Comparing The Banning Of Books In Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon

Throughout history, many books have been banned that should not have been. “An attack upon our ability to tell stories is not just censorship – it is a crime against our nature as human beings.” (Censorship) Salman Rushdie explains that taking away peoples right to read is a punishment to the human. He believes that we should not be punished to stop reading books that we can learn from. An example of a book that teaches well, is the book Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Flowers for Algernon is a novel about a man who had an I.Q. of 70 and goes through surgery that had been conducted first on a mouse, to improve his intelligence. The book is a bunch of progress reports in Charlie’s perspective explaining how he feels going through surgery, and how it changed his life. Flowers for Algernon was banned due to sexual content, which was a wrong decision. It was wrong to ban Flowers for Algernon because, despite some

Challenged books are, literature that is attempted to be removed or restricted based upon objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of materials based upon objections of a person or group. (“About”) Banning and Challenging books are similar, but banning is a stronger move in getting rid of a book. A challenge of books is the attempt to remove books that offend, or people think not suitable. Where’s banning is getting rid of the book entirely at schools or libraries that dislike it. Books get both challenged and banned all the time. When a person feels they don’t like something about the book that affects them, or they think will affect someone else, they just file a complaint to the library regarding what they felt offensive about the book. Once the complaint it sent, the committee will look over it and determine if it is worth banning or not. Depending on the decision of the committee, the book is removed, or left on the shelf of the library or school.