At the present time, at least 75 books are being banned. This is hurting our culture more than it is helping. This has to be stopped; books cannot be taken off of the shelves at the rate that they are today. The books that are being taken off of the shelves are, for the most part, what would be considered classics. The act of book banning puts limitations on what people can say, the authors, and what people can read, the readers. Both of these limitations are in direct conflict with the United States Constitution.

The idea of book banning and censorship is a not new concept. The first censorship occurred well before Christ was born (B.C.). One place this happened was Florence in 1497. This was known as the "bonfire of the vanities". A man named Savonarola burned classics by the authors Ovid, Dante, and Propertius (Banned Books Timeline: 1400A.D. to 1600A.D.). In 1808 the production of Goethe’s Faust was stopped because the Berlin government wanted certain dangerous passages containing talk about freedom deleted (Banned Books Timeline: 1600 to 1900). Finally in Buffalo, New York, The Merchant of Venice was eliminated from the curriculum of schools because Jewish organizations protested that it fostered intolerance (Banned Books Timeline: The Twentieth Century). The books in each case were censored for different reasons, the first was censored for political reasons and the second was censored for religious reasons, but the fact remains that they were censored.

The Constitution of the United States of America clearly states that "there will be no laws abridging the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press." The censorship of books violates both of these provisions that are included in the Constitution. When Thomas Jefferson wrote this, he wanted to make sure that the government, or anyone else, would not be able to limit what the people of this country could read or say. When you censor what people can say, the population will begin to not think for themselves and all of a sudden, no one will have an opinion. This is what this country is founded on; if someone has a different opinion, they can come out and say it and not worry about what will happen to them. Censorship limits what can be published and also limits what people can say, so therefore it is in violation of the Constitution. It does not matter if you don’t like what is being said, the author can say anything that he wants and still have it published. If you don’t like it, don’t read it. No one has any right to ban any book for any reason. It does violate the Constitution.

Many organizations take part in the censoring and banning of books. A list of censors and book banners is composed of everything from regular citizens, who think they can make a difference, to the Central Intelligence Agency (Who is Doing the Banning). Some of the specific organizations or agencies that are involved are the U.S. Justice Department, the National Security Agency, the U.S. Postal service, the U.S. Treasury Department, and Barnes and Noble (the bookseller). The United States Postal Service banned Ulysses by James Joyce, for fifteen years (Banned Books Online). No one could send or receive this novel because of its content. The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer was also banned by the United States postal Service for the same reason that Ulysses’ was (Banned Books Online). Barnes and Noble is a private company, and therefore are allowed to sell or not sell anything that they please. However, they have a certain responsibility to their customers. They should have all published materials for sale.

The number of school districts that are on this list is also shocking. School districts should be encouraging the children to read whatever they can get their hands on. That is why children go to school, to learn. If you start taking the books off of the shelves in the libraries, how are they going to learn? Also, the public libraries should carry every book imaginable. This is the major function of all libraries, both school and public. They were set up so that anybody can read any book. If you begin to limit the books that the libraries have on their shelves, then what is the point of having libraries at all? Most third graders are not going to be able to read Dante’s Inferno, so the point of letting them try and read that would be ridiculous. However, kids in high school should not have any limitations put on the books they can check out in the library. Things that they read in books are not going to be new or shocking to them. What can be more shocking than the things that are occurring on television or in movies nowadays?

The function of books is to initiate thought in the reader’s mind. This is the reason why most books are written. If books are continually being banned and censored, what thoughts are people going to have? The answer is none. This would turn our population into a bunch of people who can’t think for themselves. This situation is very reminiscent of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. In the book, no controversial books are allowed into circulation because they make people think and that is considered to be a bad thing in the book. Is this book that far fetched though? Our world could turn into this world if organizations are allowed to ban books that they believe to be offensive or revolting.

One of the most frequently banned books in the 1990’s, according to Greenwood Press, has been The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain ("The Most Frequently Banned Books in the 1990’s"). Although most people regard this book as a classic, some people find the language offensive. An African American found the language in the book to be offensive. His complaint was that the word "nigger" appeared too many times ("Books: A-I That have been Censored, Banned, or Challenged"). Currently, the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (hereafter NAACP) is after this book. Their complaint is that the word "nigger" is used 39 times in the first 35 pages of the book (Literary Censorship...). This is how some people talked during the time period when this book takes place. It is not proper to use that language today, and most people understand this concept. Due to the nature of the world that we live in, most people have heard bad language used by the time they reach junior high school. Most high school kids understand the fact that those words are inappropriate, and therefore, they should be allowed to read anything in print. This book describes the way that American culture was in the 1800’s. How are kids supposed to find out what life was like without reading things that were written in that time period?

Another book that is being censored is Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Books: A-I That have been Censored, Banned, or Challenged). This book is a favorite of censors; it has been banned in the United States and Australia. It really is a favorite, being that it was censored forty-one different times between the years of 1966 and 1975 (Woods, L.B.). In Tulsa, Oklahoma, a teacher was fired for putting the book on an eleventh grade reading list. This book is one of the easier books to read, and therefore, anybody should be able to read it; it does not make a difference what grade they are in.

Sexual content is another reason why books are banned or censored. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes is an example of this type of censorship. In this book, the main character, Charlie, is mentally slow. He tries a new scientific experiment to raise his IQ, and it works at first, but then his emotions go out of control, he drinks a lot, and then has sex with his neighbor. This book has been removed from a countless number of schools reading lists due to this scene. The book was banned from eleventh grade reading curriculum. Kids in eleventh grade can see more explicit situations in movies and even on television. So, if they can see it, why can’t they read it? In 1986, this book was removed from a tenth grade reading list because the parents claimed that it was "pornographic" (Sova 48-49). More explicit scenes are available on the Internet and the Internet is not banned.

The act of banning books is very harmful to our culture. If this form of censorship is allowed to continue, someday we may not be able to read anything that is controversial; everything is controversial in one way or another. Our world could turn into the world that is depicted in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451. The "firemen" in this book are responsible for burning huge quantities of books. This act brainwashes the population because people lose the power to think for themselves. This book is banned in many places for portraying such a world. In reality, if something isn’t done quickly, this place could be America. I could not imagine having limitations put on what I want to read just because of what it says. Do you really want this to happen?

List of Works Cited