Argument Essay: Banning Books

By Liam McAllister

Imagine having one of your basic rights taken away. Banning books seems like it would happen in some dystopian future, not a democratic country like ours. All across the United States of America, books are banned in schools for “questionable” themes, which takes away young adults’ right to choose the books that they read. This is wrong for many reasons. First, censorship violates the First Amendment right to free speech. Also, many people worry mistakenly that the young adults reading these books will mimic the characters that are making bad choices like smoking or drinking or self-mutilation. Perhaps most importantly, teens feel less alone when they read about difficult issues that they’ve experienced in their own lives. Censorship can deny them that therapy.

In the story “Indian Education” in a banned book, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, a character named Junior gets bullied, so he fights back: “I punched him so hard that my knuckles and the snow made symmetrical bruises on his face.” Although this book has a lot of violence like this in it, reading violent books doesn’t necessarily influence teenagers to become violent. The article “Darkness Too Visible” by Meghan Cox Gurdon in The Wall Street Journal states, “Reading about homicide doesn’t turn a man into a murderer; reading about cheating on exams won’t make a kid break the honor code.” A common argument is that young adults will do exactly what’s in the book that they’re reading, but the same thing could be said about readers of all ages.

It helps kids to read about difficult problems that they’ve experienced, because they feel comforted that they’re not alone, and it can help them cope with their problems. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven has been banned for its portrayals of violence and drug and alcohol abuse. If you have experienced these issues in your own life, seeing your life in a book can make you feel less ashamed and less invisible, and maybe even help you see your life more clearly . In “Darkness Too Visible” Gurdon argues that novels, “validate the teen experience, giving voice to tortured adolescents who would otherwise be voiceless.” It is important for kids to know that they are not alone and to learn about the unpleasant as well as the positive.

When people ban books to protect kids from edgy themes, they think they’re helping them, but they are not. When you “protect” a kid from the knowledge of violence, bullying, sex, drugs etc., you are putting them in a vulnerable position of ignorance. In the article from the SIRS database, “Can Book Censorship Save Our Children and Their Innocence?”, the author Jake Rich argues, “though discussions of teenage sexuality are generally considered taboo, it is something that most kids begin to think about as soon as they hit puberty.” This fact is true of many subjects and experiences. The truth is adolescents encounter many dark and challenging things from an early age: violence, discrimination, poverty, etc. This is something that people will not be able to stop no matter how hard they try. Kids can benefit from reading books with these themes because they could gain tolerance and understanding and possibly change the world.

 Books shouldn’t be banned because they have themes of violence, sex, and drugs . If young people are allowed to read books about challenging issues, then they would understand those issues better and learn how to fix them, and the world would be a better place. Banned books can help teens become more open-minded to difficult topics and expand their knowledge. People shouldn’t be trying to ban books with such subjects, instead they should spread awareness about them. If people were more aware of the difficult issues affecting our society, then there would be less discrimination, less gun violence, and people would have more understanding and empathy for others.

Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. New York: Grove Press Books, 1993. Print.

Cox Gurdon, Meghan. “Darkness Too Visible.” The Wall Street Journal 4 June, 2011: 1-5. Print.

Rich, Jake. "Can Book Censorship Save Our Children and Their Innocence?." University Wire. 7 Oct. 2014: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 18 Dec. 2014.