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Evan Smith

Mrs. Cramer

2/12/2021

PD. 8

Banning Books Deprives Readers

The banning of books deprives readers of new ideas. It keeps ideas that may be new or unusual

to a population out of their hands and eyes.

Libraries and schools are meant to educate and enlighten people, whether they are students or

adults. Banning a book would take it out of circulation, that goes against the whole idea of

education. Education is about getting something in your head that was not there before. If a

kind of book is banned, it makes the amount what can be learned smaller.

Books challenge people to learn about things that are not in their own way of life. New places,

political ideas, and unusual lifestyles. Things that are all possibly in the larger world around us,

but we may only see them in books, if we have no other opportunity to experience them. So, if

books are banned it is a theft of knowledge of the greater world.

Banning books is unfair to the possible reader, just like in Communist countries, the government

only lets the people see news on TV and newspapers that the government wants them to see. It is
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wrong to prevent people from gaining knowledge. This is called censorship. Essentially book

banning is a kind of censorship. It may also be dangerous to not know everything you can about

a topic.

Banning books causes people to push their ideas on others. For instance, if a parent causes a

school library to ban a book, some kids that might want to cannot read it. That parent is putting

their opinions over others. It is like they are trying to tell other parents how to raise their own

children. During a time of banning, parents may go out and find that book on their own, but

what if it was banned years ago. That book and all its ideas will be forgotten.

Books open our minds to other ways of doing things and remind us of history. Winston

Churchill said, “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Books show us

not only new ideas, but they teach us history. If the events of the past are not accurately

reported, the reader is ignorant and could very well repeat or at least want to repeat bad events or

ideas in history. Up until January, of 2016, Mein Kampf was banned in Germany. People were

not allowed to own it or sell it. I know this because our exchange student wanted to hold one at

the WWII museum in Eldred. That was in 2014. He had never seen a copy. The book was not

read by whole generations. They knew nothing about its contents. The argument was that it

would promote a bad way of thinking. How can a book cause problem if no one has read it? Why

should a book be chosen to be banned if it cannot be fully judged? People need to be aware of

history even if it is bad? The bad stuff needs to be remembered so it does not happen again.

Remaining ignorant about other people can cause prejudices. Germans BURNED book by

Jewish authors just because they were Jewish. Not being able to read about things we do not

understand caused ignorance with the German people and may have helped to build up

prejudices.
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The book War of the Worlds, by H.G.Wells was burned by the Nazis. Inventor Robert H.

Goddard said he was influenced by the ideas in this book, and it inspired him to invent the liquid

fueled rocket and the multistage rocket that was used in the first Apollo launch. So being able to

read that book actually helped us get to the moon.

In free society people should be allowed to read what they want. Some of the most famous

books in American history were banned at first. Catcher in the Rye was banned because of

language and violence. But it became one of the most read books in the country. To Kill a

Mockingbird was also banned in some places. The Grapes of Wrath was banned for Communist

ideas. Maybe banning of books causes people to want to know more about them? It sure seems

to make them popular.

Libraries are an open place for all members of a society to go and get books of all ideas and

types. Fiction and nonfiction books have been banned from libraries in the past. A library’s gift

to a society is that you can go in and learn NEW things. Banning books bans new ideas and

therefore people do not grow or change. They just have the same narrow set of ideas and

nothing new. Book that included homosexuality were banned before. The opinions and alarm

about such issues has changed since then in America and some believe access to books has

contributed to opening minds and changing feelings about good or bad categories that society

labels some lifestyles with.

Book banning can be supported in some cases, like with children. Some books really are not

good for young readers because of the content. The ideas may be too advanced or frightening for

kids. Things like murder or suicide are probably too hard for small kids. Parents may want to
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limit kids from reading them or read the book themselves first, to be able to decide. Just like

driving a car is maybe too advanced for a nine-year-old. For an adult, it should be their choice to

decide what they would like to be exposed to. Other more powerful people in a society may try

to ban books but it is like telling another adult what they should think, and how to live their lives.

Book banning should not be up to government, but for parents to decide for their own children,

and for adults to decide on their own and not for other people. Banning actually cheats people

out of knowledge and new ideas. It is like idea theft and is not fair to readers. Imagine a world

where history is erased, and no new ideas are shared. It would be stagnant and boring.
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Works Cited

"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.

Horowitz, Anthony. "Open book: If you want children to love reading, don't tell them what to

read." Spectator, vol. 342, no. 9993, 7 Mar. 2020, p. 21. Gale Academic OneFile,

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A622149705/AONE?u=pl1949&sid=AONE&xid=87ce71

6e. 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=350a23

00. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.