"Life As We Knew It" Evaluation

https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1dlTMZw4acSjSTQF1REExVGv2tVGOFecIP_5IRBd40t0

Why did I choose to read "Tuesdays with Morrie"?

First of all, I am a big fan of Mitch Albom's novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven. I have heard of Tuesdays with Morrie before, but never had any time to read it. After reading Michele's summary on her blog though, I realized that I'm very interested in it. I always assumed it was a fiction novel because of his other book that I read. I was excited when I saw that Michele read it for this project because I didn't know it was a nonfiction story.

The story itself is inviting too because I am a big fan of stories that teach you life lessons and how to live with no regrets. I find them very inspirational, and according to Michele's post this book is filled with inspiration. I am definitely looking forward to reading it!

Tuesdays with Morrie

Albom, Mitch. Tuesdays with Morrie. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. New York, NY.
1997.

The Best Thing I Learned Last Semester was...

Last semester, I learned how to properly analyze a nonfictional writing. Starting with Aristotle's triangle, we were taught how to read a paper and see more than just what the author wrote. I learned that almost all writings have ethos, pathos, and logos. Ethos is credibility, pathos is emotion, and logos is logic. I can now read any piece of fiction, nonfiction, or essay and look for these three elements, along with all other rhetorical strategies, in order to analyze the writing.

Why in the world would I want to read a story about child abuse?

     "A Child Called It" is a story that explains how much the human spirit can endure and remain whole. Pelzer's point in the story was to show that he never gave up. While he couldn’t make the abuse stop, he learned how to manipulate his mother’s behavior enough to keep the situation from getting worse. It is an incredible tale of strength and courage in a person not even old enough to reach the bathroom sink. If a child can endure this and end up being as successful as he is, what the hell do I have to complain about? Pelzer helps us realize how blessed we truly are.

     The second thing that Pelzer accomplishes is that he puts a face on child abuse. He refuses to let us have the easy out of just ignoring the abuse we see happen everyday. There are people all around us, similar to those involved in his stories that are suffering in ways that we cannot possibly imagine. To turn our backs on them makes us no better than Pelzer's father, the man who knew better and did nothing. I challenge anyone to read this book and not admit that we must do something to stop the abuse that we see going on everyday to people all around us.

     Yet, if you can't handle some graphic and gruesome descriptions of abuse, then this book isn't for you. Pelzer goes into extreme detail on some of the "games" his mother forced him to play and reading it can get pretty difficult. It isn't too terrible though because the story begins with his rescue.

Chapter 1 - The Rescue

In the first chapter, Pelzer begins with describing the day that he is finally rescued and gets to leave his mother and the rest of his family. Instead of starting right away with how his life and his child abuse began, Pelzer starts at the end. As I began reading the story, it was reassuring to know that no matter what I was about to read, I knew that David had a safe rescue from his mother. This seems pretty obvious at first because he wrote this story, meaning he has to be alive and well now. However, after finishing the story I realized that this first chapter explaining the rescue was one of the most important, especially because it was in the beginning of the book. This first chapter makes it easier for the reader to endure the painful stories that Pelzer later explains in his childhood. Even though without this chapter we know he will turn out okay, it is imperative to know exactly how and when David was saved so that the rest of the book is bearable to read.

Page 91 of "A Child Called It"

     In this part of the book, David is standing before his father, showing him the wound his mother just gave him in the stomach. David's mother had just accidentally fallen and stabbed David in the stomach. She quickly wrapped it with gauze and left David to finish washing the dishes. Now, David is standing infront of his father, waiting to see his reaction to the wound. All his father says is, "You go back in there and do the dishes. I won't even tell her that you told, okay?" At this point in the book, David loses all respect for his father. It is clearly shown that his father cannot be the savior that David is hoping for. For some reason, David's father is too much of a coward to help David and to get them away from his mother. This page's description of how David's father does nothing to help him, makes me almost hate his father more than I hate his mother. It is evident that his mother is suffering from a mental disease, that is worsened by her drinking. His father, however, has no excuse other than the fact that he is too much of a coward to even try saving David from his mother. Pelzer feels all of these same emotions, and portrays them through his writing. As I read this part of the book, particularly this page, I could feel Pelzer's hatred for his father and also his loss of hope that his father would ever be his rescue.