Essay On Banning Books

As United States citizens, we have the right of freedom of expression; the First Amendment of the United States constitution states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press…" (First Amendment Oct. 20, 2013). As this concerns books, people should have the freedom to choose what they want to read and what they don't want to read. By banning books, our basic rights as US citizens are abused. Book banning affects many different people, from the people who read books to the people who write them. Why do

All around the world, certain books are being banned or challenged in school districts often because the material is considered sexually explicit, unsuited for the age group, or includes offensive language or actions.

The American Library Association, ALA, is an organization that, among other things, compiles a list every year of the most frequently challenged books. “The American Library Association actively defends the right of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment.” (ALA) Many times, the books on this list are challenged by parents with the want to protect their children from things they don’t believe to be appropriate. “Only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict the access of their children” (ALA) Even with these good intentions, by challenging a book, they are trying to challenge the authors’ thoughts and words, their First Amendment rights. These books usually contain

Schools are meant to be a safe environment full of books and learning opportunities. If this is impaired by books that should be banned, students may feel displaced or uncomfortable. Even a high schooler is prone to this, if action is not taken. There are hundreds of books full of violence, explicit language, and drug references. Annenberg Classroom says it is “unsuitable for students” (AnnenbergClassroom.org). Students of all ages are strongly suggested to not partake of those things, and reading all about them can cause them to think it is acceptable. It is up to administrators and parents to decide what should be allowed in school libraries. Everybody has different beliefs, but most people would not want their

“Book Banning” may seem like an issue of the past, but, in fact, it is still a very pertinent issue in the U.S. today. These classic books have been banned at one time or another: Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Color Purple, Huckleberry Finn, The Grapes of Wrath, The Harry Potter series. You’re probably wondering how these, extremely famous, books can be so censored in America today. There are many reasons that are given in regards to book censorship. For instance, language or profanity, violence, sexual explicitness, or “uncomfortable” topics, such as rape and race relations. Christian groups have requested that a countless number of books, with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer (LGBTQ+) themes, be taken out of schools and libraries The banning and censorship of books can happen in many places and ways; taking them off school reading lists, or even out of libraries and bookstores.

The idea to ban certain books from schools and libraries is preposterous due to the manner in which the people trying to enforce these bans try to do so in. Banning books doesn’t help with the already present problem that our youth’s intelligence levels are already declining, and neither does allowing the freedom to all books. Banning certain books due to their constant use of inappropriate language, sexually explicit nature, and all around mature content has a respectfully reasonable reason to be inaccessible to younger audiences such as minors and teens; not young adults. The banning of books in libraries is outright inexcusable, unless the material is directly racist, subjective religious content, and all around hatred for a certain race or ethnicity; not if it’s used for fictional writing, in a softer manner mid you, to express the conflict in a story and/or to show real world problems, same go for non-fictional writing that expresses ideals in a manner of which isn’t disrespectful to other ideals and that do so in a manner of which isn’t so subjectively and deliberately showing hate for a certain race or ethnicity, especially

Books are a part of our society that entertain us through literature by showing us new experiences and characters that we may relate to or easily might despise due to how they are written, these are usually found in teen novels, comic books, manga, and many more. Books have also usually taught us through traditional means by teaching us about history and other things about society and overall morals we learn at a young age. However, some people have actually taken offense to certain books due to the content inside the book being “too offensive to them and have asked that these books be banned while other people want these books to stay. It’s a consistent debate of whether certain books should be banned or not and there are different viewpoints

Although it is ridiculous to ban books, it is somewhat understandable. Some books are extremely heavy on the controversial side, and include a boat load of inappropriate content. “My corduroys. My boxers. Two layers. I could feel the warmth of her cheek on my thigh. There are times when it is appropriate, even preferable, to get an erection when someone’s face is in close proximity to your penis” (Green). It is easy to see why someone with a closed mind would take offense to this kind of content being in a book for young

Isn't banning books disobeying the freedom of speech, and infringing on the freedom of the press? First Amendment, states that "citizens must be free to seek out any media, regardless of content, that they deem appropriate for entertainment, information, or education. With said, banning books stunts the extension of education. In addition, Books containing “Racial Issues, Blasphemous Dialogue, and Sexual Situations” parents' supervision is indicated. So, if read by children; banning books will not be an antidote for bad parenting. But, Most opponents of book banning understand parental preferences regarding their own child’s reading material, but they refuse to grant them the right to make a decision on behalf of all parents about what is or isn’t appropriate. The disadvantages, books can teach you a negative habits and that’s why some books should be banned. Literature will fully-develop children for the real-world.

The problems with banned books has been a controversial issue between parents as well as adults. The concerns that parents have are with the fact that these certain books are to be banned to keep their kids from being exposed to some of the ways of the world. Some of the concerns that these parents have are with usage of some derrogatory words or lanuguage not preferrred by some parents. The things that parents fail to realize is that by law, a librarian has the responsibility that they must uphold; including their responsibilty to the stocking of books on their shelves. I would take the side of the librarian because their position would be worthless because their rights would be useless, and their job would

All it takes to challenge a book is for a parent or other citizens to file a complain against a teacher, library, school, or bookseller, for that reason many teachers and librarians choose to remove the books from the curriculum or shelves before an issue is brought up (Pitner). The fear of a lawsuit keeps many people from expressing their belief that banning books is unnecessary (Kennedy, Banned Children’s Books).

Many significant novels have unfortunately been challenged/ banned at a certain point in time. Most of these literary classics face this because some contain sexual references, religious intolerance, and inappropriate language. In some cases, books are being pulled off shelves because people believe that they were “tangibles of instruction” or the reason being was as a precaution towards a possible public attack which took effect in Tucson for the Mexican American Studies (source:8). Another case is the Mozert v. Hawkins County Board of Education; Christian sewed the board because they believed that the required textbooks hurt their beliefs (Source:8).

Many books have been questioned and challenged. Even as far as to banning them. But what exactly is a banned book and why are they banned? A banned book is a book that has been censored by an authority, a government body, a library, or a even school system. A book that has been banned is actually removed from a library or school system. The actual contextual reasons as to banning them is use of explicit violence, gore, sexuality, explicit language, religion, or dark times in history. On the non-contextual side of the reason why they are banned books are usually because with the best intentions to protect people, frequently children, from difficult philosophies and information. Teachers, or even more common adults, often censor books from

It is my belief that since by the time the child is required to read such literature in school, they are at an age where they can distinguish between things that should and should not be said and it is the job of the parents to educate the child that just because they say it in a book does not mean he or she should.Another subject common to banned and censored books is sexuality.

“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.