The Importance Of Censorship In To Kill A Mockingbird

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The world is a very different place than it was almost a century ago. Technology has developed farther than any would have believed, the human race has evolved into a stronger being, and beliefs and rights that once were thought of as sinful and different are now accepted. Racial discrimination is one of these beliefs. Equal rights have become an immense part of everyday society. Literature has been impacted greatly by equal rights. Today, many historical and iconic literary masterpieces are become censored books. A novel that exemplifies the discussion of censorship is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a novel that is most notable for its racial comments, adult themes, mature, scenes, and stereotypical representations of lifestyles in …show more content…

Novels are a certain maturity level, but sometimes the reader has reached the level yet, creating a gap of thoughts between the reader and the novel. To Kill a Mockingbird has numerous examples of mature themes, but the most notable scene is the entire rape trial of Tom Robinson. This entire section of the novel may be very confusing to an immature reader. Many children don’t fully understand the concept of rape until they are in eighth grade or high school, leaving something to be said about how many fifth, sixth, and seventh graders who read To Kill a Mockingbird without any recollect of rape. Also, most young readers do not fully understand the judicial system, especially during this time period, as it is drastically different from the judicial system today. “Schools sometimes argue that providing alternative materials can mean that some children are being exposed to information very selectively and therefore are not being adequately educated. ” (The Issue of Censorship, 199-200) This quote is a pure example of how the school boards and parents of the young readers choose to not allow their children to learn about something so mature for their age that they don 't understand yet. Mature themes create raise numerous flags as a reason for censorship primarily because of the confusion it gives to an immature

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