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Alison DePollo states:
"The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press... according to their [American Library Association's] Library Bill of Rights, “Books and other library resources should be provided for the interest, information, and enlightenment of all people of the community... Materials should not be excluded because of the origin, background, or views of those contributing to their creation”" (DePollo).DePollo goes on to explain that the ambiguity of the term free speech creates a large problem in the debate over the censoring of books. The ambiguity of the term free speech makes the process harder to stifle. It is harder to stifle because what one person may constitute as free speech, someone else may see it as too much exposure. Some feel that we should not be exposed to everything just because we can.
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Some books are put are under review
and they may be re-released in an edited form. Most of the books that are
challenged make it onto American Library Association’s “100 Most Frequently
Challenged Books” (the list can be downloaded at www.ala.org). Many of the books on the list are of the fantasy
or the occult genre. Alison Depollo states, “In the 1980s and earlier, most book challenges were about sexuality,
and foul language. To make matters worse, the differences in what the
definition of fantasy is differs extremely from one group to another” (DePollo). She is
stating that the reason for books get challenged fluctuates with the decade
and that what one person defines as made-up, someone else may see it as
directions on how to live their life.
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Lankford also states that "reading
is one of the only ways to enrich the imaginations of children." He argues that
children cannot be told to think critically when the textbooks they are forced
to read do not demonstrate critical thinking themselves (Lankford) ; Peter DeWitt argues
that textbooks are often told from the point of view of the “winners.” Kids often turn to books to escape reality. Novels have the ability to get children to get involved so deeply that they feel they are personally involved in the plot. With books, children can feel love, grief, hate, etc. So why are parents gettings so huffy about books? Why are they pushing them to read textbooks that present a painfully one-sided recount of history? Are the textbooks at
school teaching students to only care about the winners, to never care about
the losers and perhaps teaching them to think with a narrow mind? If the answer is yes, it would seem
that parents have a lot more to worry about than a fictitious book that may be perceived as
inappropriate.
Huckleberry Finn
An excellent
example of a book being challenged because it makes some people uncomfortable
would be Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.
Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn in 1885.
The book was set during the time of slaves and very blatant racism. In the
book, Jim (a slave) is often referred to by the “n-word.” For the time period
of this book, this word was very common way to refer to a person of color. Two
scholars, however, are editing the entire book and replacing every n-word with
slave. The censorship of such a timeless classic has started quite a debate.
Mark Shultz of Publishers Weekly
interviewed Alan Gribben, one of the
scholars editing the book, and he feels that the n-word is unacceptable for an
academic setting. Gribben stated that the editing of the book was not to make
Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer “colorblind” but it will be a way to tear down the unnecessary barrier keeping
readers from enjoying the book. It is fact that African-Americans in the old
South were called the n-word. The n-word is a part of our country’s history and
our history cannot simply be edited out because it makes some people
uncomfortable to read.
Two African-American scholars gave their opinion on the issue to BlackVoiceNews. Syracuse University professor Boyce Watkins said he
believes removing the "n-word" will make the book more understandable
for today's school children and he believes that the book will be more useful
in a classroom setting. He says Twain's slurs actually help Americans face the issue of racism. How is rewriting the past in a false light helpful to
America’s youth? It is unacceptable to believe that we can censor out the parts
of history some people may find uncomfortable. In a similar light, Micahela
Angela Davis, a former editor at Essence magazine, said that the edited version
of Huckleberry Finn is censorship of literature and of history, and it puts our
democracy in danger. Morehouse College's
David Wall Rice was quoted in CBS saying
"That
word meant something. That word means something."
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The Hunger Games
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According to Jeffrey Bloomer of The Slatest, the Hunger Games was number five on the list of most challenged library books in 2011; and in 2012, it became the third most challenged book. This book trilogy is definitely not age appropriate for elementary school students, but it may be better understood by children 14 and up. While the challenges for this book are still coming forward, it is safe to say that this book is meant for an older audience. The parents that are challenging this book are mainly angry with the violence in the book. Suzanne Collins responded that she was not surprised because the books do contain high levels of violence. According to the American Library Association, this book was challenged and presented to the Goffstown, New Hampshire school board in 2010 because one parent said the books was giving her eleven year old daughter nightmares. Well that’s not surprising because she’s eleven, not seventeen. It is not surprising that children won’t be able to understand the futuristic dystopian society created by Collins. It should be up to the parent to decide whether their child can handle the plot of the Hunger Games and it should not be banned because some parents find there to be too much violence, anti-family or anti-ethnic aspects of the book disturbing. In compliance with Island Trees Union Free School District v. Pico, this book cannot be banned due to one individual’s distaste with the content. Parents need to exercise good judgement when deciding whether or not their child may read this book.
Works Cited
Brenyo, Michael. "[Censored]: Book
Banning In The US Education System." Journal
of
Law & Education 40.3 (2011): 541-549. Education Research Complete. Web. 30
Apr. 2012.
Law & Education 40.3 (2011): 541-549. Education Research Complete. Web. 30
Apr. 2012.
DePollo, Alison. "Banned And
Challenged Books: Fantasy And The Occult." Tennessee
Libraries 61.1(2011): 4. Library, Information
Science & Technology Abstracts with Full Text. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.
Lankford,
Ronald D. Book Banning. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2008. Print.