The rest of the time he has to finish all of the mother’s chores otherwise he gets punishments. The mother starves him, plays sick “games” with him and tortures him both mentally and physically. In school he’s being mobbed. He got the same clothes everyday and starts to smell. He doesn’t get any lunch from home and begins to steal from his classmates for survival.
But every time David would tell or come close to a teacher, or another student about anything that happens at the “House” his mother would beat him again. Anything from belts to locked in a bathroom with Clorox and Ammonia. Life was hard for David as he tried to get away from his Mother and Father, who was rarely around. A Child Called It was person vs. self and The Lost Boy was person vs. person. When David was just a little boy his daily routine was to wake up, do his daily chores, and if he didn’t do one task right he suffered by being beaten by “Mother”.
Being kept away from Maycomb all that time eventually made him go mad. One day while Boo was sitting on the living room floor, cutting up The Maycomb Tribune, he carelessly plunged his sharp scissor blades into his father’s leg. That act was obviously a cry for help. Boo then was not taken to an asylum, but was put in the Maycomb jail courthouse basement. He was not in there for too long because Mr.Radley had to bring him back home so he would not die from the mold growth.
Biography Seminar - Dave Pelzer INTRODUCTION: Imagine yourself in a family where your mother and father don’t get along, they constantly bicker and you are always stuck in the middle of their arguments. Your mother is becoming depressed and drinks all day, everyday. She is beginning to become aggressive and is taking all of her anger out on you and only you. You have two other brothers which are treated like royalty and there you are all alone with a cowardly father who refuses to stand up for you. At school you are tormented and bullied, not only physically but mentally as well.
Lily was a victim of abuse and neglect at the hand of her father T. Ray. She was alone, and her father made no attempt at trying to care for her. All T. Ray ever did was yell, hit, and punish Lily for no apparent reason. One night she went outside to lay in the moonlight with her shirt unbuttoned in an attempt to get away from everything and feel a little bit of freedom in her life. Her father caught in the act and without even asking Lily what happened told her, “You act no better than a slut” (24).
When Jem became very angry at Mrs. Dubose, their old and mean neighbor, he chopped down her shrubs in front of her house in a fanatical rage. When the consequences of his act came he was forced by his father to read to Mrs. Dubose for a month and during these reading sessions Mrs. Dubose seemed to break out into a shaking fit causing the children to be scared and confused. Son, didn’t you know what her fits were? ... “Mrs. Dubose was a morphine addict.” said Atticus. “She took pain-killers for years.
His home life was very broken as a child until his parents divorced when he was six years old. After that, he was sent to a Catholic orphanage where he was punished by the nuns. Whenever Smith would wet the bed, the nuns would beat him. Perry states, “I had weak kidneys and wet the bed every night. I was severely beaten by the cottage mistress, who had called me names and made fun of me in front of all the boys” (275).
She would give him verbal and physical abuse instead of giving him all the love and attention a kid of his age could ever want from his only mother. She would grab him and smash his head against the mirror. Worse of all his mother wouldn’t give him any food and that’s when Dave started
She no longer considers him a son, but a slave; no longer a boy, but an “it.” His bed is an old army cot in the basement, his clothes are torn and smelly, and when he is allowed the luxury of food it is scraps from the dogs' bowl. He spends days upon days consulting ideas or plans in order to get food. It ranges from stealing from the grocery story to stealing students’ lunches at school. He does whatever he can to get it. The outside world knew nothing of the nightmare playing out behind closed doors, until years of lying to school administrators finally became unbelievable, and the outside world finally took action.
Cormac McCarthy’s novel, “The Road,” expresses vast amounts of love, sacrifice, and devotion. The story creates a great contrast of characters involving friendly relationships and the tragedies that keep them together. As the novel progresses, the personal chemistry between the dad and the son becomes stronger. Throughout the novel, the author keeps the audience interested by taking the characters through different trials and tribulations, in which they help each other out. The man’s sacrifices instilled a lot of confidence in the boy.