Banned Books

It was very interesting to look at the lists of banned or challenged books at the ALA website. Many are books that I was required or encouraged to read as a child; many are books that my son, in private school, is required to read now, and still others are books that I sought out on my own. One thing they all share, to my chagrin, is that I have failed to retain a strong enough command of them to feel able to discuss intelligently the reasons that they are challenged or the value -- or harm -- that they might hold for today's students. That having been said, here are some reflections on a few of the more prominent titles on the lists.

At the moment, my son is reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which was one of my favorite books in high school. I didn't have time to reread the book myself in preparation for this class, but I did read Wallace Stegner's thoughtful introduction to one edition, written in 1960, and I'm looking forward to discussing the story with my son from a critical literacy standpoint as he digs further into the book.

Another favorite that I was worried about revisiting is Uncle Tom's Cabin. I know that, as a child and teen, I was drawn to books that explored the terrible injustices of slavery and, I think, managed to bring my own critical literacy reading to books like Uncle Tom that, by modern standards, may be regarded as complicit in perpetuating harmful stereotypes. One thing that I took away from all of these books was a powerful feeling that slavery was America's Holocaust -- a gaping abyss from which our nation may take many centuries to recover. It's possible that I was influenced without knowing it by the offensive stereotypes in these novels, but I have to believe that the dividends that I gained from reading them, in the form of deep human compassion and a very palpable sense of grief and pain over this part of our past are things that I could not have picked up from the cold pages of history books. While I do appreciate the reasons for the recent backlash against Uncle Tom, I hope that, over time, the book will be remembered more for its pivotal role in galvanizing popular feeling against slavery prior to the Civil War than for some of the unfortunate stereotypes it employs that seem so glaring and distasteful when examined under a modern spotlight.

Another old favorite that seems to figure prominently on banned book lists is To Kill a Mockingbird. This wonderful story, by Harper Lee, was required reading in my favorite year of school -- 5th grade. It was also one of my favorite books of all time. I assume that it's challenged because of the allegations of rape and the theme of family violence. While I think there's room for legitimate discussion about whether 5th grade is the ideal year to be reading a story with so many adult themes, I really can't see any legitimate grounds for keeping it out of the curriculum altogether. Madonna's trashy, self-exploitative Sex, on the other hand, I have read and am completely comfortable keeping out of school libraries.