Child Called It Symbolism

A symbol is defined as an occurring object that stands for something. In “A Child Called It” By David Pelzer, many symbols are shown throughout the book. The symbols used in the book are things that David’s mother used to hurt him physically and mentally, but the biggest symbol of all was food, and how it symbolizes David’s reward from his mother. Food was one of David’s main priorities in his childhood because of the lack of food he was given. David would have to get all of his chores done fast or he would not receive food. If he did perform his chores correctly and efficiently, he would get the food left over from his brothers food. He would have to scarf down the food fast just in case his Mother would change her mind on letting him eat. “I finish the dishes, then my other chores. For my reward I receive breakfast-leftovers from one of my brother’s cereal bowls. Today it’s Lucky Charms. There are only a few bites of cereal left in a half of a bowl of milk, but as quickly as I can, I swallow it before Mother changes her mind. She has done that before. Mother enjoys using food as her weapon.”(page 4 paragraph 2) This
She rewards them with love and gives them good food and clothes, unlike David. One quote in the book that shows the lack of food he gets is,”...She new I would have no time to steal food from the other classmates” That shows the symbol of food and how David would have to search for food because his mother wouldn’t give him any and starve him. Page 1 of the book talks about how he has to get his chores done fast because his Mother is coming and how if he gets done in time he could get breakfast and he didn’t have any last night so he needed to eat. On page 151, David writes about how his “Mother tried to humor her boys by treating them to Mc Donald’s and as usual I stayed in the car.” He knew that mother had won and he was no longer one of his Mother’s children and was not part of the