Don’t Burn or Ban Books

For an English class I was required to write this email.  I discuss censorship of literature. 
Dear intended recipient,

My name is Megan Frost.  I am a sophomore student at Taylorsville High School in Taylorsville, Utah.  In my English class fellow students and I were required to read Ray Bradbury’s novel Fahrenheit 451.  It is a dystopian novel about a man named Guy Montag.  He is employed as a fireman.  Firemen are charged with the job of burning books, hence the title Fahrenheit 451, the temperature at which books burn. The story begins when Montag, he is referred to by his last name in the text, meets a peculiar neighbor named Clarisse McClellan, She makes him think deeper about his job and the society's way of living. Two big themes in this book are censorship and the importance of gaining perspective from books which will be the focal point of my email to you.

Although in our current times we do not have firemen that burn books we do have book censorship.  Book censorship is the banning of books that are considered objectionable.  One famous book series banned from certain libraries is the Harry Potter series. Factmonster.com explains, “The Harry Potter books are a good example of this: some think they are wonderfully imaginative books that have done much to encourage kids to read; others, who think the Potter books should be banned, think they are a bad and corrupting influence on kids.” One arguement against banning Harry Potter is explored by scientificamerican.com referencing a study published in Science Magizine. Scientificamerican.com states the following, “A study published last year in Science found that reading literary fiction, as opposed to popular fiction or nonfiction, results in keener social perception and increased empathy — empathy being defined more or less as the ability to alternate between different perspectives on a particular person or situation. Literature with complex, developed themes and characters appears to let readers occupy or adopt perspectives they might otherwise not consider; and it seems that Rowling might get at the beautiful, sobering mess of life in a way that could have a meaningful impact on our children’s collective character.”

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is another book that has been on and off banned book lists. According to the American Library Association it has been on banned on thirteen different occasions. It was written in the beginning of the civil rights movement, a movement to grant African Americans equal rights. According to resources.mhs.vic.edu.au “The novel climbed to the top of the New York Times Best Seller's list as it began to make its remarkable impact on a divided nation.” According to socialistworker.org “It's as an anti-racist novel of the civil rights movement, with its deep commitment to social justice and full equality--this is what earned it such a wide appeal.” It is said it had a long lasting effect on society and has historically relevant information.  The book itself was based off of things the author witnessed in her childhood.    

Another argument against censorship displayed by factmonster.com is that it infringes on first amendment rights.  It states, “The First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees our right to freedom of speech, which includes the right to read and write books that might be considered by some to be too violent, hateful, or offensive. Because this freedom is one of our fundamental rights as Americans, some people feel that any form of censorship is wrong.”

In Fahrenheit 451 censorship is a clear theme. One character, Captain Beatty, is in favor of censorship, saying, “The bigger your market, Montag, the less you handle controversy, remember that!... Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your typewriters. They did.” But the society in the text is viewed by the main character in the book, Montag, and his friend, Faber, as being stuck in its place with no room for growth. Ray Bradbury states in his book that “There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”   

Thank you for your time,

Megan Frost