Many books are banned just on the basis of sexual content or
racism. If these were the sole requirements for banning then many movies or TV
shows need to be removed based on that. Books can also be challenged, which
means they will be overlooked to see if it deserves to be on shelves of libraries.
This happens a lot more often than banning and while a book is challenged it is
removed for a short period, but then replaced back to its rightful spot on the
shelves. The American Library Association has a list of the top 100 banned or
challenged books and while reading it I was shocked at some of the books I saw: Harry
Potter, Of Mice and Men, Captain Underpants, The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Giver, Beloved, The Face
on the Milk Carton, The Things They Carried, Slaughterhouse-Five, A Time to
Kill, Fahrenheit 451, The Lovely Bones, Friday Night Lights, and Goosebumps.
These are just the books that I have read for school and some of them are just repulsive
that you would want to ban them, I mean Goosebumps
seriously. Since 1990 the American Library Association has seen over 9,000
requests to remove books from school shelves, which is a ridiculous number to
me.
Some of the
books do have racism in them, but the time period they were written that is how
the people spoke. This doesn’t make it any better, but it allows us to see how
people used to live in the past. During school when we read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn we
would just skip the vulgar terms when it was read aloud. The word is still
there, it just wasn’t spoken in school. I did not find any of these books
offensive when we read them during school and I think that is more offensive to
the authors to ban their books. What I find mildly humorous about this is the
book Fahrenheit 451 is about books
being outlawed and burned then it gets banned, irony?
Some people
think that some books need parental permission to read the books in school. This
may work, but I could see it possibly back firing. I mean what would the
parents really be sheltering their children from? By the time they would be
reading most of the books many of the children have probably already heard
those vulgar terms or sexual scenes on MTV or in a movie. I believe that at
least with the books children learn something or some form of a lesson. I think
that books shouldn’t be banned and that banning them is in fact banning a part
of history. Our whole generation would not be the same if the Harry Potter books were banned. I don’t think
any book should be banned and locked away; you have a choice to read it or not
and I don’t think you should be allowed to make that choice for someone else.
I agree that banning books is pointless. Since there are so many uncensored things on TV, why bother to censor books? I can guarantee I have seen more sexual and graphic scenes on television than I ever have while reading books. (And I have read a lot of books.) If political or racial concerns are the issue, I still don’t think banning books will help that. Authors have a right to free speech, and they should be allowed to put what they want in it without having to worry if it will be banned or taken off the shelves. Overall, we always claim we want our children to read more. Since we claim that, we shouldn’t ban books from them just because of their content or words. They will eventually learn the stuff in there from TV or movies at some point anyways.
ReplyDeleteI couldn’t agree more that it is senseless to ban certain books. How can The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn be banned? Although there are a few vulgar phrases in it, that does not compromise what a classic story it is. Just like you said, we skip over the bad words and move on to what the book is about. If you feel that a book sitting on the shelf is not appropriate, don’t read it! And no school is going to force a child to read a completely inappropriate book. The books that are given to children to read are for a purpose. Certain words were acceptable back then and not anymore, it’s that simple. And the Harry Potter series? That’s basically our generation’s culture. Honestly, I think people are a little too sensitive.
ReplyDeleteI have read a number of these books, and honestly these books are classics. Well this is excluding the Goosebumps and Captain Underpants. We cannot ban these books. They further our knowledge of the time and teach important lessons. The Things They Carried was a very moving book in my opinion, and if I had not read it part of my life would be missing. Granted it would be a small part, but books play a big role is some lives. The Harry Potter books were huge for my generation, and I don’t think any of them have acted out due to them. They also weren’t damaged from them. A piece of fiction can just be a piece of fiction. Sometimes we need to just accept that.
ReplyDeleteI agree in saying that there is really not much of a basis on which a book could be banned. By spending an hour watching MTV or on the internet I'm sure you could come across much more material deserving of being banned than in most all of the books that are on this banned book list. In my opinion, the whole parental permission idea is a solution that looks good on the surface, but really is one that we should steer clear of. If someone wants to read a book, you should let them. Again, there are far worse things out there than reading a "racy" book. Many of these books are classics for a reason, and by removing them from libraries, we're only hurting ourselves.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Kelsie. Children can learn much more about history and things about cultural diversity from books. Many books have historical backgrounds when you look closely and when learning about a subject in school, a child and look back on that book and understand the topic more. We are hurting the generations to come by banning books. Parents shouldn't really shelter their children from things because they will not always be there to shield them from the outside world. If they learn all of that now, they will be that much more prepared for the outside world.
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