Banned Book Argument Essay

Gus Miller, Class 802

Censorship of literature due to content found offensive, disturbing, or unsuitable for certain audiences seems like a reasonable, protective action to take at first glance. However, schools, libraries, and entire communities have to delve deeper and see that to ban books is really to deprive people from valuable, insightful knowledge that can positively and dynamically affect the lives of countless readers. It’s so easy for teenagers and their parents or teachers to find the student’s boundaries and prevent people from being negatively affected without taking away the potential for great change sparked by creative and deep literature. Books that people want to ban usually resonate with powerful messages that some find unappealing but others find eye-opening and inspiring, and simply cutting off everyone from such material is simply inhibiting an excessive amount of people.

One reason books should not be banned is that it is entirely within the power of readers or their parents or teachers to find and work within the limits and traits of the child. Banning a book like Ellen Hopkins’ Crank because people don’t want their kids to read about drug use and profound sexual themes is a blind and restricting act. However, it’s so much easier to protect children from content some dislike without limiting a large amount of others. If a parent finds material to be unsuitable for their child, they can talk to the child about it and come to an agreement to prevent the child from being exposed to that content without taking it away from all the other people that want to read and learn from it. Crank was influenced by Ellen Hopkins’ own experiences with a child addicted to drugs, and it was crafted in a way that could help other people.

Another powerful reason the censorship of books is wrong is that the content some find inappropriate and unsuitable for young adult literature could help people in a pivotal, life changing or even saving way. Some books about cutting are banned for gory, dark content that many people think is edgy even in an adult’s horror book. However, censoring this material might prevent a cutter from reading it, realizing that they need help, and taking actions that will transform their life. The Harry Potter Alliance is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the world and inspired by fantasy books such as Harry Potter. Even in abstract fiction that clearly isn’t real, themes that echo real world problems can be found throughout. Books help readers see life more clearly, and they inspire them to improve the world and solve problems that hold humanity back.

Many people argue that today’s young adult books are too dark, unnecessarily exaggerating themes of violence, sex, and drugs. That stories have content that needs to be drastically toned down since it could disturb readers or give them harmful ideas. They try to solve this problem by banning books across wide communities, cutting them out of entire schools or libraries or even bookstores. However, these decisions impact entire communities of hundreds of people, decisions influenced by only a few families or a single school board. It’s completely unacceptable to make such decisions when the proportions are considered, especially when there are so many other solutions and benefits to allowing freedom to access information in schools and libraries. Banning books is like putting a veil over the entire audience when only a few people don’t want to see the show.

The reasons why censorship is wrong are simple. We can prevent ourselves from being disturbed or offended by content by educating ourselves about books we want to read and acknowledging what we find unsuitable for ourselves. Banning books takes away valuable and enlightening information from people who could need it. We, as a society, need to be more open to that which we find disturbing, and be willing to look at an entire book, not just the content we dislike, to prevent ourselves from being unnecessarily held back.