Censorship is an extremely controversial subject, many people think censorship goes too far, and then there are many people who say it does not go far enough. Most people can agree that censorship is the control of the information and ideas circulated within a society. There are four different grounds on which a book can get banned for; political, sexual, social, and religious. When a book crosses the line by bashing politics, society, religion, or is too vulgar in the sexual aspect then books are placed on the banned list. I feel that these days in society there is not much you can hide from today’s youth mainly due to the internet. I believe that there should not be censorship amongst books and they especially should not be banned because society has progressively gotten worse. With the things kids do and see in their everyday lives a book will be their last influence on doing or thinking something bad. Censorship amongst books is absurd in this day and age because the youth has the internet to surf, so banning books is pointless.
There is a high number of books that are banned including Cather in the Rye, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and To Kill a Mockingbird. Harry Potter’s banning falls under the religious grounds; it promotes witchcraft which in The Bible it says that all God’s people should have nothing to do with. Lord of the Rings was banned mainly because it was thought to be irreligious, it was banned in England though because of all the smoking the characters do. To Kill a Mockingbird was deemed “Classic Literature” (4) but was still banned due to all the racial content, profanity, and references to rape. Catcher in the Rye, the whole reason I am even writing this paper has been accused of being “anti-white and be...
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Works Cited
Ross, Shmuel. "Harry Potter Banned?" Infoplease. Infoplease, 14 Apr. 2010. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. (1)
"Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009." American Library Association. ALA, 23 Dec. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. (2)
Baldassarro, Wolf. "Banned Books Awareness." Banned Books Awareness. World.edu, 31 Mar. 2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. (3)
"WHY WAS IT BANNED? - to Kill a Mockingbird and Censorship." To Kill a Mockingbird and Censorship. Weebly, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. (4)
Chasan, Daniel J. "Why J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' Still Provokes Book Bans | Crosscut.com." Why J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' Still Provokes Book Bans | Crosscut.com. Crosscut, 19 Mar. 2010. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. (5)
Campbell, Daneil. "Intellectual Freedom Basics." ALA. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. (6)
Banning and challenging books started to become recognized almost as a problem in 1982, when the largest number of books at the time had been challenged as not suitable or appropriate for an age group. Ever since then books are criticized for sexual content, going against religious beliefs, language and vulgarity, violence, drugs, self-harm, racism, occult/satanic views, promoting gangs, and going against community standards. An example of a book that has been banned is The Catcher in The Rye by J. D. Salinger, since it has been banned from multiple libraries and schools for sexual and vulgar content (Santipr). Many people whose books have been challenged or banned have argued that the first amendment says something different. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
This angered many readers in the United States, and some tried First off, banning a book violates the Freedom of Speech, which is a part of the First Amendment. The First Amendment allows the people to have their thoughts and speech to be protected. If a book is banned, you are essentially prohibiting the exercise of free speech, which strangely contradicts the First Amendment. In The Catcher in the Rye, we the readers can see that J.D. Salinger supports the idea of Freedom of Speech with the statement, "And if the boy digresses at all, you 're supposed to yell 'Digression! ' at him as fast as you can.
Books are banned for many reasons but more times than not it is because of the sensitive information found within the novel that agitates the reader. As long as people have been able to develop their own opinions, others have sought to prevent them from sharing. At some point in time, every idea has ultimately become objectionable to someone. The most frequently challenged and most visible targets of such objection are the very books found in classrooms and public libraries. These controversial novels teach lessons that sometimes can be very sensitive to some but there is much more to challenged books than a controversial topic. What lies within these pages is a wealth of knowledge, such as new perspectives for readers, twisting plots, and expressions that are found nowhere else. For example, To Kill A Mockingbird, contains references to rape, racial content, and profanity that have caused many to challenge the novel in the first place. The book was banned from countless
Foerstel, Herbert N. Banned in the U.S.A.: a Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994. Print.
Trelease, Jim. "Book Banning Violates Children and Young Adult Freedoms." Book Banning. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Rpt. from "Censorship and Children's Books." Trelease-on-Reading.com. 2006.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Aliprandini, Michael Sprague, Carolyn. "Banning Books: An Overview." Points Of View: Banning Books (2013): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 19 Apr. 2014.
Banned Books Week.” Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read American Library Association, 21st Sept. 2005. Web.02 March 2016
...s of new media have been proclaiming the death of books, and the marketplace seems to back them up” (Zeller 2011). Zeller is telling use that media like movies and game system have taken over and that the contents that it contains is the same as what books have. Still books are continued to be ban and unlike movies and videogames there is much a fight about the adult content in them. There is a special called Banned Book Week, which is a week where some of banned books are allow to be read and view. It is the freedom of reading anything. People should have it for the rest of life. Banning books is a type of censorship which violates our First Amendment. We the people are about rights and freedom. People have the freedom to read and books should have the freedom of press. It up to people on whether the banning of books should continue. Let the books be free and live!
Banning Books “It’s not just the books under fire now that worry me. It is the books that will never be written, the books that will never be read. And all due to the fear of censorship. As always, young readers will be the real losers” (Blume 1999). Judy Blume can not explain the problem of book censorship any clearer.
"Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009." American Library Association. American Library Association, n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2013. .
Baldassarro, R. Wolf. Banned Books Awareness: “The Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger. 23 1 2011. 10 11 2013 .
Staff, Wire Reports. (2002 October 3). Book banning spans the globe. The Houston Chronicle, pp.C14. Retrieved December 2, 2002 from Lexis-Nexis/Academic database.
Baldassarro, R. W. "Banned Books Awareness: The Call of the Wild." Banned Books Awareness. Deep Forest Productions, 24 July 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Censorship in School Libraries The most debatable and controversial form of censorship today is the banning of books in school libraries. Banning books that educate students is wrong and selfish. Censorship of books in school libraries is neither uncommon nor an issue of the past. Books with artistic and cultural worth are still challenged constantly by those who want to control what others read. The roots of bigotry and illiteracy that fuel efforts to censor books and free expression are unacceptable and unconditional.
The censorship of books is a division of censorship that, apart from Internet censorship, receives the most publicity. Banning books is the most popular form of such censorship. Many banned books are literary classics, such as The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger, which was listed as the number 6 most challenged or banned book in a list compiled by the American Civil Liberties Union in 1997.