David Pelzer's conflict in A Child Called "It".
The memoir A Child Called It, by David Pelzer, is about a young boy who encounters terrifying incidences of child abuse by his own mother. He is on his own since no one is there to help him or save him from his mother. Without a doubt, David encounters his most terrifying conflict at age ten when his own mother stabs him on his chest; however, with his courageous spirit and quick thinking, he's able to save himself.
The conflict initiates when his mother asked him to wash the dishes. She warns him to finish cleaning the dishes in 20 minutes otherwise she would kill him with the knife she had in her hand! Suddenly, his mother stabs David on his chest, and he starts to bleed heavily which eventually causes him to faint. After he wakes up, instead of taking him to the hospital, his mother tells him he now had 30 minutes to wash the dishes or she wouldn't feed him at all! He goes to his father so that he can take him to the hospital but to David's surprise, he tells him to go back in the kitchen and wash the dishes. As David washes the dishes excruciatingly, he realizes he needs to take control of the situation. .
David knew he had to do something since he was now catching a fever and couldn't stop bleeding. "I knew about basic first-aid training to clean a wound, so I felt confident that I could do it alone. I wanted to be in charge of myself (Pelzer 97). Eventually he goes to the garage sink with whatever strength he had left in him and soaks the cleanest rag he finds. Then he takes a deep breath and as gently as possible, he pinches the slit of the wound which causes a yellowish-white substance to come out of the red slash. David knew he was infected and had to clean himself up somehow. He wipes it away with the rag. Then he takes another rag and stuffs it in his mouth so he wouldn't scream from the pain. Then he pinches the skin around his slit and with his other hand wipes away the pus.
