To Kill A Mockingbird Controversies Literature Essay

To Kill A Mockingbird Controversies Literature EssayTo Kill a Mockingbird by harpist Lee is one of the great classics of the last century, a costly record crudes that is studied in high schools crosswise the United States-and yet this intelligence beloved by many is also hated by some. Each year, the American Library Association holds its Banned Books Week to make volume aware of the challenges libraries across the land cheek, trying to keep controversial books on their shelves (Doyle 2). The ALA ranks To Kill a Mockingbird fourth on its list of The Top Ten Most much Challenged Books of 2009, on accounts of offensive language, racism, and being unsuited to age group (State News Service). People who find elements of To Kill a Mockingbird offensive often write to libraries requesting that the book be restricted or altogether removed from shelves. Incidents like these, with Harper Lees book and with many others, cast off led to the creation of Banned Books Week.Is it constitu tional to banning books on the grounds that they contain material some people find offensive? According to the First Amendment of our ecesis, it is not. The First Amendment states, Congress shall make no lawabridging the independence of speech, or of the press (Noble). The Constitution makes it clear that book-banning will not be tolerated, but why did our founding fathers create this law? They created this law because the censorship of books is ruinous to society. When our founding fathers wrote the Constitution, they wanted to make sure and lay a strong foundation for our newborn nation to grow upon. The right to readthe books we choose is foundational to our democracy, and indeed, to our immunity. Why, then, do so many Americans still try to ban books they find offensive?The answer is simple the United States is a melting pot not hardly of different people, but of different opinions, making it impossible for a a writer to write a good book without someone take issueing wit h the books themes. When people disagree with a book, many times they act to change the book or ban it from libraries altogether. These people believe they are doing the other a favor by removing objectionable content from the reach of the public. However, they are actually doing everyone-including themselves-a disservice.For example, look at the case of Raymond English, who faced objections from multiple groups over the content of a account statement book he was attempting to write. Each group had a different complaint about the way their interests were represented in the book. Feminists disliked the limning of their movement, Filipinos disliked the portrayal of the appropriation of the Philippines, politicians disliked the portrayal of the American economy, Zionists disliked the portrayal of Arab population statistics in the highly fought-over Palestine area during the early 1900s, and different church denominations disliked the portrayal of the Reformation (Noble 271-272). Thi s series of stumbling blocks from multiple groups with different views stood in the way of the main purpose of the book, to provide a volume chronicling the history of the United States.The problem we face is that America is too diverse, with too many opinions for everyone to agree with each other our pastoral cannot afford to censor every scrap of text that offends the sensibilities of one peculiar(a) somebody or group, or we will have no books and no freedom of speech left. Without freedom of speech, the same groups that act to ban books would be unable to advance their causes Feminists would not be able to advance womens rights, Filipinos wouldnot be able to campaign for their independence, and churches would not be able to express their views on the Reformation. Without freedom of speech, society is stagnant. Historical research shows a strong relationship between the abundance of books in a society and a societys health in fact, it could be tell that books are the building blocks of society (Knuth 3). Books communicate ideas, and by reading about these ideas, we develop our culture.Take, for example, the impact of reading on slaves in the South prior to the Civil War.The majority of scholars still agree that the basic result of literacy has been and is one of liberation (Cornelius 2). Literacy leads to reading, reading leads to learning, and learning leads to freedom. For this reason, many slaveholders did not allow their slaves to learn how to read, fearing that intimate slaves would revolt (Cornelius 12). Slaves who were taught to read and write often became leaders in the slave communities, giving organization to their culture and creating their bear small society within a society (Cornelius 85). By reading the Bible, slaves demonstrated equal intelligence with their masters and gained a sense of identity as a distinct group of Christians to a greater extent importantly, they discovered in the scriptures that they were created equal and ought to be free. (Cornelius 3). The ideas that they found in the Bible gave them a yearning to be free.Of course, this was only possible because educated slaves had access to such books with such ideas, that would reveal to them their enslaved state and inspire in them a desire to be free. What if they had had no books to read? Would they have discovered these ideas anyway, or would they have remained bestial of the condition in which they lived? If books inspire us to think for ourselves and to seek freedom, is it possible that without them, we would lose that freedom?The answer is yes. We need only look at history to see what a loss of important books does to societies. World leaders realize that for the people, literacy leads to freedom to this end, many totalitarian regimes have sought to regulate their countries libraries. These governments attack books because they hunch over books contain ideas, and by controlling ideas, they can control people (Knuth 3). The Nazis, in their effo rts to create a pure race, took away the peoples books before they ever acted to kill the people themselves (Knuth 87). Communists in China followed a similar pattern.When the Communist Party took control of China, they stomped out dissent by removing from the countrys libraries any literature that did not agree with them (Knuth 165). As with Germany, scholars who thought for themselves and did not go along with the social changes enacted by the government were imprisoned (Knuth 180). These books were replaced with Communist-supporting texts and literature that glorified the new government (Knuth 176). Mao Tse-Tung, the leader of this new government, was a writer who used his books-such as the Little Red Book that became his bible-to enthrall the minds of the Chinese citizens (Knuth 166-169). Should not those creative impulses be utterly destroyed? Mao said of the countless books confiscated and writers imprisoned at his command. I think they should indeed they must be utterly destr oyed, and while they are being destroyed, new things can be built up (Knuth 178). Without books, the people became willing slaves to a destructive regime.Even though we are privileged to live in a democracy, with a Constitution that gives us the power to voice our ideas, it is all too easy to lose that freedom if we give in to the impulse tocensor books. Even a person fiercely opposed to book-banning may find on the list of Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 some book containing content he findsKeylon 5objectionable. In such an instance, he might find himself reconsidering his views, thinking thatperhaps there are some basely vulgar novels out there that be to be banned. But consider that every time we ban one book, we give the opportunity for someone else to ban another book less merit of the negative stigma. When we silence a voice that offends us, we open a window through which someone else whom we offend may silence us. In a nation of diverse opinions, sometimes we must bear offense in order to protect our right to speak our minds. The right to read, express our ideas, and disagree with the ideas of others is foundational to the freedom we have in our country. We cannot give away our freedom by giving in to the impulse to censor books, lest we become a nation as destructive as the Germany of World War II. Our freedom is far more precious than our feelings it is the heart and soul of our nation. It is vital. It is cherished. It is our freedom to believe in God, without fear of persecution, the same freedom upon which our country was founded. We cannot destroy the books that are part of our heritage, such as Lees To Kill a Mockingbird, a book accused of racism that, in reality, is a passionate argument against racism. Mockingbirds dont do one thing but sing for us.thats why its a sin to kill a mockingbird, Miss Maudie says to Scout Finch in Mockingbird (Sparknotes). Lees book is itself a mockingbird, one that we would be wrong to kill. When we allow such a book to be banned, we allow the destruction of something inherently good, and worse, we allow the destruction of our own freedom.Therefore, we should hold on to our freedom we should hold on to our books.