Analysis on Ghost World, the Graphic Novel.

In “Censorship: A Personal View”, the author, Judy Blume, argues that the censorship is the biggest restrictions that turn young people away from books that they are interested in. Blume first indicates that the censorship already existed while she was a kid. She provides her personal experience as a kid toward the curiosity about adult world that she wanted to read from books, but her parents and school were very careful and selective about what books she could read. Blume then expresses her own views on censorship while she likes to write the controversial topics as a writer. She provides her own experience while many of her books were banned because the topics in her book were dangerous to young people, and the censorship proposed the alternative

On the surface Rebecca appears to demonstrate the conventions of the romantic genre. The storyline includes a heroine, who is thinks herself to be very plain “with straight, bobbed hair and youthful, unpowdered face, dressed in an ill-fitting coat and skirt…”, as well as a hero, who the heroine believes is

Some might claim the YA genre has grown to be too dark for its target audience. Meghan Gurdon, a firm believer of this idea, explains why she believes this in her article, “Darkness Too Visible”. Gurdon describes the experience of a mother of three in a bookstore looking to purchase a YA novel for one of her children, when she found herself leaving the bookstore empty-handed due to the content of the teen books. While teen books decades ago contained less violent/corrupted material, times have changed along with the genre. She is concerned that these books could have an effect on these young readers’ brains as they are merely transferring from childhood to adulthood. Gurdon still has faith that YA books would sell just as well and connect with young readers today without all of the dark subject matters discussed in them these days.

She has many obvious characteristics, all of which are favorable. The quote represents her motherly personality. Since she has many children and grandchildren, she is knowledgeable about the maternal aspects of situations. Rebecca is wise, religious, and charitable too. There are three personality traits that Rebecca and I share. Rebecca Nurse and I share three personality traits specifically logical reasoning, stubborn means, and honest demeanor.

According to the American Library Association (ALA), young adult novels are challenged with the best intentions. In most cases a parent will read a book that their child might be reading in class to find out if the book is hazardous to their child’s well-being. If the novel seems problematic, the parent then challenges the book. Even though the purpose of challenging a novel is to keep children from reading about issues that may not be seen as appropriate for their age group, censoring children from difficult subject matter is not always the solution. There is always controversy when difficult issues arise in adolescent geared novels. Even though there are many concerns with Lois Lowry’s The Giver,

Rebecca is not only wise, but she is faithful too. She never confesses to what she did not do and she never condemns others. Both of which would have been against her faith. She even tries to help others keep their faith when she says, “Let you fear nothing! Another judgment waits us all!” (Miller 1333). This quote shows that she not only has faith in God, but that she knows He will judge her after her death. She shows her faith in Him by being willing to die to remain honest and true to herself. She also shows her faith in Him by not condemning others when it could have saved her

Dark themes are on the rise in young adult literature, and parents can’t help but wonder if this is due to the abundance of these subjects in adult literature. Literary critic Meghan Cox Gurdon’s editorial “Darkness Too Visible” and author Sherman Alexie’s response “Why the Best Kids Books are Written in Blood” have contrasting views on this subject. However, with the superior techniques Alexie Sherman is more effective. Both authors use themes and style in their writing, but with his superior use of persuasive techniques Alexie Sherman’s article is ultimately more effective.

In doing so, parents feel as if they are guarding their children of knowledge that their children may not be capable of handling. Originally, dystopian novels such as The Giver were solely written for adults. Many parents feel that Lois Lowry’s The Giver attracts attention to taboo issues such as sex, drugs and infanticide. Ironically, children will inevitably learn about these topics through exposure, regardless of how hard parents try to shelter them from reality. Lois Lowry sheds a light on these topics in hopes of eliciting conversation among children. It is ridiculous to censor The Giver; it handles these topics in an engaging and appropriate manner designed to make readers think. It is important to allow children to acknowledge and understand these topics in a healthy and safe manner, rather than through potentially dangerous

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of- age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspects of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial

Many teenage books have profanity in the books to prove the point of topics that the writer wants to tell the audiences point of view. The Literature today is more mature then most of the the children and teenagers that is reading this type of mature literature. Having strong language in books makes the books more interesting and more intense with a lot more mature topic the for readers. In the numerous articles, “Darkness to visible”, “Sick-lit”, and “Potty Mouth”, arise the question: Should explicit content be available to young readers? Profanity in literature reveals real content that everyday young adults go through. However, profanity should be tolerated, but monitored to a certain extent.

During the Communist regime in the former Soviet Union, life was very difficult. The people who lived within the countries controlled by the Soviet government experienced levels of oppression akin to slavery. They could not express themselves through any means and had to conform both body and soul to the views of the Communist Party. People could be arrested, imprisoned, shipped off to exile or executed often without trial. Some twenty million people died while Joseph Stalin led the USSR and for many years after his death it was still dangerous to dare criticize his regime, although some scholars put that number closer to forty million people who died. Now that the Soviet Union has broken up and Russia is its own country there is more freedom, but the people still live under the yoke of an oppressive leader who does not tolerate political or social challenges. The people do nothing to stand up to this government because they have all been scarred by the decades they lived under Stalin.

I can relate to Rebecca because of our shared values of faith. Throughout the witch trials, Rebecca's faith is continually tested. Rebecca’s faith is so strong that she died for her faith. She is constantly faithful to god. When given the choice to lie and admit to being a witch to survive, she instead tells the truth and is killed because of it. Rebecca could

Psychologists usually agree that the teenage years are among the most difficult periods in one’s life. Most teens are trying to figure out who they are, what they believe, and how they fit into the world around them. Beginning in the late 1970’s, a whole genre of fiction, referred to as coming-of-age literature, emerged and serves, at least for many teens, as believable presentations of young people learning to navigate the difficulties of their lives, often fraught with feelings of rejection, seemingly unresolvable personal turmoil, social problems, school and family issues, etc. Indeed one value of reading is to see and better understand some aspect of ourselves through studying others. The reading of SPEAK, a somewhat controversial book

Rebecca: Rebecca was trying to construct a positive learning environment for her classroom. She genuinely care for all her students and she wants all of them to have an opportunity to learn.

“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.