Am I going to end like her?
Dave can’t understand why the doctor he came to asks, “what did it feel like to be burned on a gas stove?” He can’t understand why the doctor wants to find out whether he hates his mother and says that it is okay to hate her, when Dave says that it is not true, that he loves his mother. He feels “so dumb, so small.” Dave knows that his mom is maybe “sick,” but does it mean that he is “sick” too? He asks, “am I going to end like her?” It is a tragedy that instead of comforting the child and helping him to get rid of his fear, the doctor tries to evoke a feeling of hatred in him.
I knew that what I was doing was wrong and I had accepted that fact.
Dave knows that is “a complete fool” for agreeing to help those kids who are probably just one step apart from being suspended. He knows that the things he is going to do are “wrong” and he accepts “that fact.” Dave also knows that his “luck” will “run out” as soon as his foster parents find out about his not that innocent entertainments such as shoplifting, but he can’t stop himself. The boy wants to be accepted so badly that nothing scares him off, for he is sure that no one is going to like him just for “being another kid.” He has to earn his spot under the Sun.
David, your mother’s a wounded animal.
How to explain an abused kid why his/her parents did those awful things? That is a question every social worker who has to deal with kids like Dave has probably asked himself/herself. The problem is that there is “no logical answer” why people who are supposed to be the nearest and dearest become abusers. The only thing Ms. Gold knows is that it is important to protect Dave from hatred and don’t let a feeling of anger ruin his life. She explains that his mother “is a wounded animal,” who needs help in order to show Dave that his parents might suffer as much as he does. There is a chance that she doesn’t even think of him, but it doesn’t really matter. Ms. Gold does a right thing by portraying her as a sick one, for in this case her cruelty has nothing to do with Dave personally, it is not his fault.
