Books & Why They Were Banned
I’ve wanted to discuss this topic for a while in themiscellaneous section of my blog. The topic tonight is about the shocking andsomewhat silly reasons why books are banned or challenged. We’ve all readbanned books even if we never knew it. I am for all the freedoms we have herein America especially the freedom to write and publish what we choose. If thereis a book that goes against my values or it’s not my cup of tea I have thatright not to read it, but I believe every author has the right to send theirstories out into the world like ships sailing the sea. Some of these novels Iknew were banned for a long time and others I did not know about until recently.The reasons some of these novels were banned were shocking. Some of the novelslisted here I found info from Facebook, and Google. Here is a link of where Igot some of my information and there are books on that list that I did notmention. https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/classicsthere are other novels that I knew were banned for a long time long before Isearched for anything.
TheHarry Potter Series
The Harry Potter Series was banned due to thesorcery aspect. Many Christian parents of all denominations thought the seriespromoted Satanism and the occult. Harry Potter basically had magic wands therewas no Satanism in the novel at all. My best friend Katelyn and I are Catholicsand she recounted to me about how when she was growing up, parents read toomuch into the Harry Potter series promoting Satanism and the occult. I remembermy time in elementary school a boy who I was close friends with had to leavethe room because his mother who was an evangelical Christian did not like theidea of Harry Potter.
Jamesand the Giant Peach
I found out last week from the Facebook page Becauseall the Books that James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl, was banned andchallenged for apparently being too scary for young children. The novelpromoted mysticism had the word ass in it. There were references to tobacco andalcohol. The novel promoted disobedience and promoted drugs and communism. Ohgoodness! I remember reading “James and the Giant Peach,” back in elementaryschool and all I remember is it was about a lonely abused boy named James whoescaped with a bunch of bugs on a giant peach to New York. James didn’t disobeyhis aunts and his aunts did get squished by the giant peach. I also don’t rememberany communism or drugs in the novel. I will say I read “James and the GiantPeach,” and I can promise you I’m not a smoker or a drug addict.
Charlieand the Chocolate Factory
Another one of Roald Dahl’s classics were on thebanned book list and it’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. “Charlie and theChocolate Factory,” apparently promoted “a poor philosophy of life” and Charliewas too positive and had no negative traits. Some characters can be Mary Sue’sbut being a positive person and having a positive attitude is better than beingnegative all the time in my opinion. Does it mean we ignore our problems? No.But we can’t be a Debbie downer either.
TheWizard of Oz
Once again this was also a shocking bit that I foundout from the book page Because all the Books the reasons why “The Wizard ofOz,” by Frank L. Baum was banned. The novel according to those who wanted toban it contained no real value for readers. There was concern over animalshaving human emotions and characteristics. Apparently there were complaintsabout Dorothy and how strong of a female character she was. It’s impossible forGlinda to be a good witch due to it being theologically impossible due to allwitches being evil. “The Wizard of Oz,” does have great value for readers.Dorothy tells the Scarecrow no matter how grey her home was she wanted to goback. The story is basically telling us that home is where the heart is whetherit’s somewhere new or somewhere you’ve lived all your life. “The Wizard of Oz,”is also considered the first American Fairytale. Fairytales remind us thatthrough hardships if we never give up on our dreams if we keep persevering wewill get what we want and deserve. Also the dragons that exist in our world areour doubters our enemies and we can rise above them like these fairytalecharacters.
TheKite Runner
“The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini I knew was onthe banned books list. There are several reasons why “The Kite Runner,” waseither banned or challenged. Some felt that it promoted Islamaphobia. Therewere others who did not like the sexual content which includes the rape ofHassan. Some felt the language was offensive. There were also others who feltthat it would promote violence. The novel is actually banned in Afghanistan butI remember reading it in highschool. The novel while it is fiction spoke aboutAfghanistan pre-Taliban era, touched on the Russian invasion and then theeventual brutal Taliban take over. So there is history in there. There is alsoa lesson about friendship and what it means to stand up for yourself even whenyou’re scared to death. I could relate to Amir in a sense that we were bothdoormats for the longest time and we have dreams that not everyone issupportive about, but we also had people who did support us and if it wasn’tfor them we wouldn’t be out here making our dreams come true. We eventuallyrose above it all and stopped taking garbage from anyone, so this is one ofthose books that have a special place in my heart.
1984
Apparently “1984” by George Orwell was banned in theJackson County Florida County for claiming the novel was “pro-communist” andhad sexually explicit content. The novel was trying to warn society to not goin the socialist or communist direction. People in that novel were being watchedand speech was controlled. Yes Winston and Julia did have sex but it wasn’t p*rnographic.
TheLord of the Rings Series
This series being banned and challenged definitely shockedme. Apparently there are some Christians who found the novel satanic. I haven’tread the novels myself though I plan to someday. From many of my friends whohave read it they can vouch it’s not satanic. In fact J.R.R. Tolkien shares thesame faith as I do we are both Roman Catholics. Catholicism was a huge part ofhis fantasy stories and it wasn’t in your face. In fact the Tolkien estate andTolkiens family were extremely upset about the movie Hollywood released about Tolkiena few years back. It wasn’t accurate about his life and Tolkien said explicitlythat “Lord of the Rings,” was not inspired by World War I. Last I heard hisestate planned to sue Hollywood and I hope they do and I hope they win.
SatanicVerses
“SatanicVerses,” by Salmon Rushdie was banned and challenged in the following countriesPakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Sudan, Bangladesh, Malaysia,Quatar,Indonesia, South Africa, and India because of its criticism ofIslam. In Venezuela, owning or reading it was declaredacrime under penalty of 15 months’ imprisonment.
In Japan, the sale of theEnglish-languageedition was banned under the threat of fines.
The governments of Bulgaria and Polandalsorestricted its distribution.
In 1991, in separate incidents, HitoshiIgarashi, the Japanesetranslator, was stabbed to death and its Italiantranslator, Ettore Capriolo, was seriouslywounded. In 1993 WilliamNygaard, its Norwegian publisher, was shot and seriously injured. Recently Salmon Rushdie was stabbed in theeye and was rushed to the hospital. I hope and pray he is doing well. This isscary considering that cancel culture has gone so far as to his life being atrisk because he was critical of a religion. I am Catholic and there are authorswho I disagree with because they are critical of my beliefs. One example is nowdeceased British writer Hilary Mantel. I may not agree with her views on myfaith, but again she has the right to have those views and to write what shewants. I do hear she was a brilliant writer.
Animal Farm
“Animal Farm,” anotherGeorge Orwell classic was also banned and challenged. Once again people feltOrwell was pro-communist. I think it’s ridiculous because the story of theseanimals was an allegory of The Russian Revolution and then the communiststaking power. The Farmer was the allegory of Czar Nicholas II and the pigs werethe allegory of Vladamir Lenin and his communist followers. “Animal Farm ,” wasSuppressed from being displayed atthe1977 Moscow, Russia International Book Fair. So if George Orwellwas “pro-communist” as these misguided people claimed he was, then why was “AnimalFarm” banned at the Russia International Book Fair where at that time Russiawas very communist?
Conclusion
While there is a lot morebooks I want to discuss on this list and why they were banned and why I thinkit’s stupid we would be here for the rest of our lives. My view is no bookshould be banned or cancelled. No author should be harassed and receive deaththreats or get physically attacked for them. There are books that I know I won’tbother reading because they go against my values and beliefs, but I will notdeny someone their right to read what they like.
