Why Is Harry Potter Controversial

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.

Did you know that the Harry Potter series has been translated into 68 different languages and has sold over 400 million copies worldwide? Harry Potter has inspired a new generation of readers. Harry Potter is banned in so many schools, but it still has changed our culture.

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.

     It is well known that books read by adolescents are somewhat inappropriate in certain ways such as language and the types of actions done by the characters. Some books consist of drugs, sex, and violence which obviously isn’t very appropriate nor does it consist of

Why do certain people rule over what each child can and cannot read? Is that not the parents’ job to determine whether or not is it appropriate for their child? When a book is considered banned, parents, teachers, and librarians are discouraged from providing the book to their children. Many of these adults then disapprove of the book without even reading it. Junie B. Jones is thrown from the realm of possibility for many children just because the loveable character has some flaws.

It is agreed that if an author is stating his assertion to a topic, then he should incorporate what the opposing view has to say; therefore, without the other view he writes nothing but fallacies. However, in Gurdon’s case she offers support from the other side allowing them to state their claim. She recognizes the use of first person in these particular YA books, permitting the reader to take on the “persona of the narrator” (Gurdon 2). Then, she detects the claim of the book industry writing that “kids have a right to read whatever they want” and that “the world is a tough place; and that there’s no point shielding children from reality” (Gurdon 3). Refuting this assertion she calls out the incorrect logic of the claim stating that in other words the authority adults have over the content children absorb should “somehow vaporize when it comes in contact with the printed word” (Gurdon 3). The things children read teach them what to presume about the world around them, and that “books don’t just cater to tastes. They form tastes” (Gurdon 4). Subsequently, she offers her proposal that people associated with the publication of books would “exercise better taste” (Gurdon 2) than that of every teen experience. The comprehension of Gurdon’s claim becomes clearer after integrating the opposing view and using it to support her

When people grow up a certain way, thinking in a certain way it’ll inevitably come to affect them later on in life. This is especially true in the cases of personal philosophy, religion or any moral code of ethics. But sometimes, one’s religion starts negatively impacting the education of one’s child and the education of the nation's youth as a whole. In Nancy Flanagan Knapp's article,“In Defense of Harry Potter”, she makes the argument that although the Harry Potter series has come under flak, and even been banned in places, it’s still a very useful tool in furthering the education of young people. Knapp analyzes this point using a plethora of well thought out, well researched, and exceedingly well worded rhetorical strategies, and in the end she uses ethos, logos, and pathos to effectively convey her arguments.

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.

In addition, they believe that the content of the book could corrupt their kids’ moral sense. However, there are people that argue against the idea of censoring books in schools.

Anyone who has worked with children will agree that they are very impressionable. Even young adults are influenced by the media, literature, peers, money, and paradigms which is why parents and guardians would also agree that any impressionable source their children come in contact with should include desirable, good-natured content, such as life lessons and morals. In the past two decades, Harry Potter, a famous work of J.K. Rowling, has become increasingly popular and well known, but sensations also come with reproaches from strong willed adults that claim simple fictional details are consuming and corrupting their children. Parents and guardians believe that Harry Potter should be banned from use in schools and libraries, but they don’t

"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

J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, which have reached worldwide popularity have an effect on children has not been matched by any other book. The novels have encouraged children to read for entertainment instead of turning to television or video games. When a piece of literature inspires children as the Harry Potter novels do, limiting a child’s access to the novels seems ridiculous. Unfortunately, this is what is happening with Harry Potter. The books are challenged and banned in schools and libraries all over the world because parents contend that the content is unsuitable. The content, which revolves around a world full of wizardry and witchcraft, has some parents actively

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series has become one of the most popular children’s series in the world over the past decade. Through these books children and young adults alike have delved into a fantastical world in which they explored the problems that their protagonist, Harry Potter, has faced. In Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, the sixth book of the Harry Potter series, Harry dealt with the challenge of proving to his peers and professors that Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape were no longer trustworthy. Even so, Harry failed to realize that the author of the notes in his Advanced Potion-Making book was corrupt. In this book, J.K. Rowling uses point of view, style, and irony to demonstrate the need for people to be more analytical

Fairy tales are under attack in the United States from both right- and left-oriented pressure groups. (Ravitch, 62-96) From the left, the charges include sexism, stereotyping, distortion, and anti-humanism. (Ravitch, 84) From the right, the charges include immorality and objections to the portrayal of violence, death, and the supernatural. In addition, some critics claim that the tales terrify their children. (Ravitch, 76). In The Language Police, Diane Ravitch claims that both groups understand the importance of putting pressure on state textbook adoption committees, and that, as a result of such pressure, most major publishers are simply dropping the tales from the textbooks they sell to

The generation of people being raised right now is obsessed with pop culture. Music, television, celebrities, fashion, movies, and books all have a significant impact on this generation. This generation’s morals and personalities are being shaped by the pop culture that surrounds us. Years from now, people will still be a product of two very popular book and movie series that have greatly effected our pop culture: Harry Potter and Twilight. Both have brought new fashion and trends to the world and it is not uncommon for you to hear references to the books on a day-to-day basis, but more importantly, both series have brought extremely different examples of love to this generation. Even though the Harry