The novel The Bluest Eye written by Toni Morrison is subjected on a young girl, Pecola Breedlove and her experiences growing up in a poor black family. The life depicted is one of poverty, ridicule, and dissatisfaction of self. Pecola feels ugly because of her social status as a poor young black girl and longs to have blue eyes, the pinnacle of beauty and worth. Throughout the book, Morrison touches on controversial subjects, such as the depicting of Pecola's father raping her, Mrs. Breedlove's sexual feelings toward her husband, and Pecola's menstruation. The book's content is controversial on many levels and it has bred conflict among its readers. Conflict on the local level, in the Kern High School District, has arisen in the past year dealing with The Bluest Eye's explicit content. Sue Porter, mother of an East Bakersfield High School Student objected to having her 11th grade daughter read the book in her honors English class. She believed the book was "pornographic" and inappropriate for children. She pushed to have the book banned from the California Department of Education's list of recommended reading. This started a ripple effect in the community. In the last Kern High School District Board of Trustees election, two candidates ran for office solely on the basis of their opposition to The Bluest Eye and their desires to ban the book from High School Recommended Reading list. The main proponent Chad Vegas, according to his presentation given on November 1, 2004, feels the way to solve the controversy over such novels being read that contain sexual content is to remove such novels from the State of California Recommended Reading List. (Vegas) His campaign was fueled by his strong moral convictions. Accord... ... middle of paper ... ...ve way from being exposed to the sexual content. Some feel that they will feel that such things described in the novel are permissible actions since teachers cannot cast a moral judgment on them. In agreeing with Chad Vegas, the Kern High School District Trustees must bring principles, morals and convictions to the classroom and to students (Hunn A1). Works Cited California Department of Education, Kern High School District Board of Trustees. Supplemental Literature Selection Form. Bakersfield: Kern High School District, 2004. Hunn, David. "KHSD Hopefuls Call Race Crusade." The Bakersfield Californian. 19 Sept 2004. A1 Hunn, David. "Pastor Upsets Status Quo for KHSD." The Bakersfield Californian. 3 Nov 2004. A1 Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York, Penguin Books, 1970. Vegas, Chad. Presentation; Bakersfield College: Bakersfield. 1 Nov 2004.
Reading Chapter 11, “Genders and Sexualities,” written by Carrie Hintz was to construct and enact alternatives for these two traditional categories. Data is clearly indicated that sexual material is some of the most controversial content in literature. Children’s literature that is involved with adolescent’s childhood are key battlegrounds for attitudes about gender and sexuality. The significance of gender and sexuality in children’s literature is the persistent investment in what is perceived to be the innocence of children. Innocence is defined in part by children’s enforced ignorance of sexual matters. According to James Kincaid, “Youth and innocence are two of the most eroticized constructions of the past two centuries. Innocence was that
“ Parents in one school district called the book “pornographic and obscene” in 1977.” Nathaniel Hawthorne was unable to give an opinion on the banning of his book because he passed away. Many people feel that the books should be banned in middle school, they also feel that the best time to read the book is their sophomore year after learning sexed because they are more understanding of the book. While others some most parents feel that age reading the book in their senior year or in
For younger readers this book carries very strong language but it has a strong message. One of those is that it shows what students will do for drugs. While researching the book you discover that in South Carolina, Berkley County school district, was one of the first to pull the book from schools and libraries. This occurred after a mom protested the book when her 8th grade daughter had to read little experts from the book to her classmates. The students mother did not want her to be reading a book with so much profanity and references to sex. One of the most controversial lines that comes from the book is when Alice writes in her journal “Another day, another blow-job”. She doe...
This controversial book has been challenged in countless states for many years. In 1997 the Elgin, Illinois school district banned the book from middle school libraries. Catherine explained that the book was banned because “talk of masturbation, birth control, and disobedience to parents occurred”
Did you ever think that books that have sex, obscene language, and immoral subjects can make a good book? The Catcher in the Rye has been on the banned reading list for exactly those reasons. The book was mainly put on disapproval from between 1966 and 1975 in almost every school district in the United States. The book was said to be so bad that in 1960 a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was fired for assigning the book to an eleventh-grade English class. Despite some opposition to the novel, however, J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye should be on a reading list for the freshman students because it gives a crystal clear image on how the world is in violence, sex, and obscenity and the book also teaches the motifs of lying and deception.
This novel should be banned from the high school curriculum. This novel is too inappropriate for high school students. The novel may be too much for them to handle because of all the profanity and discrimination. This novel may be more suited for a college class were the students are much more mature and could handle all of the actions that take place in the
As it is inevitable that children will grow up to be exposed to the world's evils, which are shown in novels like Fahrenheit 451, teaching the context and meaning of those evils in a learning environment allows for more of a educated understanding and a fuller grasp on the issues within. By reading controversial novels in schools, students in middle and high school will benefit tremendously by being exposed to them in a learning environment. Although teachers and parents have control as to what the students are exposed to at a young age, Fahrenheit 451 should not be banned from middle and high schools as it depicts the effects of censorship on a dystopian society through use of controversial material which doubles as
content of the book, the school board voted 5-4 to ban the book. The book was later reinstated in the curriculum when the board learned that
Toni Morrison's novel "The Bluest Eye", is a very important novel in literature, because of the many boundaries that were crosses and the painful, serious topics that were brought into light, including racism, gender issues, Black female Subjectivity, and child abuse of many forms. This set of annotated bibliographies are scholarly works of literature that centre around the hot topic of racism in the novel, "The Bluest Eye", and the low self-esteem faced by young African American women, due to white culture. My research was guided by these ideas of racism and loss of self, suffered in the novel, by the main character Pecola Breedlove. This text generates many racial and social-cultural problems, dealing with the lost identity of a young African American women, due to her obsession with the white way of life, and her wish to have blue eyes, leading to her complete transgression into insanity.
Walt Whitman once said, “The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.” Between the years 2000 and 2009 a total of 3200 books were challenged in school libraries in an attempt to expurgate, or censor, the content in books provided to students. Today the trend of censorship continues as popular novels such as The Hunger Games, The Fault in Our Stars, and Captain Underpants are censored from schools across the nation (Challenges by Reason).Censorship in regards to literature refers to the examination and suppressing of a book because of objectionable material. The process of censorship in school libraries often begins with an outspoken parent, teacher, student, or administrator and ends in the banning or abridgement of a novel deemed inadmissible. Censorship is protecting many students from controversial, immoral, and potentially unsuitable content; however, this is not always the case. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators with different backgrounds, beliefs, and morals are not creating a library pleasing to everyone because of the variety of opinion. Censorship in school is not justifiable, because it restricts discussion and knowledge of new, controversial, and necessary ideas, allows a handful of people to make decisions for a larger group based on opinion, and undermines democratic ideals.
I believe in the fact that everyone has their own opinion and the right for freedom of speech and press. People might say that I have no opinion or that I dont know what I am talkin about because I am under 18, but I still stand behind my opinion. The recent controversy over the censorship and banning of Toni Morrisons "The Bluest Eye" is simply a group of people trying to give thier opinion. They got their right and where able to challenged the book, but are now taking this too far. I believe this should be eliminated and they should not be able to get their way by threatening their point. The mother who has challenged this book has every right to censor what her child reads. As for other parents they might want their children to read this book. I dont see how this women really sees herself as Bakersfields "parental figure" and takes it among herself to say what other peoples children may read. Personally I feel as if she thinks me and my peers too stupid to understand the meaning of the book, and not mature enough to seperate the reality of those 11 "pornographic" lines. Sex, incest, and rape are all things that are real and happen in our world. Many children are exposed to these unpleasant realities. I believe that this women is out of touch with her daughter if she thinks that her daughter does nott know what these things are. I am very insulted at the fact that she thinks it her job to take on the responsibility to choose what I can not read. I have two parents already that make fine descisions for me, I don't really need another one. Those 11 lines are said to be pornographic and probably are when taking out of text. Those 11 lines are merely particles of the total piece of literature. I have not yet read "The Bluest Eye," but plan to. This book is said to be very eduactional and a great piece of literature. Should students really be banned from reading this book because of 11 lines? If any parent does not want to have their child read a book they have every right to not let them, but this women should have no say over any one elses child except her own. Also I think it very ridiculous of her to carry this on any further than it has already gone.
“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. The children are the real losers because they are the ones that are not able to read the classic works of literature which are the backbone of classroom discussions all across the United States.
The Catcher in the Rye is a famously controversial title, sparking outrage from educators to parents alike for reasons that tend to be objectively ridiculous for several reasons. It’s not exactly hard to see why somebody wouldn’t want this book on shelves due to its societally critical nature, and natural appeal to younger generations. But with a little bit of thought and deeper thinking, one can find even more reason as to why it should not be banned. Several reasons back up this idea, and will be analysed in this essay on Catcher in the Rye, what effect it has upon youth and culture, and why banning this book is an egregious mistake to make.
Toni Morrison, the author of The Bluest Eye, centers her novel around two things: beauty and wealth in their relation to race and the brutal rape of a young girl by her father. Morrison explores and exposes these themes in relation to the underlying factors of black society: racism and sexism. Every character has a problem to deal with, and it involves racism and/or sexism. Whether the characters are the victim or the aggressor, they can do nothing about their problem or condition, especially when it concerns gender and race. Morrison's characters are clearly at the mercy of preconceived notions maintained by society.
7. HEINS, Marjorie, Not In Front of the Children: Indecency, Censorship, and The Innocence Of Youth, Hill & Wang, New York, 2002