Resentment In A Child Called It
“Resentment”
Many times when people are Isolated, they begin to feel resentment towards others. In the book A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer, he talks about his experience of growing up with an abusive parent. His relationship with his family was normal and loving up until around first grade. He began noticing his mother’s attitude changing towards him in a very negative way. It started with small punishments, and ranged to beating, and little “games”, as Dave Pelzer would call it. Throughout the book, he places emphasis on many specific instances, and his fight for survival while growing up. He also places a major emphasis on his Mother, the abuser, and his father, the stand-by (Pelzer 1-72). There are many times throughout his book where
he talks about hating his mother, or hating his father. Thinking back to when I was isolated, I remember absolutely loathing my brother for leaving me alone to go live with my dad. I also remember resenting my mother for getting a job with hours where I wouldn’t see her, and spending more time with her boyfriend than she did me. I hated them for allowing me to isolate myself, and I hated resented them for not caring that I was always alone, and not noticing the negative effects the isolation had on me.
Robert Hayden also showed resentment towards his father for making him feel isolated. In his poem, he states that on “Sundays too” his “father got up early” and immediately started doing work around the house (S1). The way he uses the words “Sundays too” is almost rhetorical, and is seen as very sarcastic and angry (S1). He resents his father for working so much he had “cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday” yet his father still, even on a Sunday, will not take a break from work to spend time with him. He says “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices” (S1). He is feeling conflicted towards himself because he resents his father for always being gone but knows he does it out of love.
Many times when people are Isolated, they begin to feel resentment towards others. In the book A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer, he talks about his experience of growing up with an abusive parent. His relationship with his family was normal and loving up until around first grade. He began noticing his mother’s attitude changing towards him in a very negative way. It started with small punishments, and ranged to beating, and little “games”, as Dave Pelzer would call it. Throughout the book, he places emphasis on many specific instances, and his fight for survival while growing up. He also places a major emphasis on his Mother, the abuser, and his father, the stand-by (Pelzer 1-72). There are many times throughout his book where
he talks about hating his mother, or hating his father. Thinking back to when I was isolated, I remember absolutely loathing my brother for leaving me alone to go live with my dad. I also remember resenting my mother for getting a job with hours where I wouldn’t see her, and spending more time with her boyfriend than she did me. I hated them for allowing me to isolate myself, and I hated resented them for not caring that I was always alone, and not noticing the negative effects the isolation had on me.
Robert Hayden also showed resentment towards his father for making him feel isolated. In his poem, he states that on “Sundays too” his “father got up early” and immediately started doing work around the house (S1). The way he uses the words “Sundays too” is almost rhetorical, and is seen as very sarcastic and angry (S1). He resents his father for working so much he had “cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday” yet his father still, even on a Sunday, will not take a break from work to spend time with him. He says “What did I know, what did I know of love’s austere and lonely offices” (S1). He is feeling conflicted towards himself because he resents his father for always being gone but knows he does it out of love.