One Child’s

                         Courage to Survive.

                                              DAVE PELZER

                                              MARCH 5, 1973.

Chapter 

1

THE  RESCUE

     In this chapter Dave is talking about what his life is like. How his mother mistreats him without any reason. He talks in detail about the punishments she gives him and all the obligations that he has to do at home.For example: his mother hits him, she burns his arm with the stove, she does not feed him for several days, sometimes she just lets him eat the leftovers left by his brothers in the dishes, he does the chores of the house . In addition, he wears the same clothes every day to go to school. The clothes are old, dirty, torn and smell bad. He runs to get to school. One day when he arrives at school, the nurse of school see and asks him: what happened ? because she looks at him bruises, he said an excuse he had already used.The nurse gave notice to Mr. Hansen, other teachers and a police officer of what was happening with Dave. The police asked for Dave’s information, his address and phone number. the police took Dave, he was worried, he thought he was in trouble. The cop went to Dave’s house and told Mrs.Catherine that she no longer had custody of Dave. The police told Dave “you’re free’, your mom can not hurt you anymore.

Chapter

2

GOOD TIMES

       Dave remembers when he lived happily surrounded by the love of his family. when it was a family full of love. They lived in a common house in Daly City. His father is a fireman. His mother is a housewife who always had a clean house and liked to cook for the whole family. Usually Dave’s mom took them for a walk in the city. They enjoyed special events like Halloween and Christmas. They liked to decorate the house with many ornaments. Sometimes when dave’s father worked for many hours, his mother took them to walks to different parks and to the Russian River.

Chapter

3

BAD BOY

     His mother’s attitude suddenly changed towards him. Dave and his brothers made mischief, but only he was punished. One of his punishments was to slam him into a mirror and also say “I’m a bad boy”.The school became a refuge for him. He’s a smart guy, but his mom made him repeat the first grade according to her, because he was a bad boy. He punished him in very cruel ways, as hitting him, burning his arm, sending him to sleep in the basement. In the summer during the vacations, he is left at his uncle’s house, although the uncle was bad with him, the uncle was not as cruel as his mother. At Christmas they did not give him gifts and he continued without having dinner with the family. Dave’s mother continues to punish him in different ways, each time more cruel. But he feels he has to be strong to survive.

Chapter

4

    THE FIGHT FOR FOOD.

     In this chapter, Dave struggles to get food. His mother does not feed him for several days. The struggle to survive from the abuse and abuse of his mother. Dave went to school with the same clothes every day and obviously smelled bad, since she would not let him clean up. Dave started stealing the lunches from his classmates. His mom started calling him “the boy” making Dave suffer. He felt like the servant of his own family. He does the chores of the house and when he finished them,he had to go to the basement, that is where he slept alone and with cold.Sometimes he felt protected by his father, because sometimes he gave him food. After a while he stopped helping him. Dave started eating the leftovers that were in the trash can until his mom discovered it. Each time the punishments were more cruel than eating his own vomit, he locked it in the bathroom with a bucket full of chlorine and ammonia. She filled his mouth with soap and told him to clean the kitchen. His mom could not catch him in every attempt to feed himself. In the darkness of the basement, he dreamed of nice clothes and eating the best food.

Chapter

5

THE ACCIDENT

     During the summer vacation, Dave finds it harder to get food as his brother Russell began to monitor him so he would not steal food from the trash can. Dave’s mother threatened to bite him with a knife that she had in her hand to kill him if he did not finish washing the dishes in the time he told her. She had the knife in her hand. She lost her balance and spiked Dave in his stomach. She did not show any signs of worry. Dave felt even sadder because his dad did nothing to help him since his mother controlled him. Dave looked at his father as his hero, as superman, but not anymore. Even so Dave had to keep washing the dishes. He had to heal the wound himself and he achieved it. He felt proud of himself. And he felt like he was Superman.

Chapter

6

     WHILE FATHER IS AWAY

     After “the accident” happened, Dave’s father spent less time at home. Sometimes he helped Dave by washing the dishes and told him that someday they would leave that house. Until one day their mother discovered them and the father stopped helping him. While Mr.Joseph was away from home. His mother left him without food for ten days. She enclosed him in the bathroom with a bucket of chlorine and ammonia. His mom liked to make fun of him. One occasion she became friends with a neighbor called Shirley. Shirley realized that something was wrong with Dave. shirley asked to Mrs Roerva about that, Why Dave did not play with others?and that bothered Mrs Roerva, so they stopped being friends. One day Mrs Roerva started to treat Dave well for a few days. Dave was happy thinking that his bad days were over. Until Dave realized that the change in his attitude was a lie. That change was because she was going to receive the sight of a social worker. After the social worker left, everything became the same as before.

Chapter

7

THE LORD’S PRAYER

      Dave’s homeroom teacher, Mr. Ziegler, at first did not know why Dave was such a problem child, but when the school nurse told him, he made a special effort to treat him like a normal kid. This made a positive impact on Dave, particularly when his suggestion was chosen as the name for the newspaper. My. Zeigler sent a note of praise home with Dave, but Dave’s mom yelled at Dave for it, reminding him that there was nothing he could do could not impress her and that he was a nobody, an it, and she wished he were dead. Dave began to behave badly in public, waiting for his mother to kill him. Dave’s mom fought a lot with his father until one day the father arrived drunk at home, picked up his things. But before leaving home he apologized to Dave for not taking him with him.

EPILOGUE

Sonoma County,

 California

     The epilogue deals with Dave’s current life. Dave is an adult, he is on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, accompanied by his son Stephen. Dave thinks that he has gone through difficult times. He has discovered good things in life. As they move away from the Ocean. Stephen tells his father :

I love you Dad, Dave responds I love you too.

Description of the main Characters:

Dave:

He is the principal character in this book. He is an            intelligent  and strong boy. He is battered and abused by his mother.

Catherine Roerva:

She is Dave’s mother. She is an alcoholic                                    person. She abuses her son, Dave.

Stephen Joseph:

He is Dave’s father. He is a fireman. He allows his wife to control him. Dave believed that his father would be his protector.

Mr. Hansen:

The principal of Dave’s school. He called the police office to help Dave.

Miss Moss:

Dave’s math teacher, who has a lot of times reported concerns about Dave’s bruises.

NEW WORDS

Gulp: (verb)

to eat or drink food or liquid quickly by swallowing it in large amounts, or to make swallowing

movement because of fear, surprise or excitement.

Drift: (verb)

to move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over director.

Jolt: (Verb)

       to cause something or someone to move suddenly and violently.

Swallow: (verb)

                To cause food, drink, pills, etc. to move from your mouth into your stomach by using the muscles of your throat.

Unglued: (adj)

                to experience difficulties and fail.

                to lose control of your emotions or behavior and become very angry.

Summon:(verb)

to order someone to or be present at particular place, or to officially arrange a meeting people.

Sloshed: (adj)

                Drunk

Bash: (verb)

          To hit hard/ to attack someone or something with and object.

Mold: (noun)

         A soft green, gray or black growth that develops on old food or on objects that have been left too long in warm, slightly wet places.

QUOTES

 1) “As I sat alone in the garage, or read to myself in the near darkness of my parents’ bedroom, I came to realize that I would live like this for the remainder of my life. No just God would leave me like this. I believed that I was alone in my struggle and that my battle was one of survival”.

-Dave felt alone and had no hope that someone could save him in order to survive.

2) “After I count her steps, making sure she’s gone, I breathe a sigh of relief. The act worked. Mother can beat me all she wants, but I haven’t let her take away my will to somehow survive”.

• Dave made sure his mom was away from him, so he could feel free even if it was a moment.

     I think, people should read this book for several reasons. This book is a good read even it is hard to read. This story hooks you to want to continue reading because you worry and you want to know what will happen with Dave. And you want to understand how it is possible for a mother to treat her own son that way.Reading this book makes you feel that we have to value the mother and family we have.