Censorship is the practice of examining books, movies and other things and suppressing unacceptable parts. When books are banned it’s because it satisfies the needs of the higher power to be in control. If the children don’t read the book then they won’t learn about it. Schools think that they should shelter kids away from real life things just because there bad. Blubber is banned because of the vulgar language and bullying. In the book all the girls in the class pick on a fat girl and call her mean names and never get punished, they also curse and are disrespectful. Blubber is written by Judy Blume who let her kids read anything because she felt it was right for them to know about real world things no matter what age and no matter what context. This is probably why most of her books come off as inappropriate to most people. Judy Blume’s Blubber is banned in some schools and libraries because the bullies prevail and it doesn’t teach good morals, and despite the literary merit it has, it should continue to be banned because of vulgar language, and harassment. Blubber is banned in schools and libraries mainly because the bullies prevail in the end of the book. Maynard shows his opinion by stating, “Blubber, where the kids’ horrible cruelty to the fat girl s never punished, Judy Blume raises questions without solving them.” (Maynard 8). Based on his opinion Judy Blume talks about problems in her books and never answers them properly. The reader will go on through the whole book and read about bullying and how it is bad but in the end find that it’s okay and not punishable. An example from the book that shows a bully prevailing is shown when the teacher asks, “Whose apple is this? It’s mine Linda answered even t... ... middle of paper ... ...g anything. Kids need to learn that this is not okay and they need to take actions when someone is getting treated this brutally. Overall Blubber should continue to be banned do to the excessiveness of bullying and awful language. There is some literary merit to the book but that doesn't overrule all of the bad parts. When a student reads this book the majority of the feedback will be in agreement with my thesis. After studying a little bit into banned books and censorship I learned that it takes a lot to ban a book anywhere. Trying to get a majority of people to ban a book will take a while, and if the book does eventually gets banned the supervisor can know that the book had to have a lot of bad aspects to it. After reading the book personally I felt as if there was no way that this book could be acceptable to any student from middle school to high school.
Many might think that all teenage or young adult books would be filled with happy thoughts and positive things, but you don't learn lessons from everything being perfect. That’s where banned or challenged books come along. A challenged book is a book that has been requested by many to be moved off a library's shelf. A banned book is a challenged book the has been removed from the shelves. The Outsiders was one of the best-selling books of its time and has won 5 awards since. It was banned and challenged for many reasons by many school districts. By examining its usage of expose on family dysfunction, strong language and portrayal of gang violence, it is clear why some would have it banned.
While researching the book you discover that in South Carolina, the 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 student's 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 does these blow jobs in exchange for drugs.
Censorship, as defined in the dictionary, is, in the case of a book, to take out things thought to be objectionable. Censorship is far more than that. This mere word prohibits us from all things
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
Censorship is defined as the act of taking out unacceptable parts from books, movies, and other content available to the public eye. In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, censorship takes over a major part of the citizen’s lives. In the modernistic era, the story is based upon a lot of television and is censored to the important and educational content we have in the present, such as; books, which open doors to infinite amounts of knowledge.
Countries worldwide actively call for the banning of books that are found to be politically inconvenient, religiously awkward, or embarrassing in one form or another. But for writers like Russia's Vasily Grossman, a book's ban means far more than just a dip in sales. In 1961, he pleaded with the Soviet censors, "I am physically free, but the book to which I have dedicated my life is in jail." (Merkelson). A book represents an idea, thus limiting access to a book is banning the representation of an idea. The banning of books in American schools should not be allowed, because banning books will prevent students from learning the reason for the controversy and alternate viewpoints they can come to on their own.
There has been censorship since the times of the early Catholic Church with it dictating what you could and could not do. The people of the United States have looked back upon what was being done, and have expressed that it was wrong for the church to such a thing. However, the leaders of today seem to be hypocritical in the subject. They say that it was bad once, but today it is okay. Censorship is most prominent in books today, and the most common to be thrown out are the ones that have obscene language and sexual references. There are many examples of this; however, the few that are best known are: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The banning of books, such as these, blocks the meanings that these mature and experienced authors are putting forth to the world.
Recently censorship has become a major problem in our society. Censorship should not be banned on books. People should not be told they cannot read a book. Unfortunately history has shown that words can be used for ill as well as for good, to destroy lives as well as to enhance them? (Steffens, 9) Words and reading them gives us a better understanding of other peoples views. Censorship should not be placed on books.
First of all, what exactly is censorship and what are some reasons to ban a book? The censorship of books deals with removing them from school or local libraries because they contain things like vulgar language, sexual references, drug use, or extremely violent details. These are the same reasons a book can and will be banned from a library. Some of these bans take the meaning of the book too seriously or completely out of context. Why is censorship so strict on what students read? The ban list can try to keep the vulgar language away from the students in school, but what about home? These kids could be surround by this language every day. This use of profanity has become too common that it has basically became normal to hear in public. This use of profane language is found a lot in The Catcher in the Rye and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
In the book Fahrenheit 451, books are strictly outlawed, and if someone is found owning a book, the house of the owner is to be burned down. This form of condemnation of the society is an extreme version of censorship. Censorship is defined as “the changing or the suppression or prohibition of speech or writing that is deemed subversive of the common good.” (Anastaplo) Recently, this concept has taken on a large role in many school systems across the country. School boards have been banning a number of books from their criteria in order to prevent offensive material from reaching their students. However, the good intentions of these teachers may be having the opposite effect that they were hoping for. In his book Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury demonstrates the adverse effects that censorship can have on a society. Censorship, when not used correctly, can retain a quantity of negative effects on high school students.
...by the school board and library, as well as teachers that have their overall judgment on what can be appropriate, interesting, engaging and useful for the students, and that controversial issues are not something to be afraid of, but instead, a useful learning tool that will prepare children not only for college, but for life as well. Students are a lot more mature than they are given credit for, and when a material that involves subjects such as language or violence is introduced well to a class by the teacher, the class will be interested and motivated to discuss maturely, and not be impressed by the subject or start acting out of influence by it. If we ban every book that deals with considered “explicit,” or “uncomfortable” content, then we are denying students a great opportunity of being informed on real issues, and forming their own ideas of right and wrong.
There are many reasons that violence is one of the reasons that the book has been banned. “He determined to strand me outside district 12 until he can apprehend to arrest me? Drag me to the square to be locked in a stockade or whipped or hanged?” (Collins 151). This isn’t really a strong bloody gory violence that would cause a student to get sick in class it’s a basic violence that you would see in any other book that involves killing and fighting. And by exposing this type of violence to children it will raise their maturity level and have the children comprehend that there is violence around them in the world and they’re going to have to learn to deal with it. 56% of the book is challenged by parents and only 13% by libraries. This tells the reader that parents have a more difficult time with the book so you ask yourself is it more of the parents why they see the book? Or is it their child’s way they see the book? both child and parents are going to see the book differently so children may like the violence in the book but the parents may say th...
Banning a book on the basis of profanity is merely a superficial reason of those who wish to limit beliefs that do not coincide with their own. By excluding a novel from a high school curriculum in order to shelter students from profanity, is an attempt to do the impossible. Profanity is found everywhere. According to TV Guide, "Profanity is uttered once every six minutes on American primetime television...
Brinkley describes a few actions that can lead to the censoring of a book in a school or school system: An expression of concern is simply a question about the material with overtones of disapproval; an oral complaint is an oral challenge to the contents of a work; a written complaint is a formal written challenge to the school about the contents of a work; and a public attack is a public statement challenging the contents of a work that is made outside of the school, usually to the media to gain support for further action (1999). Brinkley also points out an important difference between selection and censorship: Selection is the act of carefully choosing works for an English course that will be age-appropriate, meaningful, and fulfill objectives, while censorship is the act of excluding works that some con...
Censorship in American High Schools Book banning has a long history and has made both positive and negative impact on readers. People have been trying to stop books from being banned, but there are also people that are trying to ban books to protect their children. Many books have been challenged and even banned because of the “inappropriate” content the books contain, such as profanity. Books have started to get censored since the 1500’s and has threatened many cultures. The people who ban and censor books think that they are protecting the readers from the information, but it is secluding the readers from getting more ideas.