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Children's literature racism
Racism in children's literature
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Are some words so horrible that they need to be taken from books? Lately the infamous “N-Word” has been causing some trouble in books due to its offensive nature. But back in earlier times, the word was just as common of an adjective as tall or short. Albeit this word has never been as innocent as describing height, many people still used it and it is part of our history. Many classic books that kids in school read include this word, and many other culturally offensive phrases. Recently there has been a movement of classic books being rewritten to exclude racially offensive words and phrases. This shouldn’t be able to happen, we need to include these words and phrases, keeping the stories historically accurate.
In the classic story, To Kill a Mockingbird, the main character Scout has a hard time being picked on for her father being a “nigger lover”. During the story she doesn’t really understand the phrase, but she knows it to be an insult and doesn’t like it. Some people believe the story could be rewritten to make it seem less offensive, but in this stories concept, it is there...
Twain’s use of profane language, namely the inclusion of the word “nigger” over 200 times, is condoned by the exceptionally realistic setting it creates. For proponents of banning the book, the use of obscenities are seen as justification enough to ban, but according to United States federal judge John Woolsey, the obscenities are not in fact obscenities at all. Determined by the Courts, a book can only be found obscene if it stirs sexual impulses or is “dirt for dirt’s sake” (Woolsey). Neither part of this definition fits Twain’s writing. Twain uses vulgar language to realistically depict the Southern antebellum society in which the story takes place.
People even today use crude language,like the commonly used word,”Nigger” (20 Steinbeck). This word is used in pop culture frequently and is a common word in some communities. Another example would be when,”Son-of-a-bitch”was stated (27 Steinbeck). This is a recurring word used in western language that people use when they are angry or mad at someone. This is already language teens see and hear in America, so why is vulgar language so bad when it’s in writing?
Banning a book on the basis of profanity is merely a superficial reason of those who wish to limit beliefs that do not coincide with their own. By excluding a novel from a high school curriculum in order to shelter students from profanity, is an attempt to do the impossible. Profanity is found everywhere. According to TV Guide, "Profanity is uttered once every six minutes on American primetime television...
In the novel, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, the prejudice and segregation that the African Americans were facing was very present throughout the book. We see those types of moments, where African Americans are found guilty before the trial even begun, or how African American had to change how they were to fit in to the society. African Americans changed the way they talked, the way they acted, even they way they looked, to make sure that it wouldn’t lead them to their death, and in a lot of cases it ended in just that. In a moment in the book the main character Scout and her
Although this book uses offensive words, it is such an important part of this time period. Some adults may not want their kids reading these stories in school because they can repeat the words and use them offensively. People could also feel that this book isn’t appropriate because it was written so long ago and uses old-fashioned phrases that don't teach students proper English. People will always have their own opinions.
Atticus Finch does not let anyone else's opinion affect what his beliefs are. In chapter eleven of "To Kill a Mockingbird," Atticus explains to Scout what a "nigger-lover" is. He tells Scout, "It's hard to explain-ignorant, trashy people use it when they think somebody's favoring Negroes over and above themselves. It slipped into usage with some people like ourselves, when they want to use a common, ugly term to label somebody" (Lee 113). Obviously, Atticus doesn't believe the term is funny or clever. The southern town of Maycomb, Alabama had adopted this term as a racial slur. All throughout the trial of Tom Robinson, racist white people judged Atticus for defending a black man. This racism has now been transferred into schools across the country.
Censorship is a concept with several different meanings. To each individual censorship has its own meaning. Is it a violation of our rights or is it a protection for our well being? Censorship in the generic sense refers to the suppression of information, ideas, or opinions. It occurs in all forms of communication from technological media to print media. Each society, culture, or individual's belief is violated by the codes of censorship that our society instills.
Sometimes the child's parent isn't always correct and led to the child having misunderstandings. When Cecil Jacobs says that Scout Finch’s dad defends niggers and is a nigger-lover only because Atticus is defending a dark skinned man named Tom. Tom is accused of rape, but Atticus is put in charge of defending him. Cecil says that his parents think Atticus is a nigger-lover. Cecil and his parents don’t understand to not judge people.
The first amendment of the U.S. Constitution states, “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 (Buchanan).” With the banning and the challenging of books all over the U.S. I believe that our first amendment is being jeopardized. We should be allowed to read whatever we want to read it is our right according to the first amendment in the U.S. Constitution with freedom of speech.
As the story progresses, Scout slowly becomes introduced into the world of hatred, unfairness, and racism that the 1930’s exposed. Nevertheless, since Scout still had both her innocence and naivete, due to her premature age, she completely expressed total disapproval towards the treatment of blacks during the time of her childhood. The author portrays this disapproval through Dill and Jem, Scout’s friend, and Scout’s brother, respectively, as shown here by Dill, “‘I don’t care one speck. It ain’t right to do ‘em that way. Hasn’t anybody got any business talkin’ like that—it just makes me sick.’';
Richard was forced to forge a note to the librarian saying that the Irish wanted to take out books by Mencken. He wrote, “Dear Madam: Will you please let this nigger boy have some books by H.L. Mencken?” (pg.321) He used the words “nigger boy” to make the librarian feel that he could not possibly be the one who wrote the note. The word “nigger” was frequently used in the past, and it is still used today. A nigger is a black person, but it is used to insult them. The librarian asked many questions to Richard, to make sure that he wasn’t the one using the books. “You’re not using these books, are you?” she asked pointedly. There is a strict rule in lend...
It can be argued that To Kill a Mockingbird should be banned because of the foul language used in the book; for example damn, hell, whore-lady, goddamn whore and nigger ( Lee 90, 94, 221). Some might argue that it encourages cursing and portrays it as an acceptable thing, but in truth it does the complete opposite. When Scout asks Atticus if he defends niggers, he discourages her from using words like nigger (Lee 85). Scout stops using the term nigger but starts using words like damn hell and whore-lady. She think if she talks way than Atticus will stop sending her to school, because that where she learned those words. Atticus knows what she’s trying to do, so he decides to ignore it thinking that when she realizes it’s not going to work she’ll stop. When Scout says to her uncle Jack things like “That’s a damn story.” and “Pass the damn ham, please.” he doesn’t just ignore her (Lee 90). He sits her down and tells her that he doesn’t like words like damn and hell, and tha...
Recently, it came to my attention that some publishing companies are considering changing classic works of literature and replacing racially offensive language in these works. I assert that the words should be changed for specific reasons, the most reasonable reason is it being racially offencive. In an instant if anyone would read this book without having any background knowledge, they would definitely feel offended. I strongly feel that if the language and the way the words get changed to something that is more suitable more people would pick up the book and read it.
They’re the words with the greatest capacity to inflict emotional pain and incite violent disagreement,” in his book What the F: What Swearing Reveals About Our Language, Our Brains, and Ourselves. Having vulgar profanities sprinkled throughout the book keep connecting our emotions to the story in order to keep us engaged. We begin to feel for Animal, start to hope for the future, or get upset in the moment. Once the barrier has been broken then we can experience the story in its full potential. This thought can be opposed, however, many believe that adding profanities into literature only cheapen the material. They argue that only lazy conversationalists use such grotesque language, which is why the debate whether or not using such language in literature is appropriate or not. I simply disagree, as I believe that adding in the words one may not want to see adds in a sense of mortality. It awakens our raw emotions and lets us feel again. Emotions are key to producing an extraordinary effect. Maya Angelou famously said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Feelings whether they be positive, negative, or even both will have a lasting impression and profanities seem to shortcut straight to those feelings. They do not dance around the
In the article, "You Can't Say That," the author Diane Ravitch talks about how certain words are deleted from books or not shown in films because they could offend certain groups. In the article, Ravitch argues that although it may seem like we live in a world where anything goes, the truth is, that's not true. Diane does research and gathers a list of more than five hundred words that regularly get deleted from textbooks and tests. Some of the words include cowboy, brotherhood, yacht, and primitive. Personally I believe that the censoring of words these days is somewhat extreme. I understand that certain groups could be offended by such words but why should everyone else not get the original words the author is trying to write because of that.