Why Harry Potter Should Be Banned

Many school districts do not have “manga”or “anime” banned (Debate.org). This style of literature is often considered non educational. Books should at least have censorship when profanity or have sexually explicit content are used. Reading this content as a student is 100% unnecessary. In a study done in 2000-09 by the American Library Association, about 1,250 books were challenged because of offensive language. Around 1,600 books were challenged in that same study for being sexually explicit (Butler.edu). During this, almost all books that were banned were either in school libraries or schools. A common example of a banned book is Harry Potter by J.Kk. Rowling. This book has a “presence of witchcraft”’(Butler.edu). In many people's’ minds, witchcraft is extremely bad, and completely unnecessary to discuss those topics. Since many people are against witchcraft, if that was to be discussed in schools, awful consequences for teacher as well as student could result.

Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling is a magical story about a boy who set on a heroic journey to save his home. Along the way he shows great heroism, courage, and natural intelligence as he navigates his way through Hogwarts and it’s mystery’s. Harry Potter’s story left a mark in every audience member's heart and a permanent fondness for the magical story in their minds.

Harry Potter is a fascinating tale of sorcerers, wands, broomsticks, dragons, and magic. The story begins with a young boy named Harry Potter who lives at number four Privit Drive, Surray, England. His journey begins after the death of his parents at the hands of the evil Lord Voldemort. Harry learns of his past and his future as a wizard from Hagrid, the keeper of keys and grounds at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He travels to Hogwarts where he learns spells and enchantments, makes new friends, finds enemies, and discovers fantastic secretes. J.K. Rowling weaves a web of impeccable storytelling with this critically acclaimed novel. In the tale of Harry Potter imagery, symbolism, and motif take central focus.

All this has added to the growing popularity of the Harry Potter brand that is everywhere today. Young readers can relate to Harry’s issues and the books create another world the readers can subconsciously ‘escape’ too.

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

The book starts with the students, Harry, Ron, and, Hermione going back to Hogwarts after summer vacation. Voldemort is free and is wreaking havoc throughout the wizarding world. Dumbledore has a plan, but first he must inform Harry of Voldemort’s past. Throughout the story the trio finds out who the half-blood prince is and discover ways to defeat Voldemort. His soul is connected to his Horcruxes. By destroying Voldemort’s Horcruxes they are destroying parts of his soul, which is the only way to defeat him. Harry believes that Snape is working for Voldemort, but no one believes him.

The freedom to read and express ourselves means that we shouldn’t allow the banning of books due to inappropriate material. I have gone to a private school all of my life and I have never experienced books being banned or taken away during school. I am thankful for that, but yet it is highly unfortunate knowing that some public school students did not have the opportunity to read some of the best books ever written. Amazing books such as Harry Potter, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Catcher in the Rye were banned from public schools and these are books that I love and would definitely recommend. I believe the banning of books is unconstitutional and deprives people of learning about the world around them; they also help us learn new ways of thinking and social skills that can be applied to real life.

Despite various attempts to remove the book form the public’s eye, Fahrenheit 451 is still being read today. Whether or not a ban would be justified or not is a controversial issue. Advocates for the ban of the book argues that people should not be exposed to Fahrenheit 451 questionable content. On the other side of the aisle, people argues that Fahrenheit 451 have enhanced our society’s point of view on numerous topics. While some people think that the content should not be shown to to public, I believe that an outright ban on the book is not justifiable because it will undermines Ray Bradbury’s work, promotes the use of censorship, and due to fact that the material in the book does not have any negative effect on the morality in society.

With this series, readers should be able to tell that the series is a fantasy. Parents should know that kids are capable of this ability. When it comes to behavior, it is shown several times in the book that he gets punished for his actions. Readers who disagree with this obviously haven’t actually read the books. Other readers say he “breaks a lower law to keep a higher one.” Another reason this book shouldn’t be banned is because with how the book is written, it could help kids cope with real life situations. For example, it could help kids with deal with close ones dying.

Throughout history many books have been banned, for many reasons. I believe that banning books is a dangerous power to give the government or people in authority. Banning book is not only morally unjust but also I believe that some of the reasons are also illegal. I will explain my opinion in the following.

The title of their newspaper on 16 Dec 2015 was “Religious parents want Harry Potter banned from the classroom because it 'glorifies witchcraft'.” On the Newspaper article, Javier Espinoza states, “Religious parents at state schools have complaint Harry Potter glorifies witchcraft and want it banned from classrooms, the Government’s tsar has revealed, as teachers should refuse to teach the subject if there are concerns.” My opinion on this statement is parents who dislike the book should be banning it from their kids not for everyone. I believe people should read what they want to read without being scared of the book being challenged or banned. The article also writes “For many parents, particularly of evangelical Christian backgrounds and sometimes of some Muslim backgrounds, the occult is not something which exists in fiction and fantasy, the occult is something which is a very living – [a] live part of their faith.” Religious parent probably want this book banned because it being a fiction book, they don’t their faith as a fiction, taking it very serious. I believe these religious parents don’t want their kids to mix up fantasy of the book expressing witchcrafting to their beliefs. These all being reasons why religious parents are challenging the book, Harry

Banning books has been happening for a very long time within the education system. Parents and other adults are demanding that specific books stay out of the grasp of their innocent children, even high school students. This paper will be covering three reasons why certain books shouldn’t be banned just because parents don’t agree with the material inside the pages. The main points I will cover are, first: knowledge shouldn't be kept from one age group just because some people don’t agree with the subject matter. Second:

"Harry Potter has been in the 1990-1999 and 2000-2009 “Frequently Challenged Books” lists and currently is on the “Frequently Challenged Children’s Books” list." (bannedbooksweek.org). “When it came out, some people said the book was about Satan and promoted witchcraft.” (LaRue, 2016). This reasoning cause parents to file complaint to schools asking them to remove the books from their libraries. Some school even had to require a permission slip from the children’s parents. Now not all parents were like this. Some parents did not see the comparison with magic as Satanic but as another fantasy book like The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. Other parents thought the censorship was absurd and a few of them took actions to voice that opinion. For example: Counts v. Cedarville School District. In this case, Cedarville school board voted that the Harry Potter books would require a permission slip if a child wish to check it out. This vote infuriated some parents so much that they took it court. The parents argued that this vote was against the First Amendment and won the case requiring all libraries in that district to get rid of the permission slips. Even though the book series has ended, there is still controversy over it

The question of censoring the Harry Potter books is a great debate among parents, children, teachers, and librarians. Parents always have the final decision of whether or not their own children will read the books, but when parents try to censor the books from all children, as in taking action to get it banned from a library or school, they step over the line and infringe upon the rights of other children and their parents. A mother and father know their own child best; they should be able to predict how their child will react to the contents of the story. They need to make sure that their children are at an age where they can handle all that is contained in the tale. This is how it should be with all literature. If parents do not want to have their own children read the book, then censoring the book is what they should attempt to do. However, they do not have the right to censor it for anyone else’s children. In addition to the parents’ decision, children should also be able to have some say in what they read. If they wish to read the books against the will of their parents, then that is an issue they need to work out with their parents. Parents can only guide a child so far, and eventually at some point they will have to learn to trust their children’s decisions.

In my mind it is no different than so many other fantasy stories I have read. I can honestly say I had not read Harry Potter until this assignment, if for no other reason than it just didn’t interest me. Did I feel like the talk of wizards and spells affected my Christianity belief system? Absolutely not. I think those that worry their children will want to learn more about witchcraft after reading the book should be more concerned with prepping their child. My daughter is not old enough yet to read the book, however, when she is we will have an open honest conversation. I would hope that the ideals and beliefs that my husband and I have instilled in my child are far stronger than the power of a book. Yes, books are powerful, but more powerful than parents? When I took something away from my daughter when she was little it made it that object even more desirable. If we ban these books, are we not doing the same? We are infringing on their intellectual freedom to have them decide for themselves what they would like to learn more about. As parents it is our job to help guide them to what is right and wrong and then pray that we have done our job effectively. We give them out experiences and help them to identify between reality and fantasy. Maybe that is why some parents so strongly oppose Harry Potter. They are concerned they have not given their children the faith system that can sustain an outside perspective. I