Garrett Hatcher is a senior multimedia journalism major from Trumann.
Have you ever read something and it made you feel a way you never had before? Have you ever picked up a book and it changed the way you see something today? Did a book and its contents ever change your life? Maybe it filled your nights with laughter and cheer as you got lost in a fictional world so fantastic compared to ours that you wished it were real? Perhaps it scared you and your nerves were so shaken you hesitated to flip to the next page, uncertain of how the story would continue. Could a book have made you sad as you read the last pages of a story that was slowly coming to an end for its characters who seemed to be stuck in a situation far worse than yours? Or did it just make you angry that such things could be allowed to be printed and be considered classics and best sellers to the public? Well then, you just read a book that did its job right.
On January 27, the McMinn County school board in Tennessee held a vote to remove the Pulitzer Prize winning graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman. Soon after holding this vote, it was passed with a 10-0 result. It was removed from the schools due to profanity and showing female nudity.
This at first glance to many pro book banners may seem understandable, as the book has content not suitable for children. Though it should be noted that this book is a graphic novel about mice being oppressed by Fascist cats.
“Maus” follows the story of a young mouse son asking his aging father for stories about his time during the war and the time he spent as a Jewish citizen in Nazi Germany. Stories of war crimes, murder, awful living conditions and the fear of being found were in the book. It speaks about how the Jewish, LGBT, Romanian and disabled populations were treated. It was awful, bloody, cruel and unforgiving.
If the contents of this book are so bad, then why are we teaching the same stuff in history class? It’s not like teaching the violent parts of history in an educational setting is any better. Children still learn about the Holocaust and how it is full of the worst things humanity has ever done; its taught and hammered into their heads. Granted, the teachings don’t normally have profanity, but every bit of public media a child could easily absorb does. Television, radio, video games and the internet exist, and it’s unlikely that a parent or guardian could keep them away from them forever. And while “Maus” may also contain nudity, the nudity is of cartoonish drawn mice, a far cry from actual nudity that would be harmful to a child.
One thing books like this do is teach children and others about a part of history or a part of society in an easy to digest way. It easily teaches those who read it all they truly need to know about the book’s ideals. Ironically one of these banned books is “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury, a book that, while having profanity, teaches its readers the dangers of censoring books. “1984” by George Orwell teaches its reader about the dangers of not only communism, but a government that has unlimited access to its people’s private lives. This book however, despite its valued ideals its overshadowed by the fact it has profanity and references to sex. These are things that children can easily be taught about by their parents, but it would seem they’d rather try and censor the world from their children instead of explaining things that could be harmful to them. Books are a great thing no matter how they are written. Almost every book tells a story and has a moral. Fiction is a creative outlet that allows people to discuss and comment on things they’ve seen in life and teach those who read their works the lessons they’ve learned. My biggest fear about book banning is that one day history will repeat because future generations failed to learn from it.
Categories: Opinion
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