CENSORED

Poorvaja Rajagopalan,
 VIII E

I am a book fanatic.

There’s no other way to put it.

It’s not just reading I love; books themselves are like humans to me.

So when a relative of mine introduced me to the concept of censorship, I agreed with her when she disapproved of it.

In some places, certain books are banned from publication or censored from distribution in school libraries. Several reasons for challenging books are sexually explicit content, offensive language, content unsuited for the age group, violence and homosexuality, according to the American Library Association. In India, books have been censored for insulting religions. Many classics have been banned too, such as James Joyce’s Ulysses, Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Gustave Flambert’s Madame Bovary and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. Some were challenged for sexual content, others for conveying the racism that was present at the time the books were written.

Censored authors don’t believe in censorship themselves. Judy Blume, who’s been censored so often she’s well known for it, says that it’s not her that’ll be affected by her books being censored; it’s the children. She writes about real issues that happen to real people; there’s no use denying kids the right to facts. John Green, challenged author of the book Looking for Alaska, defends his novel against complaints of topics unsuitable for its age groups. He points out that Looking for Alaska was never marketed to a specific age group. If children chose to read his book, it’s not his fault or the book’s fault. Lauren Myracle, challenged for novels like TTYL, says people are angry about her writing because of fear, and because they’ve forgotten how lost some teenagers feel. Ellen Hopkins, censored for her books on drugs and addiction, says that if her books help children overcome such problems, which they have, they shouldn’t be banned from libraries.

Should children be allowed to choose their own reading material? Are books on real but allegedly “inappropriate” subjects bad? I don’t think so. I agree with the authors. Truth and reality shouldn’t be held back from children. They have the right to know what goes on in the world. If they don’t, they just become more vulnerable. Through books, some teenagers have been able to find something they can relate to in their worlds of confusion and loneness. All opinions have the right to be heard, without the bar of censorship.