Sam Griffith

The Lost Boy

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The Major theme of the book entitled The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer is that an abuse parent impacts the child for life. It shows the many effects the abuse relationship Dave Pelzer, the author, had with his mother. It explains how Dave always had a dark fear of his mother waiting to punish him. It also shows how after he had been separated from his mother he still felt extremely guilty for things that may or may not have been his fault.

After Dave had been taken from his former family to leave his abusive past behind him he still feared his mother. When he was at the hospital getting his bruises checked out every 5 minutes he would stick his head out the window to check if his mother was there to steal him back. At one point he had nearly gained confidence in himself, but that was before his mother gave him a visit. “I’ll get you back,” She said. Those words haunted Dave even though he knew perfectly well he was safe. He had been brainwashed to think no matter what he did he would end up being severely and harshly punished.

Another long lasting impacts of his mothers abuse, Dave was always overly guilty of things that where unimportant. An example of this when he foster mother happily greats him, saying, “So, how are you feeling today?” He responded fine, then quickly panicked and asked, “Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble.” He had been brainwashed to believe he was always being a bad boy, always in trouble. And this still affected him while being treated wonderfully by his new foster mother.

            In the book The Lost Boy horrible and depressing story is told. The Dave Pelzer tries to tell the reader that no matter how happy and free you feel, if you had been abused by a parent, you will always feel trapped and abandoned. If you had been brainwashed to always feel as though you were unworthy this feeling will follow you throughout your life.