Unnecessary Censorship of Literature

Unnecessary Censorship of Literature

Article One of the Bill of Rights tells us “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” A censor is defined as an official or government entity that removes or restricts books, plays, the news media, etc. in order to suppress information or ideas that are considered objectionable on moral, political, religious, military, or other grounds (1).

Censored. Banned. Challenged. These three words have loomed large in the past decade. In 1999, the number of reported challenges against books declined to 472, down from 762 in 1995 (2). According to the American Library Association’s site on the most frequently challenged books of the decade, “topping the list is Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz, accused of “being too scary” and “unsuited to age group,” followed by Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite, accused of “promoting homosexuality as a normal lifestyle.” The rest of the 10 most frequently challenged books of the decade were I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (3), The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (4), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (5), Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (6), Forever by Judy Blume (7), Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (8), Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman (9) and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (10).”

Books have been challenged and banned for a number of reasons including: objectionable, lurid, profane, vulgar, and obscene as in a case from Fairbanks, Alaska where the Bible was challenged but retained. The same happened in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with reasons cited that it “contains language and stories that are inappropriate for children of any age,” including tales of incest and murder. “There are more than three hundred examples of ‘obscenities’ in the book.” (3)

Other well-known books that are frequently challenged include Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, which uses the word ‘nigger’ thirty-nine times in the first thirty-five pages of the book. Groups such as the NAACP have pushed for the removal of Huck Finn from required reading lists but say that they are not out to censor the book. The Pennsylvania chapter of the NAACP feels that the liberal use of such a derogatory word is detrimental to the self-esteem of young African-American children (4).