The Hunger Games Book Should Be Banned

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.

Let’s begin with censorship. Many books are challenged and banned in the United States. Fortunately, censorship has not gotten to the point of banning all books, as in Fahrenheit 451. In Fahrenheit 451, the burning of books started because they offended too many people-- “‘Colored people don’t like Little Black Sambo. Burn it. White people don’t

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

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).

The media instills messages into society. They sometimes go out of the way in advertising or glorifying certain issues. Usually, a bad or detrimental message is packaged in a glorious way. Often times there is encouragement to act in ways that promote thrill and adventure. This way, media glorifies the bad aspects of people and encourages them to act in forbidden ways. The Hunger Games includes many of these aspects. For example, observe Katniss Everdeen in her journey as a tribute, a victor, and a leader. Her varying degrees of awareness, understanding, and manipulation of televised content accurately reflect how our own society responds to it as well. A focus on how much the media influences especially how to control citizens, whether it involves, body image, emotions, or in many cases violence.

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins published in 2008 stars Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Haymitch, Effie Trinket, and lastly the cold President Snow is a book that takes place in the future in Panem(North America). The basic plot is that 12 districts are kept in famine and total distress by the Capitol’s leader President Snow. Every year they are forced to send 2 tributes from each district one boy and one girl in a winner takes all death match to keep the districts feel inferior to the capital.

In November of 1973 the school board of Drake North Dakota decided to not only ban the book but burn it and use the books as fuel. Students protested, one even saying, "We think it's respectable and interesting, and better than what we've been reading.” Then when some students wouldn't give up the books, parents were ordered to search all their children’s possessions without their permission and search their lockers. Now that has me baffled, if the school boards and the parents say they are expressing their first amendments right by banning the book, then why in order to express that right are they taking away their children’s first amendment right and their fourth amendment right by searching their stuff without permission or legal cause. The case of banned book always seem to boil down to the same point, instead of actually trying to dissect the books and understand what lessons the author is trying to convey to us. The book is “judged by its cover” and banned for being violent and crude. Most books I have read at least have one underlying point put in place to teach a lesson or a point of view about life, but if we don't enjoy that then what is the point in

Do you think that our society is bad or good? Should Donald Trump be president, or should Bernie Sanders be president? Fahrenheit 451’s society is terrible. Their government/laws is worse, the fireman are bad and the banning of books in their society. “Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light” (Vera Nazarian). If books are being banned then a door won’t open and let in more light. In Fahrenheit 451 they have a living room like in America and the similarities is that there are electronics and no one communicates in the living room.

“Are you crazy? Fahrenheit 451 should not be banned! This is an astonishing novel, written by the ingenious author, Ray Bradbury. He is the one who wrote the novel with so many beneficial, underlying messages, which happen to be true about our lives and even more so about our society. It offers so much more than what you think”, I disagreed as I interjected the outraged crowd of opinionated individuals, who protested outside of the Wheatfield Public Library. As most in this community can tell, the banning of Fahrenheit 451 has caused a tremendous outbreak within the people, and it has caused for everyone to either choose to encourage the banning of Fahrenheit 451 or to oppose it. As a definite result, I am against the banning of Fahrenheit 451, and it is not just for pity reasons. I am opposing the banning for so much more than that. My first reason to oppose the banning is that so many people think the theme of this book is about rebelling, which this is not the case. Instead, the theme is about having the courage to make a drastic change within yourself and society because you solely believe it is right no matter what the consequences are. Even from the quotes you find within the book, you can tell the progress that Montag makes towards change, and from those quotes are not signs of destruction. It is signs of self-assessment and coming to reality to admit he needs to make the transformation in his life for the better of him and those of his society. From this underlying

Since 1982, there have been 11,300 books challenged in the United States. As the number of challenged books continues to rise, society’s exposure to diversity in literature decreases. According to the American Library Association, 51% of the top ten challenged books between 2005 and 2014 featured “diverse content.” Diverse content is defined as works featuring either non-white, LGBT+, or disabled primary characters, or discussions of issues in relation to race, religion, LGBT+ matters, mental illness and/or disabilities, among many other defining characteristics. Censoring such books has the potential to fundamentally stunt the personal growth of society, though many may feel certain information and topics must be censored for the safety of

What is a banned book? Well a banned book is a book that people have tried to get teens not to read, not only teens but also for younger children. This means that people don’t like what content may be in a book, they think it’s inappropriate or not meeting the standards for the age group. That’s when banning a book takes place. Before a book can be considered banned a person has to challenge the book. No,not like a like a fight with a book, but just “an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or a group.” says The American Library Association. Then after the book is challenge the library board will decide if the book shall be banned or not. A lot of books are banned and 13 reasons why is one of them. Teens should be allowed to read 13 reasons why because it teaches people that words truly do hurt, Choices that people make in life can affect others too, and it also teaches people to ask for help when it is needed.

The Chinese government had enforced these rules and regulations through blocking, filtering and shutting down Internet cafes. According to Amnesty International, the Chinese government routinely blocks news sites, especially those with dissident views or banned groups. Anniversary’s such as the 1989 pro-democracy protests are heavily guarded days that see increase Internet blocking. Internet blocking of major search gateways is also

The Freedom of Speech is granted to every American citizen and has been since it was founded in 1776; however, not every nation grants that right. China, as a communist nation, retains most individual freedom rights from its citizens. Although in the Peoples Republic of China’s (PRC) 1982 constitution, people are guaranteed Freedom of Expression and Press; it is often violated by the current corrupt government. The government demands the news to be 80% positive and 20% negative, altering the facts n occasion. In contrast to that, America has recently become more involved with the pressing issue as well because of the involvement of Google. Thus it has shined the light on government censorship and corruption. China’s government corruption

Some people do not realize that they affect the education of their children by banning certain books. The banning of books is banning the author's right to free speech which can hinder the education of Americans. In schools teachers have to worry about what readings they present to their students because they could have any parent coming after them for exposing their children to “heinous” or “bad” things when all it truly is, is literature used to broaden