Preview

Banned Books: "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
872 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Banned Books: "As I Lay Dying" by William Faulkner
Lorena Mendoza
Mr. Joseph Madison
AP English and Language Composition
22 March 2013
Banned books: Why was the novel “As I Lay Dying” by William Faulkner, banned? 1. Definitions of Banning, Censorship, and Challenging
For centuries, writing has been a form of release and enjoyment, with the ability of exploring all your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. But be aware of someone that will contest you. Not everyone will agree with what you say, especially if it is something controversial, and will try shutting you off. Once someone finds a book that objects to their beliefs, they can challenge it. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. Anyone is able to challenge a book, making an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Many times, a challenged book will only be censored. Censorship is the scanning of a book for content, and blanking or replacing anything that the censors find questionable. Other times, after the challenged book goes through a sort of trial, it may become banned. Banning is the removal of a book from a certain place all together.
There are many reasons why people decide to challenge, censor, and even ban a book. Some may include the following: sexually explicit, racism, unsuited to any age group, violence/ profanity, religious reasons, political reasons, etc. One example of a banned work is novel by David Henry Lawrence: Lady Chatterley’s Lover. This book was written in 1928, just before he died. This book was banned was not allowed in legal circulation in Britain until 1960, 30 years after Lawrence's death. The book was branded as pornographic. Early on, it talks about two young girls giving themselves to men, outside of love and outside of wedlock. During that period, this was very objectionable to society in general. It was a sin to talk about, and it was an even more risky subject to write about. The idea

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Vocabulary.com describes censorship as blocking something from being read, heard, or seen. Aucklandlibraries.com describes a banned book as being prohibited from being published or circulated by a government authority. Many books have been banned or challenged. Some of the reasons for banning books is offensive language, sexual content, racial themes, religious content, alternative lifestyle, profanity, violence, negativety, and political views, people also say that books challenge and interrogate people. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Jeannette tells you about her life story and how her family treated her and her siblings. In this novel, the family is always short on cash and food. They are always running away, Rex Walls (the father) runs from his problems. Their family is dysfunctional, the father is an alcoholic, the mother has a mental illness, and the children have no friends. This book would be banned becasue of all the profanity, strong sexual content, alcoholism, abuse, and child molestation. I disagree with the banning of…

    • 1208 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In this article, Deborah S. Connelly talks about the history of book banning, its presence in society today, and actions that have and can be taken against it. Most of these actions stem from the responsibility of librarians and organizations. Connelly believes that librarians have an obligation to keep their content uncensored and readily available to the public. She has stated that the best way to prevent book censorship is to educate our society about the importance of diverse books. A more specific approach regarding this idea might be for a librarian to remind an opposing patron why the book on trial was bought in the first place, and what it could have to offer the reader. As said on the final page of her article, “Knowledge is the key…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many books, worldwide have been banned from schools, including, As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner. After I read the book, the question of why it has been banned from schools popped up in my mind. Many say, that it was banned for harsh language and dialect. This book has also “used gods name in vain” talked about reincarnation, and has mentioned abortion , which makes people angry. After reading this book, I believe this book should not be banned from schools. I believe this because the book has little swear words, does not get into politics, and because everyone has their own passions, interests and beliefs, and if choosing this book offends them or angers them, it’s their own fault.…

    • 407 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 Banned

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The other reason that this book should be banned was going against religious beliefs. This statement did not make sense to me. I feel as if this book stays within the guidelines of religion, for the fact that they never stated anything that even related to religion. So, maybe the violence and the language were a little bit rough, but for the sake of religious background, this book should not be banned.…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Imagine you’re in graduate school and you’re doing your doctorate on a controversial issue. You’ve done most of the research however there’s one book that has specific information that you need, and you can only find it in that particular book. You’ve looked on the online database and find out that the book is in your universities library. You go to the library and ask for some help finding the book you need, however the librarian informs you that the book was recently banned. How is it that in a country that prides itself in freedom of speech and self expression, a book on a controversial issue has been banned? Does it not contradict what the founding fathers fought so hard for in the Revolutionary war?…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For me personally, books should not be banned because it is basically censoring someone else's art. Writers or authors have the right to publish whatever they want. They are just books. People should not get all worked up over a piece of literature. Especially schools. Schools across the country in different time periods banned the novel for the reasons being that it is too vulgar, sexual, and violent for kids to read. (“Banned Book: The Catcher in the Rye”)…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This book was banned due to racial tensions and so called “inappropriate content”. In 1960, school administrators fired an Ohio teacher for assigning the novel to an 11th grade student. The administration claimed the book was anti-white and more predominant white communities fought to have it banned completely. A library banned the novel for a so called violation of codes. The library claimed it had excessive sex scenes, violence ,and extreme foul…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Censorship is the ability to limit any activities, ideas, or actions of any person or group of people at all or at any moment. A challenged book is an attempt to remove inappropriate material due to someone or some groups views. A banned…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Often times, books become banned in the classroom because of the controversial content that it contains. Once a book is banned, it becomes removed from the shelves of libraries, book stores, and classrooms. In some cases, banned books have been burned or refused publication. There are several reasons why books are banned, but books are most frequently banned because of the prejudiced opinions about religion, sexual orientation, and race. In school, children are taught to be mature and to not laugh at gross scenes; Children are also taught to not make commentary about the book when inappropriate content exists or if there are controversial topics. Are…

    • 734 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Censorship fears dissent. When someone challenges a book they are worried by the different, and new ideas that a book can cause to be created. When different ideas are formed, now opinions form as well, and so does dissent. It is the goal of censorship to eliminate this differentiation in thought. It was precisely this censorship that Ray Bradbury was looking at when he wrote Fahrenheit 451. He looked at what would happen if all books were banned, instead of just books that people found offensive. The result was a dark and oppressive society that was devoid of any free thought and new ideas besides those created by the presiding powers that controlled the media. Bradbury was writing about the future that he saw occurring based on the increasing…

    • 1910 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Censorship has been going on for many years. The first place that book censorship has taken place ever since people have started to write books. One of the early reasons why books are censored was because some people didn’t like the religious views of the book. In an overview by Claire Mullally called banned books she said that Plato stated “ our first business will be to supervise the making of fables and legends; rejecting all which are unsatisfactory.”(12/16/10) The is one of the biggest things that had started books to be censored. Another way people would censor books in the early ages is by burning the books in the middle of town. The people who would burn the books the most…

    • 970 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The government banning books can interfere with the freedom of speech and press but it can increase America’s safety. One of the most famous recently banned books is 50 Shades of Grey, this book was banned because it have sexual content and dialog.…

    • 306 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Almost four hundred years later, books are still being banned based on the fear of information. People of religious backgrounds question books which preach atheism, and fear for their religion. Parents question books which detail graphic or adult themes, for fear of their children’s innocence. Fear has been the primary motivator of literary outlawing for centuries, and it encroaches on our right to information to this very day. As Claire Mullally points out in her article ‘Banned…

    • 1004 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Censorship Critique

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Blume begins by sharing her own childhood experience with restricted books. Having come from a family who were strong advocates for literature, it was hard for her to understand why libraries and schools restricted and banned books (341). As an author, she gained further insight to the effects censorship has on readers, writers and education. She compares the difference in the freedom writers and readers had in the 1970’s to the onset of heavy censorship in the 1980’s (342-3). Blume expresses how parents’ responsibility for what their own children were exposed to evolved.…

    • 1081 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Censorship in Schools

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages

    3. Handout. Staples, Suzanne Fisher. “What Johnny Can’t Read: Censorship in American Libraries.” The Alan Review winter 1996 Digital Library Archives. 13 Feb. 2008…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays