Should The Giver Be Banned

Censorship amounts prohibition of expression of someone’s ideas, thoughts which may be detrimental and prejudicial to a particular class of people. The book Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, revolves around the idea of censorship as a bane to the society and culture. The book touches on various consequences of censorship like social isolation and infringement of thoughts. Bradbury has given an accurate representation of the society leading to an end as censorship proceeds to prohibit literature. Literature is power and censorship is suppressing it. Suppressing

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,

“A word to the unwise. Torch every book. Char every page. Burn every word to ash. Ideas are incombustible. And therein lies your real fear.” Ellen Hopkins. The government in this society is burning all of the knowledge. The books may be burnt but ideas and your imagination are unretrievable, that can be passed down through generations. The government has the real fear. Censorship is bad and takes away from your imagination and creativity.

Jonas is feeling things that no one in his community has ever felt before. He is beginning to understand that others are missing out on important emotions. He knows that The Giver has already given away most of the memories, and in order to stop the process, he must make a sacrifice in order for his community to be aware of what they are missing. This proves that he is conscious of the fact that his community is not perfect, and the act of staging an accident is a noble, selfless thing to do; something that his perfect peers would not understand. When talking about the harms of banning books and by quoting Lois Lowry, Jennifer Kendall states, “The world portrayed in The Giver is a world where choice has been taken away. It is a frightening world” (Kendall). Kendall makes the point that the Utopian society is not something that people strive for. As a middle-schooled child, it is easy to see that life is not perfect. I feel as if Lowry does a great job in showing the reader that Jonas does understand that his community is not perfect, and he goes to great links to stop the perfection. While there may seem to

First, the author argues, “When engaging in critical literacy, readers question reality and entertain multiple perspectives about particular topics, attitudes, and behaviors” (Graff). Challenged and banned books are beneficial to readers. These banned books help students evaluate more difficult pieces of literature, which could be used in the future. Jennifer Graff states, “...Book censorship helps us think critically about the power of the written word as well as the relationships between individuals, texts, and contexts, to paraphrase Lawrence Sipe (1999)” (Graff). Banned and challenged books allow readers to see the truth--from the past, future, or present--written by the author. Readers can apply these ideas to real-life situations successfully. In the article, On Reading and Sharing Banned Books, the topic of “...heightened sensitivity about what and how we say things,” and needing, “ongoing conversations about how literature can be part of our lives without undue stress and controversy” is exposed (Graff). Books are written for many reasons, to inform persuade, entertain, and relax; however, with books censorship, finding relaxing or entertaining books is extremely difficult. Without censorship, readers could easily discuss these now controversial topics without worry. The purpose of the book, good moral, and potentially

An author’s job is to express ideas and stir conversations through words. If their content is considered to be unfit to hear, then their content is censored, and that just limits them from doing their rightful job. Books of any sort should not be censored, “So now do you see why books are hated and feared? They show the pores in the face of life” (Faber 79). This is what makes books great. They show the pores in the face of life. Faber had to quit being an author because society did not believe in the meaning of books, which was wrong. Books provide opinion and meaning,“... books are sacred to free men for very good reasons, and that wars have been fought against nations which hate books and burn them.” (Vonnegut). Kurt Vonnegut faced having his book banned from school libraries because of his “mature” content. In Vonnegut’s case, he was able to speak out and defend himself. He regained his right to speak freely. Every human must have the right to express themselves without having to be censored because it is inhumane and unconstitutional.

Judy Blume once stated, “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.” In other words, numerous pieces of literature are in jeopardy of never reaching their prospective audience due to censorship. Moreover, censorship is critically analyzing and restraining information from the public. Judy Blume discusses how many authors feel restricted because they worry their work will be outlawed. Thus, I believe that Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451 should not be banned because the removal from school libraries is a violation of the First Amendment and the novel exposes the

Bradbury uses figurative language to show censorship leads to people stop from questioning and thinking about problems. When Faber is talking to Montag about the society, he mentioned, “Only if the third necessary thing could be given us. Number one, as I said: quality of information. Number two: leisure to digest it. And number three: the right to carry out actions based on what we learned from the interaction of the first two”(84-85). Books is where people get their information from, banning books basically means censorship of information. People build ideas

banned and censored books are not bad and author’s work matters because it can contain information that might help people in a situation where they can’t talk to anybody. Opponents claim is that Books contain graphic content.

Banned Books: Acceptable or Censorship? The definition of censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security (Merriam-Webster). For example, The Giver might have lessons like the importance of life or memory that people might see as essential.

The book The Giver, by Lois Lowry, is a novel about a kid named Jonas that tries to save his community of a simple, unfeeling life. At his community, nothing had suspense. Everything was dull, simple, dim, and colorless. Nobody knew real pain, physical or emotional, and had no memories. The people in the community didn’t even know what a animal was.

The censorship of books is a division of censorship that, apart from Internet censorship, receives the most publicity. Banning books is the most popular form of such censorship. Many banned books are literary classics,

“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.

Lois Lowry’s novel, The Giver, offers a thought provoking, well written story, because it changes the perspective of anyone who dares to read it to. Lowry places her novel, at some point in the future when mankind has gone away with changes and choices in life. She forces readers appreciate, or at least re-think the world they live in today. Her novel presents a fully human created environment where people have successfully blocked out conflict, grief, and individuality. Each person follows the same routine every day. Failure comply with standards, to be different, means death. Jonas, the main character, finds himself trapped in this world.

According to Ray Bradbury, “There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.” Censorship is a controversial topic that continues to gain attention. As various books are released, opponents that feel offended in some form begin to try and remove a book from the shelf. If the argument is lucrative enough, that book just might be removed from the shelf. As that book is removed, all the sudden other books become offensive and they too may leave the shelf. What happens when all the offensive books are gone? Will there be books left on the shelf for our children to read? Censorship is a difficult topic to discuss, however it is something that must be addressed so that school libraries