Censorship In Carrie, By Stephen King

Once upon a time, in a world not far from here, there are students who are forced to miss their annual train ride to Hogwarts, lock the wardrobe to the magical land of Narnia, and walk through the English countryside themselves instead of upon the back of Black Beauty. Why are these students deprived of those occurrences? They live in America, the land of the free- except when it comes to the books they can read. In fact, many schools across America exercise the practice of banning books. Since 1982, libraries, parents, and schools have attempted to ban 11,300 novels, according to the American Library Association. The essentially innoxious books are challenged for an assortment of reasons, including use of malapropos language, graphic or explicit

The Catcher in the Rye. The Scarlet Letter. Huckleberry Finn. Harry Potter. The Diary of Anne Frank. Animal Farm. To Kill a Mockingbird. The Da Vinci Code. The Grapes of Wrath. These literary classics have been vital to the education of many, especially children and adolescents (Banned Books). These great novels both teach important values and educate children about world affairs and classic themes. Unfortunately, each of these novels has been banned at one point in time. In a country where freedom is so adamantly advocated, it is a wonder that an issue like censorship would even come up, that such a controversy would sink its claws into the minds of states’ boards of education across the nation.

Anderson’s story contains a four-page description of the events that led to Melinda, the main characters, rape scene. These four pages were enough for Scroggin and Swier to challenge this novel in its entirety and hide it from students, hindering their horizons of literature.

The main reason for the banning of this novel is because of the profanity according to NCAC. NCAC states that this novel has " been challenged or banned due to objections to profanity." Therefore this novel should be banned from high schools and libraries. The use of profanity causes a sense of disproportion for the youthful minds reading this publication.

High School students are mature and they had experience of uncensored books and movies. Alexie’s novel remains in high school libraries available for the students to check it out by their own choice. Students should have the right to choose what they want to read. The main character Junior in Alexie's novel shows

On the other hand, some people argue that book censorship is a violation of their constitutional right to freedom of speech, and the right to self expression. One article puts its effects this way, “Permitting restraints on literature sets the stage for attacks on all expression that is artistically or politically controversial or that portray unpleasant realities of life.” This,

If a controversial book will be read in the classroom, it is the teacher’s responsibility to prepare the student for it. The teacher must ensure that the book is age-appropriate for the student, and is appropriate for the subject matter that the teacher is covering. Reading books such as Catcher in The Rye without discussion can be more harmful than helpful to a student. The Catcher in The Rye has obscene language, violence, occult practices, and sexual references (Doyle 2010). This book should only be read by a mature age group with a

Censorship cases often bring about debates over students’ first amendment rights. Students’ first amendment rights are important to preserve so that students can not be excluded from meaningful works or literature. It is understandable for the government to design educational plans as a way to get its voice into classrooms, but “the truth-promoting function of the First Amendment provides no reason, however, to question the right of students to explore a variety of ideas and perspectives, and to form and express ideas of their own” (Brown, 1994, p. 30). Schools already place a restriction on religious material or material addressing current political controversy (Brown, 1994).

Her first non-children’s book was Fever 1793, although she took a yearlong break from that book to write Speak (Lew 23-25), her first true young adult novel. As she began writing for teens instead of children, she also began writing about more controversial issues, such as the rape and depression in Speak. Anderson has become “knownfor writing realistic books about controversial subjects for teens” (Deutsch). Not only does she write about these difficult topics, she approaches them with “humor and sensitivity” and “her work has earned numerous national and state awards, as well as international recognition” (“Laurie”). Speak itself was a National Book Award finalist and is a Pritz honor book the year it first came out (Lew 34). Despite this recognition, Wesley Scroggins, a Missouri State University professor, called the book “soft pornography,” and demanded that it be taken out of school curriculum (qtd. in Lew 35). Judy Blume, Anderson’s favorite author, backed Anderson in this situation, calling the claim “outrageous” (Lew 35). Clearly, Blume and Anderson won the battle because “[Speak has] been used in schools in order to not only teach literary analysis but also to teach and give students tools against sexual harassment” (“Voice”). The response to Speak can be better understood by learning about the time it was written.

Many schools are taking books out of their curriculum because of the harsh and uncomfortable language and topics. The Biloxi School District had taken To Kill A Mockingbird out of their classrooms and Drake High School had even burned all copies of Slaughterhouse -Five. It is wrong that schools began taking books like that from their lesson plan because students should not be oblivious to these kinds of topics and it is sending the wrong message about the authors and their books.

In the novel “The Catcher in The Rye” Salinger, the author, uses Holden’s interactions to both criticize society as well as reveal Holden’s symptoms of his psychological problems. In the novel, Salinger presents how unsympathetic people can be towards each other especially if you are like Holden, an emotionally scarred male teenager dealing with past trauma. Salinger also shows us that due to those unsympathetic behaviors and the trauma that comes with dead family members.

This is about banned books in schools across America and what they have in common. TKM is a classic novel about the 1950s and parents love to read it, but don’t like when their young children read it. Parents don’t like how many racial slurs and the sexually charged themes in it. “Many of these objections come from parents, school administrators or advocacy groups who contend that its racially and sexually-charged themes are inappropriate for young readers”(Downs). This quote shows that not just parents want it to be banned from schools. The school administrator themselves want it out of their school also. Another commonly banned book from schools is The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. A parent complained to the school about the use of inappropriate language in the book because she doesn’t like her child reading words like that. “a formal complaint was made by the mother of a biracial teenager. At the centre of the complaint was the use of the N-word, which appears frequently” (Kean). Another commonly banned book in schools is Uncle Tom’s Cabin. What all these books have in common is that they all have racial slurs in them. Some of them have sexually charged themes  also which are the reasons why parents do not like their young kids to read them. A mother said, “My son struggled to read the racist language, telling the Accomack County public schools board: There’s so much racial slurs and defensive wording in there that you can’t get past that.” (Kean). This showing that it is also hard for the students to read also. If the kids have trouble reading the book also then they have an even stronger vote to get it

The practice of the censorship of books in schools has been prevalent due to the explicit content of them. Parents have been complaining to schools about books that count as required reading because they disapprove with the points made in the book. If a book consists of offensive or sexually explicit material, then parents would challenge the schools about them in order to prevent their children from reading them. Censorship in general has been an intensely debated issue because it is considered an infringement to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution while others argue it is used to conceal inappropriate things (Aliprandini and Sprague). The banning of books in school curriculum has also been debated since parents see

Lessons learned from reading fiction can be very useful to use while approaching your issues. Fiction fills our beliefs and desires and teaches us things we have didn’t know. Evidence I can pull to help support my claim is that real world problems are no joke. These issues shouldn't be taken lightly. Fiction can teach you life lessons that you may or may not known. The school board needs to think this through. If the school board makes this decision on taking away fiction from school, today's society, in my opinion, will get mad. Today's society can tear people down easily. They can adapt to many different things at once if they wanted to. They can make things worse for people or make things good for people. Not only is this book about fictional issues, it’s also about real world problems and how fiction can relate to us, the readers. “Researchers found that people who read Literary fiction, led to better results in every subject. That same year, they found that people who read fiction had a higher brain activity than others who didn't.” Fiction, in my opinion, should be taken down, because of this

It is this display of inner turmoil through material possessions and the environment in which one lives that acts as one of the greatest forms of expression of the Lisbon sisters within The Virgin Suicides. In the novel ‘Carrie’ by Steven King, another approach to American Gothicism is taken. This adaptation of the typical genre explores a coming of age represented as a birth of sexuality and loss of innocence, conflicting with the Puritan and severely overprotective views of her mother, which lead to a persistent battle for Carrie in the setting of high school. A similar theme as presented in the novel ‘The Virgin Suicides’ as the sisters fight to tackle the conservative views of the older generation