrative but as a symptom” (1). Thus, narrative has an important role in healing. As Horvitz in
Literary Trauma: Sadism, Memory, and Sexual Violence in American Women‟s Fiction (2000)
writes: the question for both the writer and the literary critic becomes: How can such a lost,
indefinable state of existence be normatively represented? Can narrative, itself, by compelling
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victim-survivors to remember and to repeat stories suffused with terror, panic, and pain,
serve a palliative role in the healing process? Certainly, psychoanalysis believes that
crucial to recovering from an experience of trauma is the capacity and willingness to
incorporate that traumatic event inside one‟s self as an indispensable piece of personal
history and identity. Since, in the fiction, narrative is inextricably entwined with memory
and the process of remembering, the greater one‟s ability to “make story” out of trauma,
which is defined differently for each protagonist, the more likely s/he is to regain control
of her or his life after that trauma. Throughout the novel Dave‟s silence means that he is a
victim, he couldn‟t accept such a label.
3. Conclusion
In his semi- autobiographical novel A Child Called “It” (2001) David Pelzer narrates the
traumatic events he experienced as child with a strong plot in a way that reader wants to know is
what will happen next in spite of being engaged in a repulsive text. Dave, the narrator, wants to
convince the reader that he is telling the truth, despite the fact that his language is not a language
of a little boy. In the beginning Dave mentioned that his book is first part of a trilogy, developed
from a child‟s view point. The tone and vocabulary reflect the age and wisdom of the child at
that particular time. However, the fact that as an adult and in real life he is in the military the
words he uses to narrate his childhood story as a first person is strongly influenced by his adult
self. Dave tries to be a survivor so he uses his voice, he narrates his trauma. But instead of
writing his biography, Pelzer changes it to a fiction by abusing the language and exaggeration
elements that mentioned.
References
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[1] Blanchot, Maurice. The Writing of the Disaster, University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
Print.
[2] Brison, Susan, J., Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self. Princeton University
Press, 2002. Print.
[3] Herman, Judith, Lewis. Trauma and Recovery. Washington: Gutenberg press,1992. Print.
[4] Horvitz, Deborah M. Literary Trauma: Sadism, Memory, and Sexual Violence in
American Women‟s Fiction. New York: State University of New York Press, 2000. Print.
[5] Hwangbo, Kyeong. Trauma, Narrative, and the Marginal Self in Selected contemporary
American Novels. United States: Florida University Press, 2004. Print.
[6] Moroz. Kathleen, J., “The Effects of Psychological Trauma on Children and
Adolescents.” Vermont Agency of Human Services, DSW, LICSW June 30, 2005. PDF.
[7] Neuner, Frank, et al. Narrative Exposure Therapy for the Treatment of Traumatized
Children and Adolescents (Kid Net): From Neurocognitive Theory to Field Intervention.
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[8] Pelzer, Dave. A Child Called It. London: Orion Books Press, 2001. Print.
[9] Perry, Bruce, D. The Child Trauma Academy Helping Traumatized Children a Brief
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[10]
Sontag, Susan. Regarding the Pain of Others. Picador; Reprint edition, 2004.
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[11]
Wesley-Esquimaux, Cynthia C., and Magdalena Smolewski. Historic Trauma and
Aboriginal Healing. New York: Anishinabe Press, 2004. Print.
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