Why do books get banned? Is it because it’s against what some people think? Or is it because the government doesn’t want others to know what they’re doing? Or is it a bit of both plus some more? Books are meant to inform and teach people about things that people are not greatly educated on. Taking books away is taking away our education for the simple fact that people don’t like what’s in the book. We are supposed to be able to have freedom of speech and be able to express what we believe in, but if people disagree and can just get rid of something, how are we going to be allowed to do that? The answer: We can’t.
Books are a way to express ourselves, and without them, you cannot expect people to just let books go. Lots of books have been banned because there are ideas that others don’t like, silencing people because you don’t like what they think is not ok. People should stop banning books because books are meant to be read, not gotten rid of.
Some examples of banned books are Winnie the Pooh, The Bluest Eye, I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing, and Twelfth Night. Winnie the Pooh by A.A Milne has been challenged in the US because some people believe that “talking animals are an insult to God and his creations.” Winnie the Pooh is a children’s book made to help blossom children’s imaginations, plus, there are an infinite number of religions. Just because your religion believes one thing doesn’t mean everyone else does. The book had nothing against God or his followers, it didn’t have any graphic themes or langage, it was simply banned because animals spoke.
Speaking of graphic descriptions, this is the reason the book The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison was banned. The book, set in 1941, is about a young African-American girl and how, because she was a person of color, she was called “ugly.” The girl is upset and begins to wish she had blue eyes so she could be “normal.” I find it interesting that they can let Romeo and Juliet be an okay play that they can do even though it has pretty gory and descriptive themes but a book about racial injustice is a book that has been either banned or fought to be banned, I think it says a lot without saying any words at all.
Another book about racial injustice is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. This book is consistently challenged because it has profanity in it. Some people have even said that the book is about “gross evil.” It is a book about a young girl of color from the ages of three to sixteen and how she was treated while living in the southern United States. The book goes on to tell about how she was poorly treated and even sexually assaulted.
The last text I’m going to talk about is Twelfth Night by Shakespeare. This play was banned because it has the idea of a possible same-sex relationship, which, by the way, wasn’t even an actual relationship. The book starts with a girl, Viola, who could not find her twin brother deciding to dress up as a boy and work for a Duke who is in love with Olivia, the Duke sends Viola, who is pretending to be a boy, to court Olivia for him. Olivia instead falls for Viola (Who she thinks is a boy). Viola’s twin brother Sebastian shows up and Viola is exposed, but it all ends well with Sebastian marrying Olivia in the end. This book was challenged because it simply had the IDEA of a same-sex relationship, I honestly think that is crazy.
Banning books needs to be stopped. Just because you don’t agree with someone’s opinions doesn’t mean you can silence them; if you don’t like a book someone has made, then don’t read it. It’s as simple as that. Banning books is wrong. People need to grow up and learn that their opinions are not the only ones that matter.
