Many think book burnings took place in times past and certainly not in the last century, but that was the case in the fall of 1973. A school board protested against Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s book Slaughterhouse-Five, on the grounds that it was unsuited for children. Their mode of protest? Book burning. The school instructed the school janitor to burn the book in question, in the school furnace. Vonnegut Jr., in reply, wrote a letter, “You Have Insulted Me”, to the chairman of the school board. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., after one of his books were burned by a school, wrote a scathing letter that upon analyzing can be seen is full of excellent arguments to try to convince the school what it did was terribly wrong. Vonnegut, Jr. has many different arguments in his letter. He writes, “If you were to …show more content…
They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are.” (Vonnegut, Jr.). Vonnegut, Jr. argues that his books were not written to lead young people astray, like the school board believes. He wrote his books to ask people to kinder and more responsible. The school board accuses him of not being the very two things his books ask others to be. Vonnegut, Jr. also writes, “Perhaps you will learn from this that books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations, which hate books and burn them. If you are an American, you must allow all ideas to circulate freely in your community, not merely your own.” (Vonnegut, Jr.). He writes that it is every American’s duty to allow all ideas to be spoken freely in the community, not just the ideas that benefit certain people. He argues that books are sacred because they hold ideals and ideas that are very important to free men, who know their importance. Vonnegut, Jr. argues,
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.
...dons the glimmer of hope that accompanies the fact that life has its moments of grandeur. He encourages the modern reader to escape the question "why me" and urges us to embrace a philosophy that consistently reminds us that even in the midst of the most cruel (and the most celebrated) events, humanity retains all of its virtue and vice. So it goes. Vonnegut allows us to laugh out loud, despite the tragedies of war and the anxiety of the post-modern world. His picture of the modern man is simultaneously dismal and hopeful. His unique style, satiric overview and astute ability to capture the multiple faces of mankind, properly place him in the realm of the most accomplished authors of the Twentieth Century.
One form of rhetorical language Vonnegut uses in his letter to Charles McCarthy is anaphora. Through Vonnegut's use of anaphora it allows him to acknowledge that
There is a quote by Ray Bradbury that goes “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” (Bradbury). In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury books are considered illegal and should not be preserved. In our world fireman are known to put out fires, but in the book fireman are known to start the fires because of books. Technology is put above books, and the main character Guy Montag starts to realize he does not like the world he lives in, and there needs to be a change. Bradbury conveys many messages throughout the book. He somehow warns us about our future. He shows that technology is taking over our lives, and censorship is limiting our freedom. Bradbury's message of society can destroy itself
Books are banned by the government in the dystopian society that brings the unstable perspective of not knowing what is good and what is wrong. The people of this society think that books will take away their happiness and ruin their lives. However, the government hides a secret that it uses to gain control over the citizens and change their minds. At the beginning of the book, Montag starts off by revealing his perspective on burning, “It was a pleasure to burn” (1). At this point it wasn’t clear who said this but whoever it was, they seem to like burning. In our society you were not able to burn things without permission unless it was on your property. Later in the book, the novel reveals that Montag, a fireman was the one that said the previous
To start, the novel Fahrenheit 451 describes the fictional futuristic world in which our main protagonist Guy Montag resides. Montag is a fireman, but not your typical fireman. In fact, firemen we see in our society are the ones, who risk their lives trying to extinguish fires; however, in the novel firemen are not such individuals, what our society think of firemen is unheard of by the citizens of this futuristic American country. Instead firemen burn books. They erase knowledge. They obliterate the books of thinkers, dreamers, and storytellers. They destroy books that often describe the deepest thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Great works such as Shakespeare and Plato, for example, are illegal and firemen work to eradicate them. In the society where Guy Montag lives, knowledge is erased and replaced with ignorance. This society also resembles our world, a world where ignorance is promoted, and should not be replacing knowledge. This novel was written by Ray Bradbury, He wrote other novels such as the Martian chronicles, the illustrated man, Dandelion wine, and something wicked this way comes, as well as hundreds of short stories, he also wrote for the theater, cinema, and TV. In this essay three arguments will be made to prove this point. First the government use firemen to get rid of books because they are afraid people will rebel, they use preventative measures like censorship to hide from the public the truth, the government promotes ignorance to make it easier for them to control their citizens. Because the government makes books illegal, they make people suppress feelings and also makes them miserable without them knowing.
When authors write books, the books are meant to be read not banned. Authors write books to be read, so when schools and other facilities are banning books it’s taking away the author’s right. In the letter, I am Very Real written by author Kurt Vonnegut, he states “If you were to bother to read my books, to behave as educated persons would, you would learn that they are not sexy, and do not argue in favor of wildness of any kind. They beg that people be kinder and more responsible than they often are.” This excerpt from the text states that the author doesn’t write books to teach cruel things. Vonnegut writes books in a kind manner with the idea that people become more
In his short story, “The Lie”, Kurt Vonnegut suggests that status should not entitle people to special treatment. When Doctor Remenzel learns that Eli hadn’t been accepted into Whitehill, he tries to use his connections to get Eli into the school. After hearing his request, all of the Board members refused to make an exception for Eli because of his family name. Subdued, Doctor Remenzel returns to his family to tell them what he tried to do. When Eli hears of his father’s actions, the author writes “‘Now I am ashamed,’ said Eli, and he showed that he was. Doctor Remenzel, in his wretchedness, could find no strong words to say. ‘I apologize to you both,’ he said at last. ‘It was a very bad thing to try’” (12). At the
Satire in American literature has evolved in response to the development of the American mind, its increasing use of free will, and the context that surrounds this notion. Satire is the biting wit that authors (labeled satirists) bring to their literature to expose and mock the follies of society. Satirists can be divided, however, into two groups with very different purposes. One type mocks simply for the enjoyment of mocking. These satirists are found almost everywhere in the world, on every street corner, household, and television sitcom. It is the second type of satirist who is a strong force in the world of literature. The satirical author will mock to heighten the reader's awareness of the problems that threaten to destroy the world that they believe has so much potential. They do this with the hope that their satire will encourage others to better society. "I have often hoped that the arts could be wonderfully useful in times of trouble" (32) says the writer who is perhaps the king of this second type of American satire, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Vonnegut uses his literature to help guide a disillusioned America, in which free will has been fundamental since the writing of the Constitution. As a humanist, Vonnegut uses the idea of free will as a constant motif in his writing. He believes that every soul has the freedom to do anything, but that the problem with society is that people lack direction. Free will, used as a theme in Timequake, is an enormous responsibility. Acknowledging the free will that one has also involves accepting the responsibility that is necessary to use this privilege in a way that will benefit humanity. In several essay...
"Book Destruction Controls Ideology." Book Banning. Ed. Ronnie D. Lankford. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. At Issue. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 11 Feb. 2011.
The Doctrines of Kurt Vonnegut The writing of Kurt Vonnegut exhibits perception without restriction and imagination without limitation. It surpasses mountains of ignorance and rivers of innocence to extend emotions for society to sympathize with reality. He incorporates his knowledge and view-points into a variety of literary genres for everyone to learn of his inquiries and philosophies. To draw readers into his sphere of influence, Kurt Vonnegut administers an inflection on the present to state other tenses
Is it not on the normal we hear about PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) from former veterans go through. They struggle to keep calm and collected visiting through flashbacks from war and maybe other memories that may not be true. Facing trying to have a normal life after being a prisoner of war (POW). Kurt Vonnegut writes using the setting he seen in his life, making a war drama from a first person experience making it fictional at the same time an autobiography. Being free from war is just illusive according to Kurt Vonnegut. Even though I never been to war I see him trying to show that war hinders us mentally through encounters in war.
Vonnegut believes that writers can influence people's ideas profoundly. In one of his many speeches he stated the following:
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
“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.