The Danger of Banned Books

 

I love books. I have been reading for as long as I can remember. My mom said she was reading Charlotte’s Web to me, and one moment she was reading and the next I was. I was around 4. We shared books together for a long time. In first grade I felt a bit like Scout in To Kill A Mockingbird, everyone else was learning to read from some insipid primer reader, and I was odd man out. Fortunately, my teacher was more understanding than Scout’s and just gave me more interesting books to read.

I also had a wonderful public librarian who led me from children’s books to more mature reading. Only once did she hesitate, and actually came by my house to take back the book. But I had already self-censored and decided it wasn’t for me. The book was The Magus by John Fowles. I was in Junior High. Being given the liberty to read whatever I wanted, I was good at self-censoring. I could tell when a subject was over my head, too disturbing, undiscernible, uncomfortable and age inappropriate. I learned to skim through many of those sections (as well as lengthy descriptions of things I didn’t care to know about), and even just not finish the book (although, like cleaning my plate, not finishing a book I started seemed somehow wrong).

I have especially enjoyed reading books people have tried to ban/censor. The beloved To Kill A Mockingbird would be one such novel. I taught that book for 20 years to my junior English class, and over that time have reread the book at least 10 times. I loved teaching that book for many reasons, but especially to talk about censorship. I even shared a letter from a parent asking me not to assign the book. I shared the letter not to disparage the parent, but to show that censorship most often was the knee jerk reaction to fear. Parents fear a book might hurt sensitive hearts, might introduce a topic they think inappropriate for their child, might influence their child in a direction they disprove. In the case of Mockingbird the most feared topics are racism and rape. But in talking about these issues, in hearing the student’s reactions to them, we build structure about these issues. Yes, they develop opinions. Yes, they often are moved to tears. But never did a student feel it wasn’t age or subject appropriate to them. They see and hear about much worse on the internet and in movies. In fact, more often than not, they had read the book in Jr. High and disliked it. Some even believed the issues raised in the book had long been taken care of. Racism was a thing of the past. Making them read the book again at an older age, they learn that first impressions can be off, because when they first tried the book it wasn’t the right time. Or they liked the book, but reading it again can reveal things they never saw before (like how Mockingbird isn’t just about race).  Reading Shakespeare can be like that too.

If someone says a book should be censored or banned (for example, Harry Potter, originally by the Christian right and today by the left) I usually have to read it. And here’s the deal, books can be powerful and dangerous. They present us with ideas we have to grapple with. They can make us think. They can challenge our beliefs. But what’s wrong with that? Not every book changed my opinion on major issues, but so many of them changed my opinion about people, and mostly for the better. I could see the humanity in characters very different from me, and develop a more empathetic stand. I could explore complicated concepts in the safety of my home. I could travel to exotic places and walk with extraordinary people while never leaving my room. Censored books just made that more exciting.

Today I read that the Librarian of Congress had been fired. The reason for her firing was that she’d allowed books into the library that have been deemed inappropriate and harmful to children. Deemed by whom is a good question? But really, one purpose of the Library of Congress is to house many, if not most, of the books published in the US. So of course there will be controversial books in the Library of Congress. That is part of the Library’s purpose. That doesn’t mean if you are disturbed by or dislike a book you have to read it. It certainly doesn’t mean your young children have to read it. Just because a book exists doesn’t mean you need to fear it. And often, those “deeming” books as harmful are really letting their fears get ahead of them. My parent who had written the letter with her Mockingbird fears had never read the book herself, because the supposed subject matter was objectionable to her. I think before you recommend banning a book you should at least have to read it yourself.

Banning, censoring, firing librarians, what’s next? Book burnings?  I taught my students that we all need to know what we believe – about all things in life from nutrition to God. Then we need to know why we believe it. If we just take on our family’s values without knowing why and believing the why, we really are not truly sold. So much of the fear and anger we see today is a defensiveness regarding topics, revealing a less confident belief system. If we don't know why we believe what we believe, questions raised by books and other people cause earthquakes in what we thought was solid ground. 

Back to Harry Potter. Christians were afraid because the book, in their minds, taught witchcraft. But why should that worry us? The Bible teaches that “greater is He who is in us then he who is in the world.” Satan and witchcraft are no match for God. So as a believer, nothing in witchcraft has any effect upon me. What about teaching children to be witches or possibly making them desire to be one?  I doubt anyone converted to Wiccan as a result of reading about Harry and his friends. Neither was anyone able to cast a spell using those mentioned in the books. The reality is J. K. Rowling used the fantasy setting to talk about the power of love and friendship and acceptance of differences, amongst many other equally important themes. Very Christian themes, by the way.

That’s the magic of speculative fiction – magical realism, science fiction, fantasy. They take us out of our world, where we might stop listening if things get to close to home, and put us in a totally different world and more subtly get us to see ourselves. Shakespeare did that, like setting books in France or Italy rather than England. Jonathan Swift did that with having Gulliver in all his adventures in strange, new kingdoms that had similarities to those of the readers' but didn’t directly point a finger at the mother country.

This whole obsession with removing DEI from our country to make it “American” again, is crazy. Americans are people of every race, belief, color and gender. We are a bunch of differences. We are not all white, protestant, straight, married with 2.5 children. But we are all Americans. Removing books from libraries that speak of people different from ourselves is a horrible idea. The removal is what does the harm. Certainly you can guide your own children in what they read or don’t read, but no one has the right to make those decisions for others. And reading a book by an LGBTQ+ author, or an author of a color other than white, won’t make your child gay or purple by the reading of it. But it might make your child more accepting and understanding. It might show your child that we are more alike than different. That, like Shylock in The Merchant of Venice, we all bleed when we are cut. And having books like those to read allows so many children to see themselves in literature, rather than only seeing cis white people.

Many historians believe book banning and censorship is the canary in the mine. Yes, books are powerful, words are powerful. They can set off revolutions because they make people think. We need more thinking people today, not less. We need to assist our children to learn to think for themselves. I thank God for my mother, my first grade teacher and my childhood public librarian. I strove to follow their example as a teacher. I challenge all of us to be a voice of truth against power today. Go read a banned book!