CASE ANALYSIS: A CHILD CALLED “IT”

Background of the Case

A Child Called “It” tells about a child named David who struggles to live despite the

tortures his mother gives him. His mother, Catherine, was an alcoholic who treated him like a toy

and keeps on playing dangerous games with him. David was treated like a slave in their own

home. Many unpredictable games that his mother did included those where David nearly died.

He went through that torture for eight years until he reached twelve years old. In 1973, he was

rescued through the help of the school nurse, classroom adviser, and police.

There are experiences that can be considered as major since these impacted and

contributed to David’s personality. These impacts are both positive and negative.

Discipline is necessary in raising a child. David will do whatever his mother command

him to do on a given time or his mother will torture him with many kinds of torments. Those

torments from his mother made him become a well-disciplined and capable child. He fears if he

does not finish the household chores on time, he will experience different kinds of torture from

his mother.

Punish the child if at fault. Catherine will punish his son, David, if he does something

that irritates her or does not go well with what she wants to happen. Catherine always tortures

David if he does not do many kinds of work at home well. There are even times that David

doesn’t do anything but his mother just likes to see him suffer because of her.

Catherine taught David to lie not only to his teachers but to everyone who asks about his

wounds and bruises. Even though David keeps on lying and hiding the evil things that his mother
did to him, the teachers and other staffs at school somehow found a way to get the truth out of

David. He was forced to lie because telling other people the things that his mother did to him

also means defying his mother’s commands and that leads to punishment.

David was denied dinner. He was only allowed to eat leftover cereal portions from his

brothers’ breakfast if chores were done before going to school but if not, he will not be given any

kind or type of food. In the school, David was hated by his classmates because he was stealing

food from them. He only did that because at home, David was deprived of food by his mother.

No one wants to help him either because his mother keeps on saying to other people that David

was just a brat and that’s his punishment for being a bad boy. Later on, his mother was informed

about the stealing of food which led to more beatings and less food at home.

Catherine stopped calling David by his name and referred to him as “the boy”. He was

denied meals with the family, interaction with his brothers, or to watch television. He could not

look nor speak to anybody in their home and was forced to sleep at the garage. This may be the

reason why David had difficulty having friends in school or in their neighbourhood (aside from

the fact that he’s stealing food at school), because he was having a hard time communicating

when he can’t even socialize in his own home.

David was not allowed to ride to school in the family car and had to run to school after

completing the chores. It did not take a long time for David to feel the unfairness his mother

makes him feel with his other brothers. After several years, these brothers of him started beating

him because that’s what they see and that’s how their mother treats David.
 In a drunken rage, Catherine accidentally stabbed David in the stomach with a knife.

David felt that time that he was taken care of and missed the times when his mother makes him

feel loved.

At a very young age, David was sent out to mow lawns in the neighbourhood and bring

his mother the money he was earning. It became an alternating routine between gas treatment

(placing a bucket of ammonia and Clorox in the bathroom while David was cleaning), and water

treatment (lying in the bath tub full of cold water naked and placing his head under water).

One time, Catherine told him that she will change and will try to make up for her

mistakes to him. David, being the loving and hopeful child he was, believed his mother

immediately. It was soon revealed that she treated him properly because a social worker visited

the home and asked David questions about how his mother is treating him. David said that he

only get punished if he is a bad boy and that was not the answer his mother was expecting so

once again, he received terrible beatings. David started doubting if there was really a God

because it seems to him that there wasn’t any.

Although his mother always tortures him, David still loves his mother. There was a time

when David was awarded for the school newspaper and he immediately brought that award to his

mother expecting her to be proud of his work but instead, he was called a bastard child and

nothing but an “it” to her.

David hoped for something to change in his life and the way his mother treated him but

after several years of waiting, he got tired and eventually felt angry at both of his parents; his

mother being a bitch and his father being passive and apathetic. David felt very sad and wished
to just die to end all his sufferings. He began to irritate his mother on purpose so that she would

kill him. He thought it was only a matter of time before she did.

Problem Identification

David’s mother, Catherine, was held responsible for all of David’s actions. His mother

had been drinking alcohol since the beginning of the narration. She started off as a loving

mother, and then, perhaps as a result of discipline, alcohol, and dissatisfaction with her life,

singled out her middle son (David) and tormented and starved him for eight years of David’s life,

while leaving the other children alone. Going through that kind of abuse is too much for a child

to handle. It was a physical, mental, psychological, and even a spiritual torture (there came a

time where David did not believe in God anymore because of his sufferings).

Another problem is David’s father. David originally believed that his dad would be his

protector and keep him away from his mother. He is a passive, weak man, however, and allows

his wife to control him rather than intervene to save his son. Eventually, David’s father leaves for

good after the separation with his mother which leaves David alone to suffer from his mother’s

evil actions.

Russell, Stan, and Kevin were all his brothers mentioned in the book. At first, they were

apathetic but later in their childhood, they hit David and started to despise him after watching

their mother abuse David.

Case Analysis

B. F. Skinner held a deterministic view of human nature, and concepts like free will and

individual choice had no place in his behavioural analysis. People are not free but are controlled

by environmental forces. They may seem to be motivated by inner causes, but in reality those

causes can be traced to sources outside the individual. Self-control depends ultimately on

environmental variables and not on some inner strength. In David’s situation at the book, “A

Child Called “It””, he never had a free will because his only choice was to follow his mother for

him to survive. The choice that was given was based on the situation he was in and that is

something that he has no control over.

Skinner held that freedom and dignity are reinforcing concepts because people find

satisfaction in the belief that they are free to choose and also in their faith in the basic dignity of

human beings. Because these fictional concepts are reinforcing in many modern societies, people

tend to behave in ways that increase the probability that these constructs will be perpetuated.

Once freedom and dignity lose their reinforcement value, people will stop behaving as if they

existed. Before David was rescued by the police and social workers, he wished that his life

would just end because he already accepted the fact that he will never be given the freedom and

free will that he hopes he will get someday. He lost the satisfaction that freedom and dignity

gives so he wanted to give up on his life.

Reinforcement has two effects: it strengthens the behaviour and it rewards the person.

Reinforcement and reward, therefore, are not synonymous. Not every behaviour that is

reinforced is rewarding or pleasing to the person. David gets the household chores done even on

a limited time given by his mother because household chores done means he can eat the leftover
cereals his brothers have for breakfast but that doesn’t mean David likes doing household chores

and it was not all the time he was given a reward (leftover food). Any behaviour that increases

the probability that the species or the individual will survive tends to be strengthened and thus,

doing the household chores even if it does not please David.

a. Positive Reinforcement – increases the frequency of the behaviour is followed by

presentation of pleasant stimuli or positive reinforces. David keeps on following all

his mother’s commands even if he does not want to because following his mother

means he can be given food or he will not get beaten up.

b. Negative Reinforcement – removal of an aversive or unpleasant stimulus following

response, thereby increasing the probability of that the preceding behaviour will

occur.

The control of human and animal behaviour is better served by positive and negative

reinforcement than by punishment. The effects of punishment are not opposite those of

reinforcement. When the contingencies of reinforcement are strictly controlled, behaviour can be

precisely shaped and accurately predicted. With punishment, however, no such accuracy is

possible. The reason for this discrepancy is simple. Punishment ordinarily is imposed to prevent

people from acting in a particular way. When it is successful, people will stop behaving in that

manner, but they still must do something. What they do cannot be accurately predicted because

punishment does not tell them what they should do; it merely suppresses the tendency to behave

in the undesirable fashion. Consequently, one effect of punishment is to suppress behaviour.

David was punished for reasons that he too don’t understand. He was not allowed to interact or

even look at his mother including his brothers unless he was told to do so. He will be given a

punishment if he did not obey. The behaviour was suppressed and had the effect of growing
hatred towards her mother and even came to a point where David called her mother a “bitch”

because he was not given an explanation as to why he was maltreated alone.

Another outcome of punishment is the spread of its effects. Any stimulus associated with

the punishment may be suppressed or avoided. In the book, David simply learn to just follow his

mother without asking any questions as to why he was singled out, he also stayed away from his

family as part of his mother’s commands and partly his choice, and he later on, he developed

negative feelings towards his family. As a result, David’s behaviour toward his mother became

maladaptive. Before he got rescued, he purposely irritated his mother wishing that when she get

enough of his teasing, she will eventually kill him. Skinner recognized the classical Freudian

defense mechanisms as effective means of avoiding pain and its attendant anxiety. The punished

person may fantasize, project feelings onto others, rationalize aggressive behaviours, or displace

them toward other people or animals.

Ultimately, an individual’s behaviour is controlled by environmental contingencies.

Those contingencies may have been erected by society, by another individual, or by oneself; but

the environment, not free will, is responsible for behaviour. It was obvious in the story that

David’s apathetic and non-caring brothers, judgmental neighbourhood, especially his evil mother

(who impacted him the most) were the contingencies for his behaviours and actions. Those

people are in David’s environment and therefore held responsible for his shaped personality.

Although Skinner believed that genetics plays an important role in personality

development, he held that human personality is largely shaped by the environment. Because an

important part of that environment is other people, Skinner’s concept of humanity inclines more

toward social than toward biological determinants of behaviour. As a species, humans have
developed to their present form because of particular environmental factors that they have

encountered. Climate, geography, and physical strength relative to other animals have all helped

shape the human species. But social environment, including family structure, early experiences

with parents, educational systems, and so forth, has played an even more important role in the

development of personality.

Childhood is the time where the children learn about everything. Everything that adult

people does will be followed by the children. A childhood experience also influences in

personality development of a human. In the book “A Child Called “It””, David, the major

character, goes through many bad treatments and experiences that forced him to do something

that should not be done by a child, for example, from the story, is stealing. David survived from

his abusive and alcoholic mother through faith, determination, and the kindness of strangers.