What are the motifs in A Child Called It: One Child's Courage to Survive by Dave Pelzer?

Survival is a recurring idea in this book as abuse, perhaps even bigger. The will to survive is interlaced in every word of this book, beginning with the flashback of Dave's rescue and ending with the epilogue in which the reader is allowed to meet Dave the adult with his small son. All through the chapters in which Dave describes the abuse he suffered at his mother's hands, there are always a few words of strength.