what BOOKS DO YOU BELIEVE *DESERVE* TO BE BANNED?
While I am personally against banning books, I wanted to twist things a little differently. I wanted to have an open discussion and give readers the opportunity to share the books that they personally want banned. These will consist of different genre and themes and we will mainly be focusing on the plot of the book. Some of these books you may be familiar with, as they may have come up in popular media like BookTok or you might have heard about in your literature classes. These entries are based on different stranger’s opinions.
Note, some of these books that are listed have references to abuse, sexual ham, alcoholism, and mental health issues. Please read at your own risk.
Illustration from Pngtree
It Ends with us
Author:
Published:
Genre: Romance, Young Adult
From Maddie: “I may receive a lot of hate from many people who enjoy reading Colleen Hoover Books, but I wanted to point out that a lot of her books seem to to have the same storyline where a lot of the lead male love interests seem to be very to be toxic to the female lead characters. The books tend to romanticize toxic relationships and I for one don’t think these need to be made popular, for the young adults who read these stories will think that these types of relationships and abuse are normalized. In It Ends With Us the female lead, Lily is in a relationship with her new husband Ryle, who both have suffered traumatic past. Lily is very aware that her relationship with him is not all that good, as Ryle seems to be cruel to her by physically and sexually abusing her in a couple parts of the book. Lily questions why she continues to stay with Ryle, but she feels that she has to be loyal to him because she loves him and feels as if she could help him change. This to me doesn’t sit right, as it should not be normalized in books that people should stay in relationships where there partner is emotionally manipulative to them, as it doesn’t present anything healthy about it. Creating stories that try to make these type of relationships into a romantic love story seems highly inappropriate and gives people the wrong idea.”
The shinning
Author:
Published:
Genre: Romance, Young Adult
From John: “The Shinning is one of Stephen King’s most popular books and even has a cult classic movie adaptation that I am sure almost everyone has seen. This book, however, needs to be read for much older and mature readers as the book seems to take a very scary and dark turn. The book has some violent and demonic themes around the book as Jack, one of the characters of the book, becomes insane and attempts to kill his wife and child and becomes an alcoholic as his mental state deteriorates. While the book is not very graphic, some things were just a bit disturbing that some readers couldn’t even finish the book or had to take a break from the book. This thriller book could cause younger readers to not be able to properly process the book and cause them to overlook the adult themes and it could probably scare them.
The Catcher in the Rye
Author:
Published:
Genre: Romance, Young Adult
From Jack: “This book was taught in school primarily for its coming-of-age themes and for students to learn about first person narrative stories and the idea of “stream of consciousness”, in which we get to read more about a characters thoughts and emotions throughout the book. The book centers around 16 year old Holden who struggles with his mental health and struggles to grasp on the fact that he eventually needs to grow up. While some may argue that its a great work of literature, others have commented that the book may be depicting how to handle ones mental health in the wrong way, as Holden wishes to have pain inflicted upon him in order to feel something, which could influence young adults to partake in self harm. Another issue to bring up is that even though Holden is a minor, he does drink alcohol as a way to escape his emotions and problems, which obviously is not the correct way a person should deal with their depression and while it isn’t clearly stated that he is an alcoholic, it shows the unhealthy habit is going to worsen his mental health state.”
Catcher in the rye
Author:
Published:
Genre: Romance, Young Adult
From Jack: “This book was taught in school primarily for its coming-of-age themes and for students to learn about first person narrative stories and the idea of “stream of consciousness”, in which we get to read more about a characters thoughts and emotions throughout the book. The book centers around 16 year old Holden who struggles with his mental health and struggles to grasp on the fact that he eventually needs to grow up. While some may argue that its a great work of literature, others have commented that the book may be depicting how to handle ones mental health in the wrong way, as Holden wishes to have pain inflicted upon him in order to feel something, which could influence young adults to partake in self harm. Another issue to bring up is that even though Holden is a minor, he does drink alcohol as a way to escape his emotions and problems, which obviously is not the correct way a person should deal with their depression and while it isn’t clearly stated that he is an alcoholic, it shows the unhealthy habit is going to worsen his mental health state.
TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD
Author:
Published:
Genre: Romance, Young Adult
From Lou: “This book has been around for years and was challenged because of the constant use of the N-word, which during the time it was written, it was sort of normalized for a lot of those books include such a vulgar word. Nonetheless, it was still considered a popular book that is taught in both middle school and high school. I want to kind of discuss the argument of how the book is seen under the “white savior complex” in which the book focuses on Atticus Finch, a white lawyer helping is client, and African American man. Many believe Atticus is brave and courageous for defending an someone who is black in court, as it was deemed wrong back then to do so, or the lawyers who were in support of defending black clients would be attacked or killed by racists. I don’t believe this type of idea is appropriate, as it hinders the racist oppression on black people and makes them look as if they are helpless and are in need of a “white savior” to help them. Black people over the last few 100s of years have suffered many obstacles and oppression and their struggles don’t need to be used in books to make white people look like a savior and a great person to make the plot more interesting.
