Howl
Allen Ginsberg's poem "Howl," has long been attacked as obscene for its graphic imagery and language. It includes shadowed symbolism, but also direct references to oral and anal sex, homosexuality, and drug use. However, according to Roth v. the United States (1957), "unless the book is entirely lacking in 'social importance', it cannot be held as 'obscene'." Only works with no redeeming social value may be banned on the grounds of their being obscene; any piece of writing with social value is protected by the first amendment to the Constitution.
By this definition, it is impossible to consider "Howl" obscene. Declared by literary experts to be "social criticism... a literary work that hurled ideological accusation after accusation against American society," "Howl" is not obscenity - the vulgar terms Ginsberg uses are intended to convey the meaning of the poem; they give insight to his life and his view of the world. The course language is used to portray the nightmarish world depicted by the poem, and though the author could have used other terms they would not have been as effective. "Howl" is effective in large part because it conveys violent emotions, and its vulgarity elicits an emotional response from the reader; obscenity is used to make a point, and not for its own sake.
Twice Ginsberg's book Howl and Other Poems, which contains "Howl", has been confiscated from bookstores with the claim that the book was not suitable for children. However, the City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco, from which copies of the book were seized, did not carry books for children. "Howl" is certainly not appropriate for children, but no one has ever claimed otherwise. Howl and Other Poems was not being marketed for children, or as a children's book. If all works that contained material deemed inappropriate for children were removed from the shelves, the vast majority of what we consider
In 1975 the “interesting” books for students of the Island Tree School District were nearly thrown under the bed forever. The Island Tree School District was presented with a complaint from the group Parents of New York United that posed a concern regarding the content of library materials. This community was concerned that public school libraries in the district were exceedingly “permissive” with the books they provided for students. The list of books that the Parents of New York United were wary of were: “Slaughter-House Five,” by Kurt Vonnegut; “The Fixer,” by Bernard Malamud; “The Naked Ape,” by Desmond Morris; “Down These Mean Streets,” by Piri Thomas; “Best Short Stories of Negro Writers,” edited by Langston Hughes; “A Hero Ain't Nothin' but a Sandwich,” by Alice Childress; “Soul on Ice,” by Eldridge Cleaver; “A Reader for Writers,” edited by Jerome Archer, and “Go Ask Alice,” by an anonymous author(New York Times, 1982). The Island Tree School Board complied with the Parents of New York United's concern and took these books off school shelves in early 1976.
The art work of Howling Wolf, Treaty signing at Medicine Creek Lodge and John Taylor, Treaty Signing at Medicine Creek Lodge as you can tell from the titles are both from the identical occasion. Both art works are from the same event but is portrayed by two cultures and their point of views (Sayre, Pg. 40). The drawer John Taylor was a journalist, and Howling Wolf was a Native American artist (Sayre, Pg. 40). These art works are concerning what occurred on
The respondents, including Steven Pico, Jacqueline Gold, Glenn Yarris, Russell Rieger (students at Island Trees High School), and Paul Sochinski (student at Island Trees Memorial), argued that banning the books from school libraries violated their first amendment rights. Therefore, the respondents took the case to court (I...
There have been many Supreme Court cases that dealed with many concepts of the law, like obscenity for example. As a matter of fact, obscenity is a concept that Miller v. California deals with. To be more specific, this case deals with what is considered obscene, and if the specific obscenity mentioned in this case is protected by the first amendment, the freedom of speech. I will now explain this case in more depth.
Rosenthal, M.L. "Poet of the New Violence". On the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg. Ed. Lewis Hyde. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1984. 29-31.
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
...erg’s lines are inwardly. The self of Whitman is all-encompassing but Ginsberg’s self is passive, lacking diversity by excluding rural settings. In short, Ginsberg’s Howl” is a journey through a different route to reality by leaving the doubts behind and taking the lead role of a public American poet-prophet, which Whitman only dreamt of in his life by composing poetry for an imagined audience.
Despite being a worldwide best seller, J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye has been on the banned books list since 1961 ( (Baldassarro). The Catcher in the Rye tells the short journey, of anti-hero Holden Caulfield, between the end of the fall semester and Christmas break (Salinger). The story begins when Holden is expelled from his school, Pency Prep, for failing a majority of his classes (Salinger). Holden knows he must return home, so he attempts to prolong the scolding he will receive from his parents, for being expelled, by venturing around Manhattan until it becomes necessary to return to his home (Salinger). Holden tells his story in the most vulgar way possible. Holden accounts being offered a prostitute by an elevator operator when he asks, “Innarested a little tail t’night?” (Salinger 91). Offensive language is also used throughout the book, for example, “You’re a dirty stupid sonuvabitch of a moron” (Salinger 44). Underage drinking is also one of Holden’s favorite passtimes as evident in the quote, “I ordered a scotch and soda, and told him not to mix it- I said it fast as hell, because if you hem and haw, they think you’re under twenty-one and won’t sell you any intoxicating liquor” (Salinger 69). These three quotes express the precise justifications for banning books: sexually explicit content, offensive language, and underage drug use (Association). Although, many consider The Catcher in the Rye to be morally wrong, it should not ...
The art work of Howling Wolf, Treaty signing at Medicine Creek Lodge and John Taylor, Treaty Signing at Medicine Creek Lodge as you can tell from the titles are both from the identical occasion. Both art works are from the same event but is portrayed by two cultures and their point of views (Sayre, Pg. 40). The drawer John Taylor was a journalist, and Howling Wolf was a Native American artist (Sayre, Pg. 40). These art works are concerning what occurred on October 1867 when Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, Kiowa and the United States government signed a peace treaty (Sayre, Pg. 40). The treaty was signed at Medicine Lodge Creek on Arkansas River in Kansas (Sayre, Pg. 40). John Taylor’s art was created off of sketches that was completed shortly after the events (Sayre, Pg. 40). While Howling Wolf art work was created many years later, while Howling was in incarcerated (Sayre, Pg. 40). Wolf and Taylor images have similar art components while they also have different features.
The novel has foul language. There are many swears words in the book. In the very first chapter the character V uses very offensive language. She is in the car on the way home from the airport and the narrator, Mara notices her hand. “I stole a peek at her hand. Down each finger, from her pinkie to her pointer, she'd scrawled f***, f***, f***, f***. On her thumb it said everyone. Yikes” (Mackler 9). Seeing this in the ...
Homosexuality remained illegal in most parts of America until the 1960s, but Ginsberg refused to equate his Gay identity with criminality. He wrote about his homosexuality in almost every poem that he wrote, most specifically in ‘Many Loves’ (1956) and ‘Please Master’ (1968), his paeans to his errant lover Neal Cassady. Ginsberg’s poems are full of explicit sexual detail and scatological humour, but the inclusion of such details should not be interpreted as a childish attempt to incense the prudish and the square.
3.) Divide your 30g of white substance into the 4 test tubes evenly. You should put 7.5g into each test tube along with the water.
Books like The Chocolate War, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and Of Mice and Men have been placed on the controversial bookshelf of many school libraries.
Seeking for greater power, Macbeth murders Duncan who is the king at that time, which caused a great pain for the kingdom. Duncan is a great king, but just not a so good human reader. He has never been aware of Macbeth. He never have a thought that Macbeth might be a danger, who is willing to kill him for the throne. On the other hand, Macbeth does not accept to be just a general for the rest of his life. He wants a greater power, higher position than he is having at the time. Because of the suggests from the trio witches: “ All hail, Macbeth! Hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor!/ All hail, Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter!”(1.2.49-50), Macbeth has the thinking about killing the king to take his throne. By calling Macbeth the Thane of Cawdor, they give Macbeth the thought that being a king is his fate. On the night Macbeth is planning to murder Duncan, the Old Man see many strange events: “And Duncan’s horses (a thing most strange and certain),/ Beauteous and swift, the minions of their race, /Turned wild in nature, broke their stalls, flung out/ Contending ‘gainst obedience, as they would/ Make war with mankind” (2.4.14-18). It creates a scary feeling in the kingdom, and means something bad will happen to the kingdom.
The society around us changes constantly and if we don’t catch up, we can possibly find ourselves in a suffering of our own madness. Ginsberg lived in a society in which homosexuals were unacceptable in which had to be treated with shock therapy. We can easily see why one can be driven to madness because it is hard for one individual to change the minds of many. Over time though we can see the issue being resolved and the acceptance of gays is becoming popular. But that is just the thing though, why must we let society define who we are and how to live? As far as I’m concerned, we are all human, no different from one another. Ginsberg’s poem Howl is important to read because it gives us insight into the cruel side of society in which people are constantly living in. With that knowledge, we can learn be more fair and to treat other people like equals and not opposites. We can take the initiative as individuals to make equality known and freedom