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Zachary Williams

Mrs. Cramer

College Comp Pd. 5a

20 November 2020

Banning Books? Blasphemous!

Could you imagine never having the chance to read a Harry Potter book? What about

something from Rick Roirdan’s Percy Jackson series? How about never being able to read a

single book from Goosebumps? Well, there are some places in America where that just might be

the case. Every single one of these books has been banned or challenged in America at least

once, for reasons such as being “too graphic and scary” all the way to having “anti-Christian

sentiments and mentions of witchcraft.” Book banning has been a practice in America for some

time, and there has always been a debate on the subject. The censorship and banning of literary

works should not be performed because it limits access to knowledge and information, removes

necessary comfort and representation, and blatantly changes an author’s hard work.

First, it is common knowledge that books are a source of information. However, a

common argument in support of book banning is that they serve no purpose if they are not

informational, but that is simply not true. Fictional books can instill positive characteristics and

teach decency to children. According to some parents, books have the capability to expose

children to different ways and ideas of life (Bertsch). Having children learn about the world is

not only valuable in an educational sense, but it also teaches them to be more accepting and

compassionate to those that are different than them. Themes of books help to instill these
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positive attributes into people. Books have the ability to make people think critically. Some

would even argue that that is their main purpose (Walters). Books themselves can be

intellectually interpreted in a variety of different ways in regard to their theme, all the way to

their composition. These intellectual interpretations are the foundations for meaningful

discussions that could enlighten or educate others. Book banning limits all of these processes,

especially in educational settings. Removing a book from the library would remove the chance

for someone to learn the information and message of the book, as well as the chance for the

reader to reiterate them.

Another piece of common knowledge is that people will read books as a recreational

activity. The article Banning Books Robs Students of Education and Entertainment claims that

some people “…treat it as a form of escapism…,” removing them from their cruelties of reality

and allowing people to imagine otherwise impossible scenarios. Books also give the chance for

people to find out what they like and explore other subjects, as well as explore themselves.

Reading gives an outlet for people to indulge in topics and subjects that they enjoy. Relating to

the idea of escapism is representation of marginalized groups in books. It should be noted that

modern literature is one of the biggest media forms to give voices to the minority. A large

number of books that are banned are those from the distant past, which according to the article

Reading Out Against Book Banning, was a time that was much more offended and appalled by

topics that are much more common today, such as the LGBTQ+ community, race relations or

stories about a minority, or even vampires for that matter. Although there is less censorship for

those reasons today compared to even the late 90s, an overwhelming amount of the books that

are banned are for those reasons. This is despite the fact that the number of people who identify

with those groups and narratives have increased. Banning books can ultimately take away a
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person’s way of finding out who they are, as well as the ability to feel seen and comfortable as

that person.

Lastly, it is important to remember that there are two major components of a book: the

reader and the writer. To some people, reading a book is easy and fun to do, but it goes without

saying that writing a book to go out into the world is much harder. A writer goes through an

extremely long and difficult process in order to have a book hit the shelves in a store. Much like

writing an important paper in a class, writing a book takes mass amounts of effort. The vital

concepts of plot, characters, and all other important book elements needs to be thought up and

put into a general outline to follow. A rough draft then needs to be made, a process often times

hindered by a writer’s block, lack of research, and other matters of the sort. After a rough draft is

made, it needs to be turned into an editor to be marked up, not only in a grammatical and spelling

sense, but conceptually as well. The writer then needs to make changes and return it to the editor

to be marked up again. This process typically occurs several times until it is considered

acceptable. After going through the editing and review process, the draft must be brought to a

publisher to see if it will even go out to the market. Both the editing and publishing process

could cost up to thousands of dollars each. Now think about how much work is put into the

creation of a book and to have it be officially published, only to have it banned. Numerous

authors spend months or even years to have a valuable message be sent out into the world, but to

have that book removed -for a few uncomfortable scenes- from public shelves completely

nullifies that effort. This was the case for Jeannette Wells and several other authors who have put

out works touching sensitive topics (Bertsch). But sometimes, a fate more hurtful than removing

a book can come to an author’s book. Some works are censored and edited to the point where the

work is unrecognizable to the authors, and the intended message is lost completely (Walters). To
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ban and censor books like this is cruel and undermines the hard work the authors have put into

them.

In summary, banning and censoring books is a practice that should not occur in America.

Removing books from public spaces completely ruins what they were put out to do, and it results

in negative consequences. Taking away books is taking away a child’s chance to learn how to be

a good person or to learn about the world in general. It is taking away a person’s chance to feel

seen or heard and their chance to find out who they are. It is taking away all the virtuous efforts

that authors have put in to trying to make the world better. Taking away books cannot be a

debate; it should be stopped.

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Works Cited

Bertsch. Banning books for safety. UWIRE Text, 30 Sept. 2014, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A384132569/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=531791

dd. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

Banning books robs students of education and entertainment. UWIRE Text, 24 Jan. 2019, p. 1.

Gale Academic OneFile,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A571510435/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=cf5c34a

b. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

Reading Out Against Book Banning. UWIRE Text, 4 Oct. 2014, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A384564406/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=20b0fe

5f. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

Walters, Madison. Banned Books Week highlights importance of eliminating censorship.

UWIRE Text, 5 Oct. 2020, p. 1. Gale Academic OneFile,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A637484169/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=350a

2300. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.