David Pelzer Chapter Summaries

This book starts on March 5, 1973, Daly City, California. Most of the events in this book take place in the home of young David Pelzer. The book begins with David doing a chore his mother has assigned. Right away, you are shown just a bit of the abusive relationship between David and his mother. David is rushing to do the dishes because he knows if he does not complete this chore, he will have to take on the wrath of mother and be deprived of food. As soon as his mother enters the kitchen, his mother begins smacking David. At school, David is a outcast. He smells and wears the same torn up cloths because she does not allow him to clean himself. She gets pleasure out of humiliating him.
Although, David’s mother has not always been abusive. In the second chapter, the author takes us to a time before the abuse began. When David was young, he got into some trouble and even tho his brothers were often doing the same things, David’s punishments were typically more severe. She smashed his face in a mirror and was told to

She also banished him to the basement, forcing him to stand at the bottom of the steps (sitting was not allowed) and listen to them eat. When this first began, his father would sneak him food, but when the fighting progressed between his parents, he stopped sticking up for David. After awhile he would begin to lose hope and wish, he was dead. Just before he was saved, David had given up all hope on praying to god. He believed no one could save him from his miserable life. He was alone and he accepted it. He began to wish his mother would drop dead and feel the same, maybe even worse, amount of pain he had felt all those years. David also grew to hate his father whom he once admired. Dave hated himself as well. He thought that everything that was happening to him was his fault because he had let it go on for so long. He hated himself so much that he wished he were dead. Even school no longer had the appeal it once did for