More handpicked essays just for you.
The effects of abuse on children's development
Behavioural effects of child abuse
Psychological factors of child abuse
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
A Child Called It was about the struggles of a young boy named Dave Pelzer. Dave was put through hard times and at some point lost hope in his dreams and doubted the humanity of mankind, but in the end because of his strong will he was able to overcome his problems and make a better life for himself. When Dave was younger him and his brothers, Ronald and Stan were happy in a normal family with a loving mom and dad, but as years passed things started to change. Dave’s parents became alcoholics. His father never came home and his mother had lost her brightness and love of life, resorting to alcohol to get through the day. She became miserable to live with. Although she became mean to the kids she focused her anger on Dave. At first she would pit his brothers against him or make him do many chores, but soon her meanness turned to hatred towards Dave. To her Dave was now just a slave and an “it” she referred to him as “the boy”. Although sometimes Dave’s father would try to help him or defend him in arguments he would always give in to Dave’s mother. At a young age Dave had to learn how to play games with his mother as a sort of survival tactic to stay alive in his household. Besides telling her child that she hated him and wished him dead Dave’s mother put him through tremendous physical pain and abuse. From a young child till the fifth grade Dave Pelzer had been made to sleep away from the family in the basement in a small army cot. He was starved for days and days on end. His mother longed for any time to severely beat him, it made her day, she would think of morbid things all day to do to him when he got home from school. Among many other things, Dave Pelzer was; stabbed, made to drink ammonia, bleach, and dishwashing detergent, made to sit in a bathroom for hours with many chemicals creating a small gas chamber, put in freezing cold water for hours with just his nose sticking out of the tub, burnt on an open fire on the stove, and made to eat his little brother’s dirty diaper. These were only some of the torturous things his mother could think of to do to her little boy.
and he didn’t even have anything to cover him. Dad would occasionally sneak him scraps of food, but if he didn’t he would have to starve. 5- Bathroom This is where mother played many games of torture with Dave. She played 'Gas Chamber' which is a dangerous game where Dave has to stay in the bathroom with many different chemicals causing him to choke. She also made him swallow ammonia and made him sit in a bathtub of freezing cold water for hours.
Responsibility is a huge characteristic for an adult, and he was handling his responsibilities by working for Mr. Hawkins. Once David has the gun, he become very irresponsible by lying to his mother and shoot Mr. Hawkins 's mule. The death of the mule limits Dave, because now he has to work to pay off the mule. At the end of the short story Dave jumps on a train and leaves the country town and leaves his responsibilities behind. Dave seems to be moving backwards instead of forward with becoming a man because a man would handle his responsibilities instead of running away from them so that is where the title comes in. Dave was almost a man because he was working and handling responsibilities, but after he purchases the gun he kills the mule he has to work to pay for it and instead he runs away. He was becoming a man but he ran away and now is only a boy. Since he ran away from his responsibilities by jumping on the train, he will now have to grow up a lot faster than he expected. The title expressed how the only thing or person that was preventing Dave from becoming an actually man was himself. He lacks a lot of maturity in this story so it results in bad judgement and many poor choices, which shows that Dave has a lot to learn on his own
The author is attempting to teach the readers that no one should treat people this badly. David is an innocent child and does not deserve his bad childhood. David does not even do anything wrong, and his mother continued to treat him like an object. Pelzer succeeded in telling how cruel the mother is. He also teaches that people can be cruel to each other, and that it is important to teach people that kindness can go a long way. The whole book discusses his childhood. Pelzer wrote some sequels to tell the rest of his child life for the interested readers.
Catherine’s behavior went unnoticed especially by her husband, as he was a firefighter and wasn’t home most of the time. Catherine found any reason possible to abuse Dave and clearly favored her other children over him. As Dave Pelzer got older the more severe the punishments got. It started out with his mother grabbing him and slapping him across the face followed by standing him in front of a mirror and making him repeat, “I am a bad boy” (Pelzer, 38). Each time he repeated that phrase his mother would take his face and smash it into the mirror. This was only the beginning of the treachery that Dave endured.
...e on her part. Throughout the story, the Mother is portrayed as the dominant figure, which resembled the amount of say that the father and children had on matters. Together, the Father, James, and David strived to maintain equality by helping with the chickens and taking care of Scott; however, despite the effort that they had put in, the Mother refused to be persuaded that Scott was of any value and therefore she felt that selling him would be most beneficial. The Mother’s persona is unsympathetic as she lacks respect and a heart towards her family members. Since the Mother never showed equality, her character had unraveled into the creation of a negative atmosphere in which her family is now cemented in. For the Father, David and James, it is only now the memories of Scott that will hold their bond together.
The book “This Boy’s Life” by Tobias Wolff is a memoir written about the author’s childhood memories and experiences. The author shows many different characters within the book. Many of them are just minor character that does not affect the author much in his life choices and thoughts throughout his growth. But there are some that acts as the protagonist and some the antagonist. One of them is Dwight, the protagonist’s or Jack’s stepfather. This character seems to be one of the characters that inhibit Jack’s choices and decisions. This character plays a huge role in Jack’s life as it leaves a huge scar in his memory. The author here spends the majority of time in this character in the memoir to show the readers the relationship between Jack and Dwight.
Zeus, most likely the most renowned god of all gods, the mighty god of lightning has taken part in some of the most widely known myths of all times. Zeus has taken part in many Greek and Roman myths alike, either as Zeus or as his Roman counterpart of Jupiter. Unlike most gods in mythology though, Zeus is the main character in almost all of the myths he is mentioned in. Whether the myth is about his epic clash against the Titans, his fight against the Giants or even about his extramarital affairs, Zeus always seems to come out of these conflicts unaffected and triumphant. When examining Zeus’ character though, it is important to note that Zeus is a god that exhibits human characteristics throughout most of his myths. Growth is one of the many human attributes that Zeus portrays in many of his myths.
Mother is introduced to us from “The Rescue” and we continue to learn of her tortures throughout the book. Mother is a woman who is angry, specially towards Dave, specially when he is in need of punishment. Mother does not take care of her appearance anymore, she walks around in robes all day, watches tv, never bothers to put on make up, and often smells of alcohol. She is vindictive, cruel and abusive, always barking orders, assigning impossible chores and coming up with more sickening ways to break Dave. Mother attacks Dave’s self esteem by making him repeat and believe that he is a bad boy. Dave’s self esteem deteriorates even more as she treats him worse than one would a dog, yet acts towards his brothers with care and affection and even goes on to teach them to look down on Dave.
When his parents divorced, his father was the one to move out of the house. When Jeff was 18, Joyce took David and left. Jeffrey was alone in the house with little food and a broken refrigerator until his father and his new wife found out about the situation and moved into the house.
Furthermore, Mary’s father was abusive in the family home to both Mary and her mother. A lifelong criminal, who was known to commit violent armed robberies, was not a good influence for Mary. Billy was often out of work, depending on earnings form Betty to sustain the house. It must be noted that there is some question if Billy is actually Mary’s father, given Betty’s profession; chances are great that Billy was just another victimizer in Mary’s lif...
The Narrator’s family treats her like a monster by resenting and neglecting her, faking her death, and locking her in her room all day. The Narrator’s family resents her, proof of this is found when the Narrator states “[My mother] came and went as quickly as she could.
Dave has experienced a truly extraordinary life. As a child, he endured the horrors of child abuse, which included physical torture, mental cruelty, and near starvation. Upon Dave's rescue, he was identified as one of the most severely abused children in California's history. At age 12, Dave's teachers risked their careers to notify the authorities and saved his life. Upon Dave's removal, he was made a ward of the court and placed in foster care until he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force at age 18. As a young adult Dave was determined to better himself--no matter what the odds.
Father and Son by Bernard McLaverty 'Father and Son' by Bernard McLaverty is a short story which is set in
The first way Jacob’s decisions reveal his bravery is seen in his decision to oppose the high command of the circus in the name of justice. This is seen when he directly opposes Uncle Al’s demand to have Jacob to convince Marlena remarry August, despite August’s abusive nature towards Marlena. This is when he says to Uncle Al, “I’m not going to sit here and listen to you tell me [that] it’s okay for August to hit her” (266). The significance of this opposition is that Jacob knows that he is putting himself in danger by opposing Uncle Al, and since he braves this danger in the name of what is just, it reveals his bravery. Also, since Jacob in this case is the purveyor of justice (an attribute of heroism), it confirms his status as a hero. The second more subtle example of Jacob’s bravery is seen when in his older age, he expresses outrage over the treatment of himself and his peers at the hands of the nursing home. This is seen when he decided to bravely oppose the quality of food served to himself and his peers, where a specific example is when he addresses his peers regarding the food they are eating, as he asks: “doesn’t anyone else here want real food? Surely you can’t be happy with...this…pap?” (68). The significance of Jacob’s announcement is that it reveals his bravery, as he is not afraid to be the only individual in the home to address the quality of the food. And since this bravery is in
Parents tell their children to think first and act second. Most people forget this as illustrated in Yann Martel’s satire “We ate the Children Last,” written in 2004. It starts out with an operation and humans are given a pigs digestive tract to cure cancer. Because the operation made people eat garbage, they gave it to the poor At this point everybody wants to have this operation. When people started going cannibalistic, the government puts them together to eat each other. This started out as a good thing by curing cancer. After that everybody from the poor to the people administering the operation didn’t pause long enough to consider the consequences. Real world examples of people not pausing to consider the consequences are seen frequently, whether, it be on a small or big scale. Yann Martel is saying that