From 'Bad Objects' to 'Good Objects': An Object Relations Analysis on Maternal Abuse and Trauma Recovery in Pelzer’s   A Child Called “It”

Anagha C; Merrin R. S

doi:10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i02.41286

From 'Bad Objects' to 'Good Objects': An Object Relations Analysis on Maternal Abuse and Trauma Recovery in Pelzer’s A Child Called “It”

Author(s)	Ms. Anagha C, Dr. Merrin R. S
Country	India
Abstract	Child abuse, especially from the mother, has the capacity to create severe consequences in the lives of children. It impacts their psychological development, hindering their emotional stability, negatively impacting on their self-perception and also affecting the children’s ability to form later relationships in their lives. Dave Pelzer’s memoir, A Child Called “It” explore such traumatic experience Pelzer confronted during his childhood from his mother, which developed insecurity and self- rejection in him. This paper aims to analyse the maternal trauma endured by Pelzer through the lens of Object Relations Theory, specifically through the concepts of the “bad object”, “splitting” and “internalized trauma” as theorized by Melanie Klein. Pelzer’s mother exhibits herself as a “bad object”, a figure who not only rejects and isolates her child, but also physically and emotionally abuse him making Pelzer internalize a distorted image of himself. As his father remains as a passive figure, not interfering into the abuse he encounters, he feels a sense of splitting, that is, even while understanding his mother as cruel, he still craved for her approval. This inability of him to completely reject her even while he wanted to get rid of the abuse has resulted in his emotional fragmentation and trust issues while facing the external world. Even though the psychological damage drowns Pelzer, as he eventually encounters the “good objects” in the form of teachers and social workers, he slowly heals and embraces his life. These figures play a critical role in his life providing him validation and encouragement in reconstructing his identity and making him detach from the negative perception of him which is instilled in him by his mother. By applying Object Relations Theory to A Child Called “It”, the study highlights the long-term impact of maternal abuse in children and the importance of reparative relationships in recovering from traumatic experiences.
Keywords	Child trauma, Object relations theory, internalized trauma
Field	Arts
Published In	Volume 7, Issue 2, March-April 2025
Published On	2025-04-20
DOI	https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2025.v07i02.41286
Short DOI	https://doi.org/g9f7nm

View / Download PDF File

E-ISSN 2582-2160

doi

CrossRef DOI is assigned to each research paper published in our journal.

IJFMR DOI prefix is
10.36948/ijfmr

Downloads

Research Paper Format Copyright Permission Form and Undertaking Form Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 2 Cover Page Vol 7 Isu 1 Cover Page Vol 6 Isu 6

All research papers published on this website are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, and all rights belong to their respective authors/researchers.

CC-BY-SA

About IJFMR Fees & Payment Current Issue Publication Archive	Submit Research Paper Track Submission Status Publication Guidelines Publication Ethics Peer Review & Plagiarism	Join as a Reviewer Editors & Reviewers Reviewer Referral Program Get Reviewer Membership Certi.	Website/Journal Policies Usage Policy Content Policies Privacy Policy

Contact Us		+91-9687-828-838	editor@ijfmr.com

International Journal For Multidisciplinary Research

A Widely Indexed Open Access Peer Reviewed Multidisciplinary Bi-monthly Scholarly International Journal

From 'Bad Objects' to 'Good Objects': An Object Relations Analysis on Maternal Abuse and Trauma Recovery in Pelzer’s A Child Called “It”

Share this