Censorship in Alison Bechdel's Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

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Recommended: Censorship and its effects

Ray Bradbury, one of America’s most renowned 20th century writers once said, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture, just get people to stop reading them” (Bradbury). In today’s society books are not burned, but some are being censored thus preventing people from enjoying the books they want to read. So what is censorship? Censorship is when an individual or an organization wants to restrict or limit access of a book to readers to avoid offending a group of people. Censorship has affected classrooms and public libraries across the nation due to people like parents, teachers and sometimes students themselves protesting against certain types of books. There is hardly a week that goes by that a book is challenged to be censored. The most common reason why a book is censored is for “violence, sex, race, Encouragement of "Damaging" Lifestyles, witchcraft, and political bias” (Butler University).

A graphic memoir such as Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic written by Alison Bechdel has been the center of a censorship debate by many parents and students to remove the book from classrooms and libraries due to its message and images; which some consider sexually graphic or obscene. There are many qualities that make this book a great read. Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir Fun Home should not be censored or challenge because it is a great book to read and be shared.

Time Magazine Best Book of 2006, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a graphic memoir of the childhood of Alison Bechdel, an American cartoonist best known for her “Dykes to Watch Out For” comic strips and for being nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award (Bechdel). Fun Home is a story “about a daughter trying to understand her father through the common and uns...

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...hdel." Dykestowatchoutfor.com. Alison Bechdel, Jan. 2001. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

Bechdel, Alison. "The Canary-Colored Caravan of Death." Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006. 125. Print.

Bradbury, Ray. "Ray Bradbury Quotes." Goodreads. Goodreads, Inc., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

Butler University Libraries. "Banned Books ." Common Reasons for Banning Books. Butler University LIbraries Knowledge Connections, n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2013.

Bowers, Paul. "CofC Freshman Book Ruffles Conservative Group's Feathers ." Charleston City Paper. Charleston City Paper, 25 July 2013. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

Internet Public Library: IPL2. "Graphic Novels." IPL2: Graphic Novels. College of Information at Florida State University, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.

Wilsey, Sean. "The Things They Buried." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 June 2006. Web. 11 Dec. 2013.

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