Unnecessary Censorship of Literature :: Argumentative Persuasive Argument Essays

Unnecessary Censorship of LiteratureArticle One of the billet of Rights tells us Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the squeeze or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances. A censor is defined as an official or government entity that removes or bearricts books, plays, the news media, etc. in order to abrogate information or ideas that be considered objectionable on moral, political, religious, military, or other(a) grounds (1). Censored. Banned. Challenged. These three words have loomed large in the ago decade. In 1999, the number of reported challenges against books declined to 472, down from 762 in 1995 (2). According to the American Library Associations site on the most frequently challenged books of the decade, topping the list is Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz, acc uptaked of being withal scary and unsuited to age group, followed by Daddys roommate by Michael Willhoite, accused of promoting homosexuality as a normal lifestyle. The rest of the 10 most frequently challenged books of the decade were I Know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (3), The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier (4), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by betray Twain (5), Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck (6), Forever by Judy Blume (7), distich to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (8), Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman (9) and The Catcher in the rye whiskey by J.D. Salinger (10). Books have been challenged and banned for a number of reasons including objectionable, lurid, profane, vulgar, and obscene as in a case from Fairbanks, Alaska where the Bible was challenged but retained. The same happened in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with reasons cited that it contains language and stories that be inappropriate for children of any age, including tales of incest and murder. There are mor e than three hundred examples of obscenities in the book. (3) Other well-known books that are frequently challenged include Mark Twains Huckleberry Finn, which uses the word ringtail thirty-nine times in the first thirty-five pages of the book. Groups such as the NAACP have pushed for the removal of Huck Finn from required reading lists but state that they are not out to censor the book. The Pennsylvania chapter of the NAACP feels that the liberal use of such a derogatory word is detrimental to the self-esteem of schoolgirlish African-American children (4).