11/22/13 ENGW1111 Musselman Project 3 Final MLA Word count: 881 1984: Why it shouldnt be banned Erin Binnie

Huffington Post OpEd Blog In 2013 we are used to people having different opinions. Republicans and Democrats can hardly agree on anything in Congress, and controversial subjects are always in the news. So while people may not agree with other opinions, they acknowledge them. For the most part, people tolerate these differences in politics, religion, and other personal beliefs. All these are ideas, and the United States values the freedom of speech, and freethinking. So why is it that when it comes down to certain books, people take to banning them based on the ideas put forward in the novels? The novel Nineteen Eighty-Four is a book banned by the ideas that it puts forward of a dystopian society, where the government has gained too much control. I cherish the existence of opinions, which is why Im writing this as an OpEd where I give you the full right to agree or disagree with what I have to say about this topic. Nineteen Eighty-Four for those of you who havent read it yet is a book about a future society, where the government has almost complete control over its citizens. It is always watching the citizens, with the illusive Big Brother, and cameras watch and hear their every move. It may seem frightening, but Orwell wrote this book in 1949, when it was only a possibility. He was completely right however, because all these years later we live in a world where there are cameras practically everywhere, and government has much more control on watching us then they ever have before. So while certain people dont want this book to be read,

it has truth to it, and the truth isnt something that people shouldnt be pushed away from because others dont like it. Orwell distrusted the government, and it can be clearly seen in the novel. So whether or not others accept or believe that the government wants to control others, , it doesnt matter. It was his idea, and he has the right to freedom of speech and freedom of ideas as much as any other person, and today as American citizens we have to acknowledge that and let the book exist whether or not it is something that you personally believe in. I hardly ever agree with the banning of books, so this is of course something that I dont agree with. However, I can see how in certain scenarios, with novel with certain themes, why parents would want to ban a book. If it were extremely violent and sexual, I would understand why parents wouldnt want their young children to read it, because it could be scarring for someone not emotionally ready. However, there isnt really a justifiable reason in my mind to ban a book for not liking the political ideas it suggests. Politics isnt scarring, to any age, and banning a book on political grounds isnt a good reason. For they arent banning it to protect the reader, theyre doing it to protect their own political belief, for most likely whatever concept is in the novel goes against it. So banning it for others because the belief is different from your own is selfish and wrong. We live in a world with so many different opinions and the way to go about it is to acknowledge their opinions. You wouldnt have to accept or support them, but acknowledge their existence. It is an act of tolerance, and many people could improve on tolerating the opinions of others. So that means you dont try to get a book banned simply because you dont agree with what it is saying. Nineteen Eighty-Four does have sex and violence within the story. There is one particular instance within the novel that Im thinking of, and with that scene I could see why children would be recommended not to read it. However, is one scene enough to ban it in general, for all

people, not just young children? I believe that it was banned more for its political reasons, and that the sex and violence is a way to justify the banning. The whole book is focused on the political ideas put forward by Orwell, and the sex and violence is very minimal and definitely not main ideas. If I were to compare the novel to a pancake, the political ideology would be the batter, the main substance, and the sex and violence would be just a few bits of chocolate chips thrown in. So to ban the whole book off of just a few instances of sexual and violent behavior doesnt seem reasonable, especially when there are plenty of books that have a lot more sexual content. The people banning the book probably knew that their beliefs wouldnt be enough to get it banned, and so they also put in the reasons of violence and sexual behavior. So my point is that this book shouldnt be on the banned book list, which is a ridiculous list anyway, and that parents and teachers should be encouraging young adults to take a look at different types of literature to expand their horizons, as well as question literature to reach their own opinions. Opinions should be explored, not just accepted, and they should definitely not be banned simply because some one else doesnt agree with them.

Works Cited: Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-four, a Novel. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1949. Print. "Banned And/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century." ALA. N.p., 2013. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.