2008 Woodie Awards
Books offer a cause for celebration
Hannah Skewes
Senior Reporter
Issue date: 10/8/07 Section: Opinion
- Page 1 of 1
This week was banned books week. I don't think I could think of a better thing to celebrate than the freedom to read what you want to.
However, it's kind of disturbing to think about what books have been challenged just in Alabama: "Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and "A Farewell to Arms" by Hemingway or "Catch-22" by Heller. All these have either been challenged or banned in the state of Alabama. Or how about the one everybody's heard of, especially in the South? "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. That one has been challenged, too.
There were over 500 attempts to ban books in 2006 according to The Hunstville Times. Last year, a member of the Mobile County school board tried to get "The Learning Tree" by Gordon Parks removed from the summer reading list of LeFlore High School. A few years ago, Gerard Allen, Alabama state representative, tried to initiate legislation to ban all books with homosexual references in them. What's worse is that a lot of Republican representatives did not seem too offended by it.
It may be old news, but it is an attitude that is still fairly alive. And it offends me.
I was required to read a lot of these books in my high school English class. Lost Generation writers have been burned into my memory. What I fail to see is what there is to possibly gain from removing these works from the bookshelves. And it surprises me that this mentality of censorship is still alive, even in Alabama.
And it leads me to the question: What is moral about the censorship of literature?
What amendment protects it? None. What amendment does it violate? More than necessary.
I do not see how anyone can justify the banning, challenging or censorship of books. When you censor a book, you deny people the freedom to experience it for themselves. When you leave it alone, you allow two freedoms: to either read it and make up their own minds or to ignore it completely. A lot of these books have been challenged or banned for language, explicit material, references to homosexuality and depictions of war. Things that occur everyday: sex, bad words and war. My favorite is the challenging of the "Harry Potter" series for themes of Satanism.
By banning books, they take away one hugely basic freedom: to know what goes on outside the boundaries of the reader's known existence. They deny a reader something he/she should only be able to deny himself/herself So maybe Alabama state legislators and school board members should read the U.S. Constitution instead of banning other reading materials and sacrificing a choice that isn't theirs to make.
However, it's kind of disturbing to think about what books have been challenged just in Alabama: "Grapes of Wrath" by Steinbeck, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and "A Farewell to Arms" by Hemingway or "Catch-22" by Heller. All these have either been challenged or banned in the state of Alabama. Or how about the one everybody's heard of, especially in the South? "Gone With the Wind" by Margaret Mitchell. That one has been challenged, too.
There were over 500 attempts to ban books in 2006 according to The Hunstville Times. Last year, a member of the Mobile County school board tried to get "The Learning Tree" by Gordon Parks removed from the summer reading list of LeFlore High School. A few years ago, Gerard Allen, Alabama state representative, tried to initiate legislation to ban all books with homosexual references in them. What's worse is that a lot of Republican representatives did not seem too offended by it.
It may be old news, but it is an attitude that is still fairly alive. And it offends me.
I was required to read a lot of these books in my high school English class. Lost Generation writers have been burned into my memory. What I fail to see is what there is to possibly gain from removing these works from the bookshelves. And it surprises me that this mentality of censorship is still alive, even in Alabama.
And it leads me to the question: What is moral about the censorship of literature?
What amendment protects it? None. What amendment does it violate? More than necessary.
I do not see how anyone can justify the banning, challenging or censorship of books. When you censor a book, you deny people the freedom to experience it for themselves. When you leave it alone, you allow two freedoms: to either read it and make up their own minds or to ignore it completely. A lot of these books have been challenged or banned for language, explicit material, references to homosexuality and depictions of war. Things that occur everyday: sex, bad words and war. My favorite is the challenging of the "Harry Potter" series for themes of Satanism.
By banning books, they take away one hugely basic freedom: to know what goes on outside the boundaries of the reader's known existence. They deny a reader something he/she should only be able to deny himself/herself So maybe Alabama state legislators and school board members should read the U.S. Constitution instead of banning other reading materials and sacrificing a choice that isn't theirs to make.
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