Banned books for future generations

By Kiran Rayani on February 27, 2013

Although I’m not an avid reader, I enjoy reading numerous books: poetic, historical fiction (my favorite), science fiction, and many other genres.

To my surprise, my roommate came across a “Banned Books” pin on Pinterest and shared it with me. The books I grew up reading are now a part of the banned books collections, simply because they are considered “dangerous.” They are banned because of “unacceptable sexual content, excessive violence, animals don’t talk, and the book is a real downer.” The following are five of my favorites (and my roommate’s) that got banned:

The Great Gatsby: This book is hands down one of the best books I’ve ever read. It talks about the divide in society, and honestly, it is simply a great read that broadens people’s minds. It helps people understand how life was on the other side. Gatsby, the main character, was rich, but he was never happy because money couldn’t buy him happiness. Isn’t this something we want the future generations to understand? The Great Gatsby was challenged at the Baptist College in Charleston, SC because of “language and sexual references in the book” (ala.org).

Animal Farm: If you attended my high school and took the PAP English course in the 9th grade, you knew Animal Farm the like back of your hand. Mr. Willard would not have let you pass the class otherwise. This book talks about the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia after World War I and teaches the readers that keeping people uninformed can make people believe anything, which was also a similar theme in the Holocaust. This book personally helped me in my AP world history course, while we were learning about Marxism. A Wisconsin survey revealed in 1963 that the John Birch Society challenged its use. It objected to the words “the masses will revolt” (ala.org).

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: This book is about that assisting and observing those around you isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Everyone comes with his or her own baggage, but you shouldn’t judge them for that. It talks about how finding true friendship can help you battle depression and breaks down the barriers between the different “cliques” in high school. I don’t understand why this book is banned. It’s about growing as a person. If that’s damaging to someone, then they don’t need to read the book.

1984: This book is about Big Brother, who took control of masses. Winston, the main character, was one of the people suppressed by Big Brother, but knew that he didn’t want this power to control his life anymore. In the end, he revolted and got punished for his actions. Now consider this scenario in real life. There’s so much that we do that the government monitors. You can’t look up conspiracy theories. If I tweet anything to do about the government, you can best bet that they’re getting all the information. So why is this book banned? Is it because it’s basically telling us that no matter how much we revolt, we will always be suppressed under the government? Is this something that the government doesn’t want other generations to find out even though it’s so obvious? Ala.org shares that this book was challenged in Florida because it’s a “pro-communist” novel that “contained explicit sexual matter.” I think not.

The Giving Tree: This is exactly as the title portrays it. It’s a tree that helps a little kid out. This book teaches children to share and to not be greedy. Once you take everything away, you can’t go back to how things used to be. It teaches children to love and shows a similar relationship of that between a parent and his/her child. Honestly, if you didn’t grow up reading this charm, I don’t know what books your wasted your childhood reading.

Here is a list of the 40 banned books:

1) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

2) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

3) Slaughterhouse-Five by KurtVonnegut

4) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling,

5) Lord of the Flies by William Golding

6) Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

7) 1984 by George Orwell

8) A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle

9) The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

10) My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara

11) Charlotte’s Webby E.B. White

12) The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

13) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

14) The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

15) The Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

16) Animal Farm by George Orwell

17) The Color Purpleby Alice Walker

18) Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

19) Are You There God? It’s Me Margaretby Judy Blume

20) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

21) The Rabbits’ Wedding by Garth Williams

22) The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

23) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

24)Northern Lights by Phillip Pullman

25) Inventing Witchcraft: A Case Study in the Creation of a New Religionby Aidan A. Kelly

26) Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

27) The Trial by Franz Kafka

28) The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

29) Where’s Waldo? by Martin Handford

30) The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

31) The Devil in the Drain by Daniel Pinkwater

32) The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

33) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

34) The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

35) Hey Dollface by Deborah Hautzig

36) Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden

37) The Giver by Lois Lowry

38) Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

39) James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl

40) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

 

If you want to find out about why other books were banned, please visit: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedclassics/reasonsbanned

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