Banning certain texts from public places has been a point of disagreement since perhaps the dawn of the written word. The American Library Association (ALA) recently celebrated its banned books week on Sept. 24 through Oct. 1. with its website proclamation: “Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment.”
The association’s members believe when books are banned, the nation’s intellectual freedom to access of information and ideas is violated and it shouldn’t matter whether or not the information or ideas is thought to be unorthodox or inappropriate. The ALA affirms censorship is harmful and limiting. Books singled out as being improper throughout the country are featured during Banned Books Week by librarians, teachers and booksellers across the country.
The ALA claims to know why particular books are challenged. They think that the intentions behind challenging certain books are good but essentially flawed. The majority of the time people want books banned for the benefit of their children because they are thought to be unsuitable. Most books deemed unsuitable are books considered to be “sexually explicit” or contain “offensive language.”
The counterpoint the ALA uses is the Library Bill of Rights states “Librarians and governing bodies should maintain that parents—and only parents—have the right and responsibility to restrict the access of their children—and only their children—to library resources,” therefore, “any censorship by librarians of constitutionally protected speech… violates the First Amendment.”
The ALA website contains a list of frequently challenged classics. I was surprised by some of the titles on the list because I read most of these classics while in high school. Some of the titles listed included The Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Animal Farm.
After reading what the ALA had to say regarding when and why most of these books were banned or challenged, I like to think our nation is at least moving on. The classics, such as the ones I mentioned, are not challenged as often. Instead, the focus has been put more on contemporary modern books. The reasons for challenging books has seen a shift as well. Being “sexually explicit” is still very prevalent; however, other reasons for challenging books more recently have been “homosexuality” and “religious viewpoint”.
Although I think the shift in our society is a good one, I can still identify with the opposing side. In my first year at Baylor, I had an English professor whose choice of readings made the entire class uncomfortable. Every single reading he chose for each class session, without fail, had some sort of sexual connotation. We often took turns reading in class, and I can still clearly remember when I had to read out loud the most erotic of sentences in front of about 30 of my peers and the professor. I am old enough to handle and maturely deal with such readings but that does not mean I or any of the other students appreciated it.
On one hand, I understand wanting to protect one’s own children from the questionably inappropriate writings I had to read in my English class. On the other hand, I can understand when you ban a book for the benefit of your child, you also are taking away the right of other parents and children to decide for themselves. So when it comes to certain books or writings being banned from public places, I am afraid I am still undecided as to where I stand.
-Elisabeth
I’m pretty sure I had the same teacher.. was it British Literature?