To each their own
Bellwood-Antis freshman Lainey Quick
Should some pieces of literature be banned from American libraries and high schools? Each year many books are removed from schools and libraries in America due to various reasons such as racism, sexism, or inappropriate references. Numerous are very popular books like To Kill A Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Animal Farm. Generations of school-aged children have read these selections and are fine; therefore, is there really a problem?
For years, children across America have read many of these volumes that are currently being removed from the shelves of libraries and classrooms. As a student myself, I don’t care and feel as though it should be up to personal preference as to whether the books are available to be read. Society these days gets offended easily and is all about canceling what they believe is wrong.
As I said before, most of these books that are being banned are due to racism, sexism, or inappropriate references. For example, To Kill A Mockingbird is being cancelled because it’s about a black man that is accused of raping a white women. Personally, these pieces show how much literature has changed over time. Sexism and racism play key parts in this, ultimately displaying how different society used to be and what the social norms were. Nowadays authors are much more selective of what they write about, in fear that others will be offended or take it the wrong way. Today’s people are all about equality, justice, and feel as though by taking the action of removing these books, they will conquer that.
Parents feel as though they are protecting their children by not letting them read certain books; however, is that really the worst of it? Most kids have already been exposed to too many of the subjects or ideas referenced in these books through music or social media. Soon TV shows, commercials, and radio stations will be banned because they will be considered “offensive”.
A suggestion would be “to each their own”. Let each individual make their own decision whether to read a book like one of these or not. A topic that may offend me may not be offensive to someone else, so how could it be right to take literature away from everyone?
