Opinion
In the past several years there has been a lot of conflict over the scope and nature of books that can appropriately be provided to adults and young people in Wyoming’s public and school libraries. I thought about this while reading a recent essay by the literary critic and biographer Ruth Franklin on Mark Twain’s novel “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” For more than a century, Twain’s story of a young white boy and an enslaved Black man traveling on a raft down the Mississippi River has been considered a central document in our literature and history. But now, the book is often under fire, challenged and sometimes banned from libraries, removed from school curricula.
For her essay, Franklin traveled around the country asking teachers and students about the place of “Huckleberry Finn” in our schools and in society generally. Some say it’s central to understanding our history, a tale of moral awakening that is also a compelling satire of the racist values that were once held by most white Americans. Others believe the book encourages the racial stereotyping we’ve struggled to transcend, that it both reflects and is a form of violence against Black Americans.
Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” is another book that has been both widely lauded and sharply condemned by different readers. And, as with “Huck Finn,” issues around race and racism are at the root of the different views of the book that readers hold.
With Franklin’s essay in mind, I looked up the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most challenged and banned books in the United States. Here are some of the novels that appear on the list:
“Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain
“All the King’s Men“ by Robert Penn Warren
“Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl“ by Anne Frank
“As I lay Dying“ by William Faulkner
“Beloved“ by Toni Morrison
“Brave New World“ by Aldous Huxley
“The Call of the Wild“ by Jack London
“The Color Purple“ by Alice Walker
“A Farewell to Arms“ by Ernest Hemingway
“Go Tell it On the Mountain“ by James Baldwin
“The Grapes of Wrath“ by John Steinbeck
“The Great Gatsby“ by F. Scott Fitzgerald
“The Handmaid’s Tale“ by Margaret Atwood
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings“ by Maya Angelou
“The Jungle“ by Upton Sinclair
“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding
“The Lord of the Rings“ by J.R.R. Tolkien
“The Naked and the Dead“ by Norman Mailer
“Native Son“ by Richard Wright
“1984“ by George Orwell
“Of Mice and Men“ by John Steinbeck
“The Satanic Verses“ by Salman Rushdie
“Sophie’s Choice“ by William Styron
“Their Eyes Were Watching God“ by Zora Neale Hurston
“To Kill a Mockingbird“ by Harper Lee
“A Wrinkle in Time“ by Madeleine L’Engle
This group includes Nobel Prize winners Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Golding, and Morrison; Pulitzer Prize winners Faulkner, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Sinclair, Penn Warren, Lee, Styron, Mailer, Walker, and Morrison; National Book Award winners Faulkner, Styron, and Walker; Booker Prize winners Atwood and Rushdie; and National Medal of Arts recipient Maya Angelou. These are among the most honored novels of the past century. Why are they so often condemned?
Some of the often-stated reasons for challenging books are that they are pro-socialist or pro-communist, anti-family or anti-religion; that they are obscene, include nudity or are sexually explicit; that they use coarse language, scatological humor or racial stereotypes. Books have been banned for dealing with child sexual abuse, bullying, slavery, firearms, the occult, incest, gambling, infidelity, anarchism and drug and alcohol use. Sometimes it’s the content — suicide, death, abortion, atheism. More recently, books addressing LGBTQ issues have been criticized.
Penn Warren’s “All the King’s Men“ was challenged for “depicting a depressing view of life” while “The Grapes of Wrath“ was challenged for “portraying Kern County, California in a negative light.” Orwell’s “1984“ was charged in one case with being pro-communist and in another with being anti-communist.
I asked several friends to send me a list of their 10 favorite books. They all responded and, over the course of two years, I read every book named and talked about them with the friends who made the lists. Maybe we could do something like that with these controversial books. Pick one I’ve mentioned from the challenged and banned books list and read it with a friend or family member you trust, someone with whom you can speak freely without fear of being judged. After the two of you have read the book, talk about it together. See what happens.
Interesting. The books on this list are ones that have been banned in the past and I know of no current bans on any of them. Many were required reading when I went to UW…a long time ago. They were not required reading for young children. It was only noted in passing at the end that the current controversial books are those re: LGBT etc. It was not explained that the reason is that many believe certain books on this topic are too sexually explicit for young children, and they serve no purpose in school libraries. There is no move to ban them from adult reading. Adults can have at it if they have nothing better to do with their time. I wonder if any of your staff or your readers have seen/or read these books? I have heard passages read from these books before school boards wherein board members asked readers to refrain because they were too explicit for their ears! But they are okay for children? The books in question contain sexually graphic illustrations and descriptions. Either the author and responders are unaware or don’t care. There is NOTHING wrong with people trying to protect children. There are much healthier and more productive ways for children to spend their time–among which is learning the necessary skills to succeed in life (reading, writing, math, civics to name a few; or staying healthy participating in P.E.). It should not be a political issue–someone, of course, blamed the controversy on the administration. It also should not be a reason to show dislike for religious people.
Book banning seems hit and miss. Why not a clean slate? Ban the teaching of reading, or now that A I is in charge, ban teachers too.
Not sure Holden Caulfield would approve of the list. But, point well-made, David. Fortunately, people aren’t reading books these days, having turned to Grand Theft Auto and YouTube for cultural enrichment.
Thanks for the winter reading list! Have read some on the list, but looking forward to more great books.
Many of these books were cornerstones of my Sixties and Seventies public education that guided us to become aware of and question choices, values, history of a larger world out there. I am so grateful that many of us with this liberal arts background can think for ourselves.
Lord of the Rings banned! Whatever for? Akin to Harry Potter w/wizards, elves, dwarves, etc.? I’ve read a lot of the short list you put up and see no reason whatsoever to ban those books. It’s just someone trying to control what children read and say that they are right, everyone else is wrong, Fascism pure and simple.
At our wee Hulett Branch Library I was heartened and incensed at the same time at the display/exhibit of notable, extraordinary books that have been banned in the past, heartened of course that our librarians are exposing the sickness of mind control/would-be fascism, and at the same time incensed by it. As I perused the titles, I counted beloved stories, such as The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
I applaud the libraries for shining light on the efforts by some to turn up the proverbial flame beneath our fragile, freedom-loving skins. Jump, folks!
Fake Christians and right-wing goofballs don’t think that you’re smart enough to think for yourself.
I’ve read so many of these already- I must be a subversive! Oh of course…I’m also reading WyoFile…
Unless you are one of the few who post on WyoFile praising this administration and all of the good it’s done for this country, I guess that makes the rest of us subversives in their view Phil. If following WyoFile and criticizing MAGA makes one a subversive in today’s world, count me in.